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Heading into the weekend, the University of Maine women’s hockey team needed to grab at least one point to stay in the Hockey East playoff race.
The Black Bears did their part, picking up a crucial overtime victory after dropping the series opener against Boston University.
After the victory, the Black Bears gained another in the form of a University of New Hampshire loss, giving UMaine the sixth and final WHEC playoff spot.
The Black Bears improve to 12-16-5 and 6-12-3 in WHEC, while the Terriers sit at 25-4-4 overall and 15-2-3 in conference.
The Black Bears came out firing in the first period, ripping off eight quick shots at freshman goalie Kerrin Sperry. The Terriers survived the rush and the first period ended scoreless.
The Terriers opened the scoring up in the second period within the first 5 minutes. After UMaine sophomore forward Brianne Kilgour was booked for slashing, BU junior forward Jenn Wakefield scored her team-leading 26th goal.
With less than 7 minutes remaining in the second period, Wakefield doubled her total right after the conclusion of a Black Bear power play. Wakefield received the puck from freshman defender Kaleigh Fratkin and wristed the shot past UMaine sophomore goalie Brittany Ott.
The score stood at 2-0 after the final buzzer. Ott stopped 26 shots while Sperry stopped all 21 directed her way.
The series finale proved to be an emotional one, as the Black Bears came from behind to win in overtime on Senior Day.
Wakefield continued her goal streak, opening the scoring late in the first period off another nice pass by Fratkin. Wakefield is sixth in the country for goals scored.
The Black Bears grabbed their first goal of the weekend midway through the second period, after junior forward Danielle Ward found fellow junior forward Dawn Sullivan for the tying goal. The Black Bears gained the lead, with 5 minutes remaining in the second period, with a short-handed goal by sophomore forward Brittany Dougherty. After a tripping penalty by junior defender Ashley Norum, Dougherty was able to sneak the puck past Sperry for the go-ahead goal.
The Black Bears held this lead until there were 42 seconds remaining, when freshman defender Kayla Kaluzny went to the box for interference, which led to the second Terriers goal.
The Black Bears were able to respond with the game-winner less than 2 minutes into the overtime when senior forward Jennie Gallo scored on the power play. Kaluzny fired a shot that was initially stopped by Sperry and directly to Gallo for the easy putback.
Bangor Daily News