March 8, 2008

Box Score

Storrs, Conn. - The Providence College women's ice hockey team upset the No. 10 ranked Huskies of Connecticut in the Hockey East Tournament semifinals to earn their second straight Championship game appearance. Mari Pehkonen (Tampere, Finland) had two first period goals to lead the Friar attack. With the win, Providence improves to 16-15-4 on the season, while Connecticut falls to 22-8-5.

Providence was able to earn an early power play at 4:06 of the first period when Kelli Doolin (Dorchester, Mass.) smartly played the puck in front of the UConn bench to put the Huskies in the box for too many skaters on the ice. Then UConn's Jennifer Chaisson was whistled for a contact to the head-high sticking penalty, giving the Friars a five-on-three advantage for 54 seconds. After early chances by Amber Yung (Rockville, Va.) and Pehkonen were thwarted by Husky goaltender Brittany Wilson, Pehkonen was able to give the Friars a 1-0 lead at 5:56 when she took a pass from Erin Normore (Cambridge, Ontario) down low, curled towards the front of the net through the bottom of the face-off circle and sent a wrister low past Wilson. Amber Yung also assisted on the play. At 7:17, freshman Alyse Ruff (Tualatin, Ore.) walked in on Wilson off of an offensive zone face-off win by Pehkonen, forcing the Husky defense to hook her down to put the Friars on the power play once again. And once again it was Pehkonen who found the back of the net. Yung took a shot from the point that was saved, but Jean O'Neill (Strafford, Pa.) got to the loose puck first and fired on Wilson, who made another save, but Pehkonen was waiting just outside the goal crease to give the Friars a 2-0 lead at 13:12.

In a second period laden with power-play chances for both teams the Friars were able to add to their lead, but first they were forced to kill off two penalties early when both Leigh Riley (Lexington, Mass.) and Katy Beach (Cleveland, Ohio) found their way to the penalty box. Then the Friars got two power play chances of their own. On the first it was UConn who created the best scoring chance as Brittany Murphy took advantage of a Friar turnover to break in alone on Friar goaltender Danielle Ciarletta (Blaine, Minn.), but Ciarletta came up with the glove save to keep UConn of the board. Then the Friars' Kathleen Smith (Waterloo, Ontario) put the Friars up 3-0 at 9:45 when she blasted a shot from the point past Wilson as PC's power-play chance was about to expire. Yung and Ruff assisted on the goal. The Friars then made it 4-0 late in the second as Doolin fired a low slap-shot that Wilson saved, but Pamela McDevitt (So. Boston, Mass.) tipped the rebound over the Cherie Hendrickson (Boxford, Mass.) who fired the puck into an open net as time expired.

The Friars played defensive hockey in the third. UConn was able to get on the board at 17:32 when they were skating with a six-on-four advantage, having pulled the goalie while on a power play. But the Friars were then able to close out the scoring for a 5-1 win when Normore forced a turnover at UConn's blueline and shot one in the empty net at 19:34.

In net, Ciarletta saved 15 shots for the Friars, while Wilson made 18 saves for UConn.

The Friars will face-off at 12:30 tomorrow in the Hockey East Championship game versus No. 2 ranked New Hampshire. It marks the fifth time in the six year history of the tournament that the Friars will play in the Championship game, and the fourth occasion they meet rival UNH in the Championship game. The game will be featured as a live radio bradcast through www.friars.com, and will also be shown at 6:00 p.m. on NESN.