Healey, Bochna come through as BU women's hockey advances to Beanpot Final in dramatic fashion

Today at 07:01 PM

BOSTON — Sydney Healey could not wipe the smile off her face. 

The junior forward had just scored the tying goal of the Beanpot semifinal against Harvard with 55 seconds remaining in the third period and was skating back to the bench of the Boston University women’s hockey team, which had turned into a makeshift dogpile. Healey’s facial expression resembled some combination of shock, relief and absolute elation. 

BU appeared down and out after trailing for most of the third period to lowly Harvard (2-12-2), but Healey's dramatics sent the game to overtime, where grad student Lindsay Bochna sealed a 2-1 win with a snipe from the left circle.

When it was gut check time, BU came through

For most of this game, BU struggled to generate anything against Harvard's stout defense. Grade-A chances were almost impossible to come by for the Terriers, and BU couldn't finish the chances it did create. 

Enter Sydney Healey. She nearly scored with BU's net empty with about 3:30 to go, and made no mistake when she had another chance a few minutes later. From there, a BU win felt inevitable with momentum completely on the Terriers' side. And it was Bochna — a veteran leader on the team, like Healey — who delivered the heroics and clinched the Terriers a spot in the late game at TD Garden.

All four of BU's lines showed up

It would be difficult to find a shift from the game in which any of BU's lines were outplayed. The talent gap between the Terriers and Crimson was evident, and it showed up and down the lineup. 

BU's top combination of graduate Lindsay Bochna, junior Lilli Welcke and junior Sydney Healey generated several chances, and Bochna made a key block on the other end of the ice. 

The second line of junior Luisa Welcke, senior Christina Vote and junior Clara Yuhn was impactful, too, thanks in large part to the speed and shiftiness of Vote — who drew back into the lineup after getting injured late in Saturday's 3-2 loss at Vermont. 

Both lines in the bottom six also played well — especially the third line of freshman Kaileigh Quigg, sophomore Alex Law and junior Riley Walsh.

The Crimson did not beat themselves

In her weekly media call on Monday, BU head coach Tara Watchorn described Harvard as "fast," "skilled" and "disciplined." 

Even Watchorn admitted that the response consisted of "generic answers," but her assessment of Harvard's discipline proved correct. 

Overmatched as they may have been, the Crimson made few mistakes and forced the Terriers to break them down in the offensive zone. BU hardly had any odd-skater rushes, and struggled to finish the chances it could generate.

Harvard has done it before against ranked opponents — the Crimson's two wins prior to Tuesday's triumph were against then No. 14 Yale (5-1 on Nov. 1) and No. 8 UConn (1-0 on Oct. 19). 

They came oh-so-close to doing it again, but not close enough.

How it happened:

The Terriers dominated the first two periods and outshot Harvard, 20-5, in that span, but the Crimson jumped on the board at 1:42 of the third period, when sophomore forward Angelica Megdanis snapped the puck past BU netminder Callie Shanahan after a feed from senior forward Gabi Davidson Adams. 

The Crimson nearly scored another with 14:13 left in the third, when freshman Ella Lucia found herself alone on a breakaway. Shanahan made multiple stops to keep it a one-goal deficit.

Sydney Healey nearly tied it up with just over 3:30 to go with a look from the slot, but the puck deflected off Harvard goalie Ainsley Tuffy and up into the air. Luisa Welcke tried to bat the puck in out of mid-air, but Tuffy made another impressive stop. 

On her next chance, Healey made no mistake. She collected the puck at the right bumper and sniped it into the roof of the net with 55 seconds remaining in regulation. Tuffy stood no chance. 

Julia Shaunessy nearly won it for BU in overtime, blasting a shot off the post at 2:03 of overtime. But the Terriers kept the pressure coming, resulting in Bochna's tally at 3:43 of the extra period.