Re: BC Women's Hockey '14-'15: #SOAR
Grant is down on this game because he is a grump who is being bothered by icicles. I thought it was a great game for the team to have to play at this time of the season because we had to work hard all the way through. You aren't going to dominate every game, and it's important to demonstrate that we can stick with it in the games that we don't dominate. Not only did we stick with it, we got the shutout due to a combination of solid defending that relied less on speed than usual and stellar goaltending, plus opportunistic scoring (two shorties!) at the other end. Not the way they usually play, but a very good way to beat Wisconsin. (Although taking a penalty every time we got on a power play has to go down as a bad idea, and one I hope we'll cut down on).
There was a good turnout too, decent atmosphere. Some gentlemen chose to come without shirts and with "WE R BC" chest paint which was eccentric but added to the mood.
Andie Anastos was on fire all game, creative with the puck and in the right place at the right time. She reminds me a lot of Carpenter two years ago before Carpenter got really fast. (In fact, when she was picking up the puck for her eventual goal, the third, the crowd behind the BU goal was shouting at her to go faster. Somehow she mesmerised the Terriers into letting her waltz through the middle of them). She's been hot all February, good to see her come out of her little sophomore slump at just the right time. If she works on the speed over the summer she could easily be back on USA Hockey's radar.
Kaliya Johnson had one job, to get the puck off BU, and she did that job great, stripping Poulin time after time.
Toni Ann Miano got a super goal, but spent most of the evening doing what she does best, blocking shots and being rock steady in the blue zone.
Kate Leary managed a MAGNIFICENT spinning fall to get a tripping penalty on Lefort in the second period. It probably was tripping, but she made it look like NUCLEAR tripping.
That was senior night, so a stick tap to Emily Field, Erin Kickham, Kate Leary and Emily Pfalzer (and a graduate stick tap to Danielle Doherty). Emily Field was the first BC player we ever talked to and her trademark one-on-two breakaways have provided some of BC's most memorable moments, not to mention her less pretty but even more important PP goal over Minnesota in the 2013 Frozen Four that put BC in front going into the third. Erin Kickham has been a great off-ice leader and role player, happy to play D or F as necessary, always very kind to fans, and closed out her career in style by getting her first assist and first goal in the same game against Northeastern back in January: her cellie after that is one of my favorite moments of the year. Kate Leary is the dark horse of the class, never quite on USA hockey's radar but with incredible hands and passion: as I liked to say, if you thought from the play that Skarupa had the puck, and then you realised it wasn't Skarupa, then it was Kate Leary. And Emily Pfalzer, now three points off being the first BC defenseman to get 100 points in her career, has been an absolute dynamo and key in the transformation of the BC defence into the aggressive, puck-moving monster that it's become and that it will continue to be with Flanagan, Keller, and Miano.
It's an irreplaceable class, but it has to be replaced. Best of luck to all of them. We'll miss them.
