ORONO, Maine -- Brittany Ott (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) stopped all 36 shots that she faced as the University of Maine women's ice hockey team skated to a 0-0 tie with Northeastern on Thursday night at Alfond Arena. With the tie, the Black Bears pick up their first point in Women's Hockey East Association play. Maine moves to 4-6-1 on the season and 0-2-1 in Hockey East play, while the Huskies see their record move to 7-2-3 overall and 1-1-2 in league play.
Northeastern held an 11-6 edge in shots on goal after one period of play.The Huskies were then able to outshoot the Black Bears 12-4 in the second period, despite having equal scoring chances. Maine was outshot in the third, but carried the play the majority of the time. The Black Bears had several outstanding chances.
With 16 minutes remaining, Brittany Dougherty (Chesterfield, Mich.) skated in all alone and had a shot that was saved. Danielle Ward (Lansing, Mich.) was able to control the rebound, but her shot went just wide. With 11:30 remaining in regulation, Ward found herself all alone in front, but NU goalie Florence Schelling made a sliding save through the crease. The puck wound up sitting on the goal-line as Maine's Kayla Kaluzny (Calgary, Alberta) took some whacks at it but her stick was lifted by the NU defense and she was unable to capitalize on the opportunity for the Black Bears.
Northeastern had a chance with just under four minutes remaining in the game. The face-off was won back to Stephanie Gavronsky who blasted a shot towards the Maine net but Ott was up for the test, gloving the puck and holding on to keep the game scoreless. Chloe Tinkler (Wabush, Newfoundland) tried to stuff the puck home with 1:30 remaining, but Schelling was able to make the save. With just over a 30 seconds remaining in the game, Sullivan was able to steal the puck at the blueline for the Black Bears. Sullivan moved in and fired a shot that kicked off Schelling's left shoulder and out of harms way.
The game would move into overtime where NU would have the only real scoring opportunity when they skated into the Maine zone on a 2-on-1. A pass was thrown from the right circle towards the middle to a wide open Rachel Llanes. However, the puck would never find Llanes stick as Ott laid out and made a poke check to keep the game at 0-0.
Ott moves to 3-5-1 on the season as she picked up her second shutout of the season in the tie. Schelling made 19 saves and moves to 6-2-3.
Northeastern finished the game with a 36-19 edge in shots on goal. The Black Bears were 0-for-3 on the power play with seven shots on goal, while Northeastern was 0-for-5 with nine shots. Maine's penalty killing unit played very well, led by Ott who made nine saves while the Huskies skated on the power play.
The two teams will battle again tomorrow afternoon at Alfond Arena with a 2 p.m. puck drop scheduled.