FILE PHOTO
Katie Burt had a busy first period, but still managed to shut out St. Lawrence Saturday.
By JOSHUA KUMMINS
CHESTNUT HILL — After last Sunday’s Hockey East championship victory over Northeastern, Boston College head coach Katie Crowley talked about how her team just “wanted it.”
On Saturday in the NCAA Quarterfinals, it was more of the same for the fourth-ranked Eagles, who used a 24-save shutout from Lynn’s Katie Burt to earn a 6-0 win over St. Lawrence.
“I thought our team played really well,” Crowley said after the Eagles punched their second consecutive Frozen Four ticket and improved to 28-5-5 on the season. “They did ― and all year, they have done ― everything that we’ve asked of them.
“I really thought they showed that, playing a full 60 minutes and finding a way to put pucks in when we needed to. That really helped us get in the groove and start playing our brand of hockey.”
The Eagles’ strong play extended from the goaltender on out, as Burt pitched her eighth shutout of the season, making 11 of her stops in the first period.
With the win, the Burt and the Eagles are confident heading into their seventh-ever NCAA semifinal. BC will face No. 1 Wisconsin, which earned a 7-0 win over Robert Morris in its tournament opener, Friday at 6 p.m. at Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo.
“Having confidence going into the Frozen Four is going to be really important,” Burt said. “I’m a goalie who relies a lot on confidence, so having the experience that I’ve been there before will be really good for me.”
BC left much of its scoring until the last minute in both games last weekend, needing at least one overtime period in order to defeat both Vermont and Northeastern in Hockey East postseason contests.
Both teams got off to a slow start and the Eagles were actually outshot by an 11-7 margin in the first period, but junior Kenzie Kent’s power-play goal off a feed from sophomore Makenna Newkirk with 1:24 left set the wheels in motion.
Senior Kristyn Capizzano doubled BC’s lead on a rebound effort just 1:51 into the second before classmate Andie Anastos started the rout with a shorthanded tally at 5:56.
It was quickly a much different game, and Burt sure didn’t mind it that way.
“It’s great when we can put a few in early, rather than waiting until the third period or overtime,” said Burt, whose 91 career wins are tied with two-time U.S. Olympian Jessie Vetter of Wisconsin for sixth-most in NCAA history. “It gives me a lot of confidence when we can get a lead. It helps me out a ton.”
Not only did Burt give BC confidence, but its offense did.
“I thought we just put a few more in than (St. Lawrence) did,” Crowley said.
There was only one problem. Burt did not let up, while the Eagles scored twice more in the middle frame before Newkirk added a third-period goal, becoming one of five BC players to record a multi-point game.
SLU’s offensive struggles were not for a lack of effort or quality as the final total only favored the Eagles by a 28-24 margin, but Burt was there when she needed to be.
And, her defense helped contain a top line of Hannah Miller, Brooke Webster, and Kennedy Marchment that was one of the nation’s best all season, combining for 161 points.
There was not much flashy about this win, no saves for the highlight reel. This one was an all-around effort.
“Burt is always back there,” said Anastos, who scored BC’s first of two shorthanded goals on a breakaway at 5:56 of the second period. “We know she’s back there and that she’s going to make big saves, so that just pushes us more to go out there and score goals because she can’t really score goals.”
She can’t really score goals, yet anyway. Who knows what we’ll see at the Frozen Four?
Joshua Kummins can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKummins.
