CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Behind a hat trick from Hannah Bilka, the Boston College women's hockey team came back from a three-goal deficit to top Merrimack, 6-4, on Friday afternoon at Kelley Rink. Bilka added an assist to finish with four points while Maddie Crowley-Cahill had three points on two goals and one assist and Kelly Browne had three assists.
After a scoreless first period, Merrimack scored three goals in the opening eight minutes of the middle frame. Crowley-Cahill then put BC on the board to kick off a run of five unanswered goals for the Eagles. The teams entered the second intermission tied, and then Crowley-Cahill's second of the game 90 seconds into the third period was followed by Bilka's hat trick-tallying goal for a 5-3 lead less than four minutes into the final frame. Merrimack would add one more, but a power-play tally from Caroline Goffredo restored BC's two-goal lead for the 6-4 final.
Boston College 6, Merrimack 4
Friday, Feb. 11, 2022 | 2:00 p.m.
Kelley Rink | Chestnut Hill, Mass.
GAME NOTES
- Boston College held the 33-29 lead in shots on goal ... BC went 1-for-3 on the power play while Merrimack was 0-for-2.
- BC now holds a 20-1-0 mark in the all-time series with Merrimack ... the Eagles have a mark of 11-0-0 at Kelley Rink ... head coach Katie Crowley is now 20-1-0 in her career against the Warriors.
- This marked the first time that BC has overcome a three-goal deficit for a win since a 4-3 win over Dartmouth on Oct. 23, 2011.
- Abigail Levy finished with 25 saves for Boston College.
- With the victory, BC pushes its Hockey East winning streak to seven games.
- Hannah Bilka tied a career-high with four points on three goals and one assist ... it was her sixth career multi-goal game and 21st career multi-point game.
- Bilka's hat trick is the second of her career ... her last came in a four-goal performance on Oct. 3, 2019 at Holy Cross and also included a short-handed goal and the game-winning goal.
- It was the first hat trick for a BC player since Delaney Belinskas on Jan. 17, 2020.
- Bilka now has eight career game-winning goals and five game-winning goals.
- With her goal, Bilka has now scored at least once against every Hockey East school.
- Maddie Crowley-Cahill had a career-high three points on two goals and one assist ... this marks the second consecutive game that Crowley-Cahill has scored two goals.
- Kelly Browne's three assists give her 29 career multi-point games.
- Abby Newhook had two assists for her 11th multi-point game of the season ... Newhook had her goal-scoring streak snapped at eight games but extended her point streak to nine games.
- Browne's assist on Bilka's winner marks the 19th time in her career that she has assisted on a game-winning goal ... Newhook assisted on a game-winning goal for the second time this season.
- Willow Corson registered her an assist to reach 50 career points.
- Alexie Guay had her point streak snapped at eight games.
- Caroline Goffredo had one goal and one assist for her fifth career multi-point game and third straight multi-point game.
- Keri Clougherty blocked a game-high five shots.
TEAM RECORDS
Merrimack: 5-22-1, 4-18-1 HEA
Boston College: 18-12-0, 15-8-0 HEA
UP NEXT
- Boston College and Merrimack will close out the Hockey East regular season series tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Lawler Rink.
