Boston College Athletics
Photo by: John Quackenbos
"Pressure is a Privilege"
March 07, 2019 | Women's Hockey, #ForBoston Files
The Green Line Rivalry heads to Providence for Hockey East supremacy.
Overtime playoff hockey is an intense drama capable of creating real, complex emotions. The margin for error becomes razor thin because a season can continue or end in the blink of an eye. The game itself picks up its intensity and pace, but everything seems to slow down. Everyone on the ice ramps up their individual game, creating a collective perfection, but the game is often decided thanks to one, single mistake. It's beautiful and exhilarating just as much as it's tense and anxious.
So when Ryan Little pushed an overtime winner past UConn goaltender Morgan Fisher last weekend to give the Boston College women's hockey team a 5-4 win and quarterfinal series sweep, the reactions became an explosion of both sides.
"I didn't even know the puck went in," Boston College forward Lindsay Agnew said. "I was probably reaching down to get a drink of water, but then everyone was jumping onto the ice. Nobody even knew who scored until after the huddle was over. But jumping over the boards is just such a great feeling."
"I think I blacked out," teammate Caitrin Lonergan said. "I was on the ice and saw the goal go in, but I had no idea who scored it. I couldn't tell you anything for the first few minutes until well after the game ended. I saw the front of the net, and then I just jumped for pure joy. When that goal went in, I was just that much more excited. I was probably the most excited because I was the first person to actually see (the puck) go in."
Little's goal came just under halfway through overtime's 20-minute period, but it ended the Huskies' season and launched the Eagles into the Hockey East semifinal round. It extended BC's season, and it set a date for the team with its primary rival, Boston University, on Saturday at Providence's Schneider Arena.
"It's exciting any time you can extend your season a little longer," head coach Katie Crowley said. "Hopefully we can keep doing that, and we hope to do that again this weekend (against BU)."
This year has been a well-documented run into the unknown for the Eagles. The team's "slow start" featured a 12-3-0 overall record, but losses to both Northeastern and BU sent it on a twisting spiral through the middle portion of the year. A 1-6-0 stretch mired the Eagles in an unlikely slump, but they busted out of it to lose just one game since Jan. 11. This past weekend's sweep over UConn extended BC to a second half, 12-1-1 run that pushed it back inside the bubble of the NCAA Tournament run.
"It's been a different year for BC hockey because of that slump that we had around Christmas," Agnew said. "But we got back on track for the second half of the year. Those were two really big wins for us this past weekend, and now going into this weekend, we're just super pumped and ready to keep going."
"I think everyone turns on a different switch because these are the games that you want to be playing in," Lonergan said. "We've been talking about how 'pressure is a privilege' because this is do-or-die for everyone. We have to enjoy it as a team."
Ironically enough, both Lonergan and Agnew used that term: pressure is a privilege. It's a line that wasn't prompted by catchy coach-speak, and it wasn't prompted by anything anyone said. It signified a new attitude within the locker room, one where players simply enjoy the moment and dictate performance based on confidence in individuals as part of a collective unit.
BC trailed UConn, 3-1, near the end of two periods in Game 2 last weekend. Instead of being down, the players rallied to take a 4-3 lead, scoring right before the period and then quickly in the third period's first portion. A late extra-attacker goal forced overtime against the Eagles, but everyone remained confident and upbeat.
"I was just so excited that whole game, smiling on the bench the whole time," Lonergan said. "Even when we were losing, we weren't afraid. It's been different than in the past. I don't remember being down a goal or two, but it's happened a few times this year to us. I think we know that we're fine, and the whole team has that mentality. We were really loose, laughing in the locker room, and we were talking about what we needed to do to score that next goal."
"Our leaders do a tremendous job," Crowley said. "They do a great job every day in handling the ups and downs of keeping everyone positive and together. That kept the team spirit up, no matter what the score was, if we won a game or the outcome wasn't what we hoped for. Every player took that to heart, and you could see that in this last weekend against UConn."
For BC, it creates a narrative that drives it right towards a collision course with BU. The Terriers ousted Northeastern in the Beanpot first round this year, then beat Harvard in the championship game after the Crimson upset BC in their own opener. It was the first trophy for the team this year, and BU turned its sights on the Eagles after beating New Hampshire to the tune of an 8-2 aggregate score in its sweep.
