Women's Hockey: ALIVE... BARELY

One game. One more game. BC upended Providence 4-2 today at Conte Forum, keeping their season alive. Now there's just one more to go, at Providence tomorrow. BC pretty much has to win. There are a large number of really complicated and oddball tiebreaker scenarios whereby BC could lose and still make it in; they could also win, and still not make it in. But winning gives them a damn good chance.

My recap from USCHO:

"Oh my god... wow. Huge win.

My Milan/Liverpool analogy was perfect as just like Liverpool, the Eagles got a ton of lucky breaks tonight and took advantage of them.

The following things happened to Providence:
-they kicked in a goal that they probably could have easily knocked in with a stick (the net was empty)
-they had a shot go off the inside of the post and fly out
-they scored a goal right after a BC player touched up (barely) on a delayed penatly
-BC scored a goal after a 10-second digging session in the corner during which Howard (!!!!!!!!!) probably should have blown the whistle.

Yeah... we got a little lucky. Who cares?

This reminded me a bit of last year. BC FLEW out of the gate, dominating the first period. They led 2-1 after 1 but it easily could have been a much bigger lead - Ciarletta made a few ridiculous saves.

Then the Eagles just sort of died in the second and third. All of the old problems were plaguing them: bunching up around the goalie, screening her in the process and leaving the defensemen wide open at the point... not converting on breakaway opportunities... having one player carry it coast-to-coast and not try to pass and set up a play... taking penalty after penalty after penalty after penalty... Schaus giving up a soft goal with under a minute to go...

Yet somehow BC held on.

And now, it's a one game season, and ANYTHING can happen in one game."