Hockey East Online

	TPS Hockey Player of the Week Jenelle Kohanchuk of Boston University

WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- In the first ever quarterfinal round of Women’s Hockey East tournament action, both host schools, Boston University and Providence, downed their opponents, advancing to the semi-final round at New Hampshire next weekend. The Friars blanked Connecticut 3-0, while BU topped Northeastern 2-1. Both No. 1 seed UNH and No. 2 Boston College enjoyed bye weeks, and will return to action against PC (12pm) and BU (3pm), respectively, next weekend in the WHEA semifinals on Saturday, March 7.

Pure Hockey Co-Defensive Player of the Week Genevieve Lacasse (Scarborough, Ont.) recorded her sixth shutout of the season on Saturday afternoon, stopping 20 UConn shots en route to a 3-0 victory. Mari Pehkonen (Tampere, Finland) and Laura Veharanta (La Verne, Calif.) each tallied two points in the victory at Schneider Arena. Veharanta leads all WHEA rookies with 31 points on the year and was named Mission Rookie of the Week for her efforts.

BU’s point leader, Jenelle Kohanchuk (Winnipeg, Man.) broke a 1-1 tie in the third, leading the Terriers to a 2-1 victory over Northeastern at Walter Brown Arena on Saturday afternoon, earning her TPS Hockey Player of the Week honors. BU is now unbeaten in its last seven contests. Pure Hockey Co-Defensive Player of the Week Florence Schelling (Oberengstringen, Switzerland) made 35 saves in the losing effort. BU co-captain Gina Kearns (Norwood, Pa.) opened scoring in the first, earning her 102nd career point, while Missy Elumba (Cottage Grove, Minn.) netted the lone Husky goal in the second.

Gina Kearns, BU (Sr, F, Norwood, Pa.) Scored a power-play goal to put the Terriers on the board in BU’s 2-1 win over Northeastern.

Allyse Wilcox, BU (Sr, G, Grand Blanc, Mich.) Made 22 saves while allowing only one goal in the Terriers’ 2-1 win over Northeastern

GINA KEARNS, BU (NORWOOD, PA.) Has tallied three goals and three assists in a five-game point streak

JENELLE KOHANCHUK, BU (WINNIPEG, MAN.) Has tallied six goals and four assists in a six-game point streak

Genevieve Lacasse , PC (Fr., G, Scarborough , Ont.) Recorded 18 saves en route to her sixth shutout of the season in PC’s 3-0 victory over Connecticut in the Hockey East Quarterfinals

Mari Pehkonen , PC (Sr., F, Tampere, Finland ) Registered 2 points (1g, 1a) in the Hockey East Quarterfinals

Laura Veharanta , PC (Fr., F, La Verne, Calif.) Tallied a goal, the game-winner, and an assist to lead Providence over Connecticut on Saturday

Boston College: Entering the Hockey East Tournament as the No. 2 seed and a bye in the quarterfinals Boston College brings the No. 2 offense (3.24 g/gm) and No. 1 (1.67 g/gm) defense in the league to Saturday’s semifinal against Boston University…The Eagles and Terriers have met three times in the regular season splitting the difference 1-1-1…Saturday’s semifinal game will be the first time the Eagles and Terriers will meet in the post-season.

Boston University: The Terriers won their first-ever playoff game with their 2-1 victory over Northeastern on Saturday…It was the first postseason game that BU had ever hosted…The Terriers advance to the Hockey East semifinals for the second straight season…Freshman Jenelle Kohanchuk scored the game-winning goal to extend her point streak to six games…Senior Gina Kearns scored BU’s first-ever postseason goal and extended her point streak to five games…The Terriers are unbeaten in their last seven games.

University of Connecticut: The 2008-09 season came to an end for Connecticut in February with a 3-0 loss at Providence in the Hockey East Quarterfinal on the final day of the month. Monique Weber (Rogers, Minn.) emerged as an offensive leader with three goals and four assists for seven points this month. Both gamewinning goals scored for the Huskies were scored by Nicole Tritter (Toronto, Ont.). Tritter scored in overtime to snap a three-game losing streak to the Friars on Feb. 1. UConn lost in a seven-round shootout against Boston University and won at Maine in shootout the following weekend. The Huskies season ends with a 19-12-4 overall record, including a 12-9-1 mark in Hockey East play.

University of New Hampshire: UNH enters Saturday’s semifinal game with a six-game winning streak in the Hockey East Championship Tournament…This will mark the third consecutive year that UNH faces off against PC in the league tourney; UNH defeated the Friars in the ’07 and ’08 title games…It will be the fifth Hockey East postseason meeting between these programs, but the first in a semifinal game…UNH has a 5-1 record in Hockey East semifinal games and a 3-2 mark in title games…The Wildcats have never faced BU in the Hockey East tourney; they are 1-0 vs. BC with a win in the ’06 title game…Sam Faber was the tourney MVP in ’06 and ’08…UNH has a 24-3 lifetime record in home postseason games and that includes 2-0 in Hockey East.

Northeastern University: Sophomore Kristi Kehoe (Bakersfield Calif.) finishes as Northeastern’s leading point-scorer for the second year in a row...Senior Missy Elumba (Cottage Grove, Minn.) scored her first career playoff goal Saturday against Boston University...eight of Northeastern’s 12 wins in 2008-09 came when the Huskies were outshot by their opponents...Florence Schelling finishes the season with a .932 save percentage, the best season save percentage by a Huskies’ goalie since Chanda Gunn posted a .938 in 2003-04...In her first year with Northeastern, Julia Marty finishes the season with the team’s best plus-minus rating.

Providence College: With the 3-0 victory over Connecticut, the Friars join UNH as the only teams to reach the Hockey East semifinals in every season since the inception of Women’s Hockey East... Saturday’s game against the Wildcats will mark the fifth time in seven years the two arch rivals will face off in the Hockey East Tournament... Mari Pehkonen has been sensational for PC in post season play having notched four goals, one game-winner and three on the power-play, in five games.