DURHAM, N.H. - Junior Maddie Truax (Gardner, Mass.) tallied her first career game-winning goal 2:15 into the overtime period, as the University of New Hampshire women's ice hockey team bounced back from a tough loss Friday night against UConn, to defeat the Huskies 1-0 on Saturday.
Truax's goal was her first of the season and the second of her career, as she picked up the loose puck after a scrum in front of the net and knocked it down off the crossbar and in.
The Wildcats got a solid outing from freshman goaltender Nikki Harnett (Plymouth, Minn.) as she stopped all 32 UConn shots on net for her first career shutout in just her third career start. Her record on the season is now 2-1-1.
GAME INFORMATION:
Date: January 11, 2020
Location: Whittemore Center - Durham, N.H.
Attendance: 416
Score: UNH 1 (11-9-2, 8-7-1 Hockey East) UConn 0 (12-9-1, 9-5-1 Hockey East)
Goals:
UNH (1) - Maddie Truax (OT, GW)
UConn (0) -
Assists:
UNH (1) - Carlee Turner
UConn (0) -
Goaltenders:
UNH - Nikki Harnett - 14-10-8-0 - 32 (0 GA) {62:15} (W)
UConn - Morgan Fisher - 9-12-10-1 - 32 (1 GA) {62:04} (L)
GAME RECAP
- The closest opportunity to be the first on the scoreboard came at 15:23 of the first period when the Wildcats were on their second power-play of the game and Lauren Martin (Cambridge, Ontario) was able to get a one-time touch on a through pass. UConn kept the sore 0-0 when Morgan Fisher made a sliding blocker save.
- The first period was scoreless and UConn outshot UNH by a 14-9 margin. UNH went 0-2 on the powerplay, and UConn went 0-1.
- Just over 5 minutes into the second period, Nikki Harnett kept the game scoreless on a sliding glove side blocker save on a backdoor pass opportunity.
- At 14:53 of the second period, Emily Rickwood (Brantford, Ontario ) sent the puck to Tamara Thiérus (Saint-Jérôme, Quebec) at the blue line for a breakaway, but the pass was just out of her reach, and Fisher came off her line to break up the short-handed scoring chance.
- With just over three minutes left in the second period, UNH once again had a break away opportunity, but Tori Howran (Bancroft, Ontario) was unable to send the puck past Fisher, the rebound gave UConn a breakaway on the other end, but two consecutives saves from Harnett kept the second period once again scoreless.
- UNH outshot UConn 12-10 in the second period, while both went 0-1 on the powerplay.
- At 9:43 of the third, UNH had three consecutive scoring opportunities from the slot, and left circle from Thierus, Howran and Truax, but Fisher held strong to keep the score 0-0.
- Nikki Harnett made a diving glove save on a raised shot from Catherine Crawley right outside the crease keeping the score 0-0 at 14:11 of the third period.
- The third period went scoreless with UNH edging UConn in shots by a margin of 10-8, while UConn went 0-1 on the powerplay.
- Maddie Truax scored her first goal of the season off a rebound that came to her in the slot. She fired the puck top glove side while the goalie was scrambling to give the Wildcats an overtime win over UConn.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:
- 32 saves was a new career high for Harnett, her previous career-high was set last weekend at Penn State (25). She also had her best period of her career with 14 saves in the first.
- New Hampshire has had nine different game-winning goal scorers this season in its 11 wins.
- New Hampshire is now 3-5-0 in the first game of a back-to-back set, and 5-2-1 in the second game.
- The 'Cats are now 2-0-2 in overtime this season, and 2-0-0 when tied after two periods.
PENALTIES
UNH: 2-4 UConn: 4-8
POWER PLAYS
UNH: 0-4 UConn: 0-2
NEW HAMPSHIRE LEADERS:
Points (1): Maddie Truax
Goals (1): Maddie Truax
Assists (0):
Shots (5): Maddie Truax
Blocked Shots (3): Emily Rickwood
Faceoffs (12): Taylor Wenczkowski, Carlee Turner
UCONN LEADERS:
Points (0):
Goals (0):
Assists (0):
Shots (5): Natalie Snodgrass, Viki Harkness
Blocked Shots (3): Emily Reid
Faceoffs (10): Danielle Fox