BU has the roster capable of competing for postseason greatness. Jesse Compher and Sammy Davis both cleared 50 points in the first 36 games of the year, with Compher reaching 60 points thanks to 43 assists. Goaltender Corinne Schroeder boasts a .936 save percentage, and BU averaged less than two goals per game thanks to her 815 saves.
BC never trailed in the teams' first meeting, racing out to a 2-0 lead and holding off a Terrier attack with a 4-3 victory. But BU got the Eagles back with a pair of victories a week later, scoring seven goals across two games. It heated up the rivalry, which renews itself in the Hockey East postseason for the first time on Saturday since the Eagles trounced to a 5-0 conference championship in 2016. It'll be the first time the teams meet as ranked opponents since March 8, 2015 -- when No. 7 BU upset No. 1 BC, 4-1, in the conference title game.
"They have some talented players who can carry a team," Crowley said. "Jesse Compher, Sammy Davis, Corinne Schroeder - they're all really good players. It's a battle every shift. I don't think either team is going to hold back. When you get into these games, you feel like you can play a little bit more free hockey. There's a little bit less trapping and little bit less defensive mindedness. It's going to be a battle, for sure, both ways, and it's just going to be a fun game."
"We know they're going to be fast," Lonergan said. "They have some really good forwards who can put the puck away if you give them the time and the space. They have a really good power play, too, so it's important for us to stay out of the penalty box. They're so dangerous with three lines that can score, a good goaltender and a defense that can shoot. But they beat us at a time when we were vulnerable, and we've really changed since that first half of the year. We're on the same page, and I'm just excited to play our style and play hard."
It sets up for what should be an instant classic. The top four teams in Hockey East all advanced to this weekend's semifinal, and the BC-BU winner will meet either Northeastern or Providence in the championship game on Sunday. Northeastern is all but a lock for the national tournament, but BC and BU are on the bubble with Providence lurking in the shadows.
The rest of the Pairwise Rankings are incredibly packed, and a couple very good teams are likely to miss the tournament because of automatic bids. The BC-BU winner will help assure itself of some slotting, but fallout in the other conferences could conspire against the losing team. It makes this as close to an NCAA Tournament game as it can get.
"Having these stakes definitely adds some pressure, but pressure is that privilege," Agnew said. "It makes us think that our season can continue or be done. So it'll make us play with a little bit more of that chip on our shoulder."
"Every game that we've played felt like a playoff game," Lonergan said. "We wanted to win because we felt like we needed to. We feel like underdogs, and we've been battling all season long to win games. This is just another game that we want to win."
So when Ryan Little pushed an overtime winner past UConn goaltender Morgan Fisher last weekend to give the Boston College women's hockey team a 5-4 win and quarterfinal series sweep, the reactions became an explosion of both sides.
"I didn't even know the puck went in," Boston College forward Lindsay Agnew said. "I was probably reaching down to get a drink of water, but then everyone was jumping onto the ice. Nobody even knew who scored until after the huddle was over. But jumping over the boards is just such a great feeling."
"I think I blacked out," teammate Caitrin Lonergan said. "I was on the ice and saw the goal go in, but I had no idea who scored it. I couldn't tell you anything for the first few minutes until well after the game ended. I saw the front of the net, and then I just jumped for pure joy. When that goal went in, I was just that much more excited. I was probably the most excited because I was the first person to actually see (the puck) go in."
Little's goal came just under halfway through overtime's 20-minute period, but it ended the Huskies' season and launched the Eagles into the Hockey East semifinal round. It extended BC's season, and it set a date for the team with its primary rival, Boston University, on Saturday at Providence's Schneider Arena.
"It's exciting any time you can extend your season a little longer," head coach Katie Crowley said. "Hopefully we can keep doing that, and we hope to do that again this weekend (against BU)."
This year has been a well-documented run into the unknown for the Eagles. The team's "slow start" featured a 12-3-0 overall record, but losses to both Northeastern and BU sent it on a twisting spiral through the middle portion of the year. A 1-6-0 stretch mired the Eagles in an unlikely slump, but they busted out of it to lose just one game since Jan. 11. This past weekend's sweep over UConn extended BC to a second half, 12-1-1 run that pushed it back inside the bubble of the NCAA Tournament run.
"It's been a different year for BC hockey because of that slump that we had around Christmas," Agnew said. "But we got back on track for the second half of the year. Those were two really big wins for us this past weekend, and now going into this weekend, we're just super pumped and ready to keep going."
