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No. 9 Women's Hockey Earns Hockey East Regular Season Co-Championship Honors
March 6, 2005
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (March 6, 2005). -- The No. 9 Providence College women's hockey team captured its second HOCKEY EAST regular season title, as it defeated Northeastern, 2-1 at Schneider Arena in Providence, R.I. The Friars hold the No. 1 seed in the league tournament set for March 12-13 at Boston University's Walter Brown Arena in Boston, Mass. Providence concludes the regular season with a 14-4-2 record in the league and 19-10-5 overall. In the first period of play, Providence stopped the Huskies' six shots, while Northeastern shut down 19 Friars' shots.
Jessica Coppney of Northeastern opened up the second period with a power play goal at 17:13 to put the Huskies up, 1-0. Coppney was assited by Nikki Petrich and Jennifer Beaudoin. Less than a minute later, senior Rush Zimmerman (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) tallied her 23rd goal of the season. Classmate Emily Gryp (Lexington, Mass.) and junior Karen Thatcher (Douglas, Mass.) assisted on the play. Heading into the third period, despite Providence holding a 40-14 shot advantage, the score was locked at 1-1.
Northeastern posted a game-high 11 shots in the third period that picked up the pace of the game but proved not to be enough for the victory. At 18:34 of the third period, Thatcher once again saved the day and posted her sixth game-winner with a 5x3 short handed goal. Freshman Kathleen Smith slapped the puck free at the blue line to Thatcher which led to a breakaway goal situation. Thatcher slapped the puck past Husky goaltender Marisa Hourihan to give the Friars their 14th conference victory this season. Providence ended the game outshooting Northeastern, 53-25, while going 0-for-6 on the power play. Senior Amy Thomas (Austin, Texas) made 24 saves, while Hourihan posted a game-high 51. The Friars return to action against the No. 4 seed Boston College in the semifinals of the 2005 Women's HOCKEY EAST Tournament Championship on Saturday, March 12. Providence will look to capture its fourth straight league title, and third consecutive HOCKEY EAST Tournament title.
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