Boston College Athletics
Boston College Faces-Off Against Minnesota In NCAA Quarterfinals
March 13, 2009 | Women's Hockey
March 13, 2009
Minneapolis, Minn -
Boston College vs. Minnesota
NCAA Quarterfinals
Minneapolis, Minnesota Saturday, March 14, 2009 4 p.m.
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The Boston College women's ice hockey team travels to Minneapolis to take on the University of Minnesota Lady Gophers in the NCAA 2009 women's ice hockey championship. On the line, a spot in the 2009 Frozen Four at Agganis Arena hosted by Boston University.
The Road to the Post-Season... The Eagles enter the tournament as the #7 seed after a close loss to New Hampshire in the Hockey East Championship game. BC let in two goals in the first period before mounting an offensive attack in the third period to pull within one. Minnesota hosts the Eagles by virtue of the #2 ranking in tournament seeding. The Gophers lost in WCHA Championship game to the University of Wisconsin 5-3 on March 8.
The Last Time Out... This will be the fourth time in BC history that they face Minnesota. The first match-up between the two teams was in January of 1998, with the Gophers handing the Eagles a 4-3 loss. The two teams last met in a two game tilt last season at Ridder Arena. The first game ended in a 2-2 tie with Minnesota native Allie Thunstrom netting both goals for the Eagles. In the second game the Gophers topped BC 2-1 with then junior Shannon Webster netting the lone goal for the Eagles.
Homecoming... The Eagles roster boasts four players from Minnesota on its line chart, juniors Thunstrom and assistant captain Tracy Johnson and freshman Andrea Green and Danielle Welch all hail from the land of 10,000 lakes.
Meeting of The All-Stars... When BC and Minnesota face-off a Ridder Arena on Saturday it will be a meeting of some of the best women's ice hockey players of the country. The Eagles bring Hockey East TPS Player of the Year Kelli Stack (23g, 34a) 57 points up against WCHA Defensive Player of the Year Melanie Gagnon. Stack and fellow Hockey East First Team All-Stars Molly Schaus and Maggie Taverna and All-Rookie Team member Mary Restuccia will take the ice against Rookie of the Year Monique Lamoueux and her twin sister Jocelyne both members of the WCHA All-Rookie and All-WCHA First Teams.
Evenly Matched... BC enters the quarterfinals with the fourth best defense and penalty kill in the country. Minnesota enters Saturday's game with the third best. The Eagles defense only allows an average of 1.69 goals per game and the penalty kill has stopped 186/205 attempts and scored nine shorthanded goals for a 90.7 success rate. The Gophers allow only 1.61 goals per game and have a 90.8 success rate on the penalty kill.
Represent... The Eagles are one of two Hockey East teams to make the NCAA Tournament; New Hampshire claimed a spot with an automatic bid after winning the Hockey East Championship. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Minnesota-Duluth all qualified from the Western Collegiate Hockey League, Central Hockey League Champions Mercyhurst were the only team from their league to make it to the show and the ECAC has two representatives in St. Lawrence and league champions Dartmouth.
