The Edward T. Barry rink was rocking on the afternoon of Saturday, Feb. 15, as the UMass Boston women’s hockey team celebrated Senior Day and hosted the William Smith Herons for their final regular season game of the year— outlined with major seeding implications.
Honored were seniors Liz Kramp, Margeaux Butters, Allie Reifler, Gabby Shontz and Melina Maggio. With a win or tie in regulation, the Beacons would host their looming playoff game against William Smith, but with a loss they would have to travel up to upstate New York to face the Herons in enemy territory.
The game matched the atmosphere from the start, with big chances and fast-paced play from the first drop of the puck. Freshman Lily Hayes had a massive opportunity at the beginning of the first period, breaking away from the pack with only the goalie to beat, but a great save from William Smith’s Erin Murray contributed to a 0-0 score at the end of the first period, with the ice titled the Beacons’ way.
UMass Boston continued to control the puck, keeping William Smith in the defensive zone and applying consistent pressure.
UMass Boston’s freshman goaltender, Veronika Hadamovsky, had a spectacular game. She finished with 30 saves, some of her clutchest in the second period, where she stonewalled a handful of William Smith power-play opportunities. The two teams were dead even at 0-0 going into the third period. 16-16 on shots, setting up an exciting period.
The Herons came out of the break on fire, creating offensive zone turnovers, and peppering the Beacons with shots from around the crease. However, Hamadovsky stayed hot, making save after save and keeping UMass Boston alive.
Shockingly, with William Smith needing a win in regulation to obtain the coveted home court advantage, they pulled their goalie with 2 minutes left in the tied contest. With only a minute to spare, Senior Margeaux Butters took a shot from mid-ice, scoring her first goal of the year and putting the Beacons up 1-0, looking poised to host William Smith in the NEHC Playoffs. Nevertheless, the Herons were not done.
With 36 seconds remaining, William Smith’s Rowan Kennedy got in the slot for a beautiful one-timer, finally getting past Hamodovsky and tying the game in the fleeting seconds. Even with the pandemonium at the end of the game, the Beacons did what they needed to do, securing home ice. Overtime started out hot, with both teams creating chances. Hamodovsky came up huge once again, making her biggest save of the night, gloving a wrister from the slot to send the game to a shootout.
The Beacons would ultimately fall in the shootout, after a couple nice William Smith goals, ending their regular season with an NEHC record of 9-7-2.
A week later, the two teams met again in the Barry, this time for bigger stakes. A trip to the NEHC semi-finals.
The game started off eerily similar to the last; a flurry of chances on both ends with no goals to show. Senior Liz Kramp got warm, creating a big opportunity about mid-way through the first, but was turned away by William Smith goalie Erin Murray. To begin the second period, the Herons put the pressure on the Beacons, dominating the offensive zone and applying pressure on UMass Boston goalie Leah Bosch, who started in place of Hamodovsky.
However, the Beacons stayed focused, getting out of their defensive zone, and creating chances. A shot by Mergeaux Butters went wide, but allowed for Liz Kramp to get open, and capitalize, scoring the opening goal of the game and putting the Beacons on the board. The excitement didn’t last for long, as William Smith’s Madeline Diglio squared the game up at 1-1. With about a minute left in the second period, the Beacons got a power-play, putting what looked like every ounce of effort they had, sending nine shots at Erin Murray, but none of them converting leaving us at 1-1 entering the third. The tension inside the arena was palpable as the teams skated on to the ice for the third period. The team huddled one last time, looking focused on the task at hand before venturing onto the ice to take on the battle ahead.
The third period began awfully for the Beacons, as the Heron’s McKenzie O’Neal scored from the crease, and not long after Laine Heiser finished off a short-handed opportunity to make it 3-1, putting the Beacons on their last life. UMass Boston continued to play hard, but a penalty on Gianna Skelja killed the team’s momentum, and once again put them on their heels. Leah Bosch made some key saves to keep the game in reach, but after a couple rebounds close to the net, William Smith’s Lauren Legler scored, putting the game out of reach for the Beacons.
UMass Boston ended their season 10-14-2 and 9-7-2 in conference play, wrapping up another solid season as they look to capture that coveted NEHC trophy next year.
