Chestnut Hill, Mass. - Boston College got one step closer to making the Hockey East tournament by defeating Providence, 4-2, on Friday afternoon. The Eagles now sit in the fourth spot in the conference standings, leading Boston University by one point. In a game that honored the seven BC seniors, two of them netted goals and sophomore Kelli Stack scored the other two in the win. The Eagles improved to 14-13-6, 9-9-2 in league matchups. The Friars dropped to 15-15-3, 10-8-2 in Hockey East.
Senior Colleen Harris started off the scoring with her third goal of the season at the 5:38 mark in the first period. She nailed sophomore Gabrielle Beaudry's rebound past goalie Danielle Ciarletta to put the Eagles up 1-0. Junior Stephanie Olchowski was also credited with an assist.
The Friars evened the scored on a 3x5 situation later in the first. At 12:02, junior Meghan Fardelmann was whistled for hooking and then senior Deborah Spillane was slapped with a body checking penalty at 13:33. PC managed to get off three-straight shots in the waning seconds of the power play. After two saves, the third shot by Mari Pehkonen slipped past sophomore goalie Molly Schaus for the tying goal. Jean O'Neill and Erin Normore picked up the assists for taking the first two shots.
Senior Erin Blood put the Eagles back up one with a goal in the 17th minute. Beaudry got in a battle for the puck on the right side of the boards in the Friars' end and managed to kick it out to Harris. Harris skated around the back of the net and centered it directly in front of the net. Blood snuck up and fired the waiting puck into the back of the net for her first goal of the season.
The two teams skated to a scoreless second stanza and Providence outshot BC, 10-3. The Eagles did kill a second 3x5 situation to keep their one-goal lead.
It took the Eagles almost 15 minutes in the final fram to net their third goal, but Stack recorded an unassisted score to give the team some insurance. She stole the puck from the Providence defense at center ice and eluded every black jersey in her way take Ciarletta one-on-one. Stack scored her 20th goal of the season to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead.
The Friars pulled Ciarletta with 1:45 remaining in the game. The extra skater helped as Cherie Hendrickson scored with one minute remaining in the game to pull within one. Danielle Tangredi and O'Neill picked up the assists as Hendrickson managed to slip one past Schaus during a scramble in front of the net.
Ciarletta returned, but was taken out again as the seconds ticked off the clock. Stack took a shot from just in front of the center line on the left side and hit the empty net with four seconds remaining in the game. It marked the second time this season Stack has scored an empty-net goal.
The Friars outshot the Eagles, 37-19, and Schaus recorded 35 saves in her 14th win. The Eagles did not score on their two power-play opportunities and killed three of the Friar's five man-up chances.
BC completes its regular season with a game at Providence at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 1.