Boston, Mass. -- No. 2 seed Boston College defeated No. 5 seed Northeastern, 3-1, to win its first Women's Hockey East Championship in school history on Sunday afternoon at Walter Brown Arena on the campus of Boston University.
Senior forward Kelli Stack (Brooklyn Heights, Ohio) was named Pure Hockey Most Valuable Player for her play over the weekend, recording three points (1g,2a) in two tournament games, which included the overtime game-winner in the semifinals against Providence on Saturday.
Boston College improves to 22-6-6 on the season, while Northeastern's finishes its season with a 16-13-8 record. With the victory, the Eagles earn an automatic berth in the upcoming NCAA tournament next weekend. The NCAA Tournament selection show will be aired on NCAA.com tonight at 6:30 PM. The Eagles will make their third appearance in the NCAA Tournament, their first entry since 2009.
Stack was joined on the All-Tournament Team by sophomore blueliner Blake Bolden (Stow, Ohio) for the Eagles, while Northeastern was represented on team by senior defenseman Julia Marty (Nussbaumen, Switzerland), sophomore forward Casey Pickett (Wilmington, Mass.) and junior goaltender Florence Schelling (Oberengstringen, Switzerland). Pickett finished as the tournament's leading scorer with six points (3g,3a) in three games. Boston University's Jenn Wakefield (Pickering, Ont.) rounded out the selections at forward with two goals in semifinal action on Saturday vs. the Huskies.
Pickett finished as the tournament's leading scorer with six points (3g,3a) in three games. Boston University's Jenn Wakefield (Pickering, Ont.) rounded out the selections at forward with two goals in semifinal action on Saturday vs. the Huskies.
Boston College opened up a 3-1 lead at 5:59 of the third period to seal the win for the Eagles, when Taylor Waslyk (Port Huron, Mich.) buried her 14th goal of the season for the Eagles.
The Eagles took a 2-1 lead in the final minute of the first period after scoring 15 seconds into their first power play on a one-timer by Bolden on assists from Welch and Stack for the game-winning tally, her seventh marker of the season.
In the first period, Northeastern took a 1-0 lead as Pickett got the puck off a Boston College turnover and scored with 12 minutes remaining in the first period. Boston College tied it in just over four minutes after Northeastern scored in the period when Welch scored from the point at 12:13 in the period. The Eagles held a 16-8 advantage in shots on goal at the end of the 1st period.
Eagles goaltender Molly Schaus (Natick, Mass.) recorded 24 saves in the victory and recorded 51 total saves in the tournament with a .945 save percentage in two contests. Schelling recorded 14 saves in the first period and 32 for the game to finish with a tournament high 101 saves in three games.
ADDITIONAL LINKS:
YouTube: WHEA Championship Game Highlights
YouTube: WHEA Championship Game Post-Game - BC Head Coach Katie King
YouTube: WHEA Championship Game Post-Game - BC's Kelli Stack
YouTube: WHEA Championship Game Post-Game - BC's Daniel Welch
YouTube: WHEA Championship Game Post-Game - BC's Blake Bolden
Postgame Quotes: Boston College Head Coach Katie King (PDF Format)
Postgame Quotes: BC Players Kelli Stack and Danielle Welch (PDF Format)
Postgame Quotes: Northeastern Head Coach Dave Flint (PDF Format)