No. 1 Seed Huskies Win Hockey East Championship for First Time in Program History
STORRS, Conn. - The No. 1 seeded UConn women's ice hockey team took down No. 2 seeded Northeastern in overtime with 35 seconds left with a game-winning goal by Megan Woodworth; sending the Huskies to their first NCAA tournament in program history in the 24 years of being a program Saturday afternoon at Toscano Family Ice Forum.
Junior goaltender Tia Chan won Hockey East most valuable player with an impressive 38 saves in the game. Meanwhile, Northeastern goaltender Gwyneth Philips had 51 saves.
In the first, the Huskies would battle with the Northeastern Huskies trying to knock one in. Both teams had close chances putting up 10 shots on target each. The score remained scoreless after the first.
UConn started out with a strong offense ripping six quick shots on target in the first six minutes of the period. The Huskies would be called for the first penalty for the first time in the game with a cross checking call on Camryn Wong, but UConn would kill the foul call. UConn fired13 shots on target to Northeastern's nine. The game stayed scoreless after two.
The third period got off to a fast-paced start for UConn. The Huskies forced two penalties to have a 5 on 3 advantage and then a five-minute major penalty for game misconduct to give the Huskies a 5 on 2 advantage. Northeastern would kill all three penalties with many scoring chances, pushing UConn's shot total to 30 in the game. The Huskies outshot Northeastern by seven with 15 in the period and 38 in the game. The score stayed at 0 after three.
In overtime, UConn kept fighting hard slapping numerous shots on goal with a massive 59 shots on target total. As the clock was winding down with under a minute to go with 35 seconds left in overtime, Ainsley Svetek got a pass from Riley Grimley to then slap one on goal as Megan Woodworth got the deflection to hit top shelf to send UConn to national tournament for the first time in program history.
Up Next
The Huskies get the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament going from March 22-24 at Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, N.H. More details to come.
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