"I think everyone turns on a different switch because these are the games that you want to be playing in," Lonergan said. "We've been talking about how 'pressure is a privilege' because this is do-or-die for everyone. We have to enjoy it as a team."
Ironically enough, both Lonergan and Agnew used that term: pressure is a privilege. It's a line that wasn't prompted by catchy coach-speak, and it wasn't prompted by anything anyone said. It signified a new attitude within the locker room, one where players simply enjoy the moment and dictate performance based on confidence in individuals as part of a collective unit.
BC trailed UConn, 3-1, near the end of two periods in Game 2 last weekend. Instead of being down, the players rallied to take a 4-3 lead, scoring right before the period and then quickly in the third period's first portion. A late extra-attacker goal forced overtime against the Eagles, but everyone remained confident and upbeat.
"I was just so excited that whole game, smiling on the bench the whole time," Lonergan said. "Even when we were losing, we weren't afraid. It's been different than in the past. I don't remember being down a goal or two, but it's happened a few times this year to us. I think we know that we're fine, and the whole team has that mentality. We were really loose, laughing in the locker room, and we were talking about what we needed to do to score that next goal."
"Our leaders do a tremendous job," Crowley said. "They do a great job every day in handling the ups and downs of keeping everyone positive and together. That kept the team spirit up, no matter what the score was, if we won a game or the outcome wasn't what we hoped for. Every player took that to heart, and you could see that in this last weekend against UConn."
For BC, it creates a narrative that drives it right towards a collision course with BU. The Terriers ousted Northeastern in the Beanpot first round this year, then beat Harvard in the championship game after the Crimson upset BC in their own opener. It was the first trophy for the team this year, and BU turned its sights on the Eagles after beating New Hampshire to the tune of an 8-2 aggregate score in its sweep.
BU has the roster capable of competing for postseason greatness. Jesse Compher and Sammy Davis both cleared 50 points in the first 36 games of the year, with Compher reaching 60 points thanks to 43 assists. Goaltender Corinne Schroeder boasts a .936 save percentage, and BU averaged less than two goals per game thanks to her 815 saves.
BC never trailed in the teams' first meeting, racing out to a 2-0 lead and holding off a Terrier attack with a 4-3 victory. But BU got the Eagles back with a pair of victories a week later, scoring seven goals across two games. It heated up the rivalry, which renews itself in the Hockey East postseason for the first time on Saturday since the Eagles trounced to a 5-0 conference championship in 2016. It'll be the first time the teams meet as ranked opponents since March 8, 2015 -- when No. 7 BU upset No. 1 BC, 4-1, in the conference title game.
"They have some talented players who can carry a team," Crowley said. "Jesse Compher, Sammy Davis, Corinne Schroeder - they're all really good players. It's a battle every shift. I don't think either team is going to hold back. When you get into these games, you feel like you can play a little bit more free hockey. There's a little bit less trapping and little bit less defensive mindedness. It's going to be a battle, for sure, both ways, and it's just going to be a fun game."
"We know they're going to be fast," Lonergan said. "They have some really good forwards who can put the puck away if you give them the time and the space. They have a really good power play, too, so it's important for us to stay out of the penalty box. They're so dangerous with three lines that can score, a good goaltender and a defense that can shoot. But they beat us at a time when we were vulnerable, and we've really changed since that first half of the year. We're on the same page, and I'm just excited to play our style and play hard."
It sets up for what should be an instant classic. The top four teams in Hockey East all advanced to this weekend's semifinal, and the BC-BU winner will meet either Northeastern or Providence in the championship game on Sunday. Northeastern is all but a lock for the national tournament, but BC and BU are on the bubble with Providence lurking in the shadows.
The rest of the Pairwise Rankings are incredibly packed, and a couple very good teams are likely to miss the tournament because of automatic bids. The BC-BU winner will help assure itself of some slotting, but fallout in the other conferences could conspire against the losing team. It makes this as close to an NCAA Tournament game as it can get.
"Having these stakes definitely adds some pressure, but pressure is that privilege," Agnew said. "It makes us think that our season can continue or be done. So it'll make us play with a little bit more of that chip on our shoulder."
"Every game that we've played felt like a playoff game," Lonergan said. "We wanted to win because we felt like we needed to. We feel like underdogs, and we've been battling all season long to win games. This is just another game that we want to win."
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