KACEY BELLAMY

BOX SCORE

BOSTON – Kacey Bellamy (Westfield, Mass.), Sam Faber (Mt. Sinai, N.Y.) and Jenn Wakefield (Pickering, Ontario) each recorded a goal and an assist to lead the seventh-ranked University of New Hampshire women’s ice hockey team to Sunday afternoon’s 3-3 Hockey East tie against sixth-ranked Boston University at Walter Brown Arena. BU won the shootout, 1-0, to gain the extra point in the league standings.

UNH is now 8-4-5 overall and 4-1-3 in Hockey East; the Wildcats are 1-3 in shootouts this season. BU moved to 8-4-4, 6-1-0 and 1-0-2 against UNH this season.

Following a scoreless five-minute overtime session in which the ‘Cats recorded a 2-1 shot advantage, including a Wakefield blast from the slot on which BU goaltender Melissa Haber made a glove save, the game went to the shootout.

As the home team, BU opted to shoot second. UNH’s Micaela Long (South Boston, Mass.) opened with a backhander that was stopped by Haber at the right post. Melissa Anderson (goal, assist) was then stopped by UNH goalie Kayley Herman (Weyburn, Saskatchewan) on her backhander.

In Round 2, Wakefield pulled the puck to the left and lifted a shot high of the cage. Laurel Koller shot next for the Terriers. She skated down the left circle and scored short-side to give BU the 1-0 lead through two rounds.

Faber then needed to score to extend the game, but Haber stood her ground as Faber skated down the slot, and the Terriers’ goalie made the save.

Herman finished with 23 saves, including 10 in the third period, and Haber stopped 29 shots with 15 saves in the second stanza.

The Terriers took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission on a Jenelle Kohanchuk goal at 2:36. Kohanchuk entered the offensive zone along the right dashers, fended off a defender as she cut through the circle and from close range lifted a backhanded shot into the upper-right corner of the net.

BU went on the power play at 8:26 and, just after it ended, Herman denied both Holly Lorms and Koller at the top of the crease.

UNH began to generate some dangerous breakouts in the latter half of the opening stanza. A Maggie Joyce (Hudson, Ohio) pass through the neutral zone sprung Kelly Paton (Woodstock, Ontario), who maneuvered from the right circle to the slot before firing a shot wide of the cage at 11:30. Two minutes later, Long led a rush along the right wing and she feathered a pass through the defense for Faber, whose shot from the slot sailed wide of the net.

The ‘Cats opened strong in the second period and in the opening minute, Long’s centering pass from the wing was redirected by Paton into Haber, who then fell backwards to cover the puck in the crease. In the fourth minute, Long’s pass from behind the net was quickly one-timed by Faber in the low slot, but Haber once again turned aside the ‘Cats.

UNH went on its second power play of the game at 5:32. Despite four shots on goal and a number of dangerous chances that were either blocked or just wide of the cage, BU held on to its 1-0 lead.

New Hampshire went back on the power play at 9:27 and scored 34 seconds later to even the score, 1-1.Faber won possession in the right corner and moved the puck to Bellamy at the high slot. Bellamy slid a pass to the left circle, where Wakefield blasted a shot that hit Haber and carried into the net.

The Wildcats took a 2-1 lead at 17:56 of the second period when Faber gathered the puck along the left endline, skated to the front of the net and lifted a shot that deflected off the prone Haber into the net. Joyce, with the outlet pass through the neutral zone, and Raylen Dziengelewski (Southwick, Mass.), were credited with assists.

Down 2-1 at the start of the final frame, BU pressured early but Anderson was denied by Herman at the left doorstep. In the seventh minute, Gina Kearns led an odd-skater rush down the left wing and her shot was enveloped by Herman.

UNH responded by taking a 3-1 lead at 8:14 when Bellamy’s shot from the left point deflected off a defender in the slot and into the net. Kelly Cahill (Farmington Hills, Mich.), with the pass from the opposite point, and Wakefield set up the tally.

The Terriers netted a power-play goal at 10:53 when Kohanchuk’s shot from the left doorstep glanced off Herman towards the right post and bounced off Tara Watchorn into the goal.

BU pulled even, 3-3, with 1:42 remaining in regulation on Anderson’s wraparound goal at the left post.

New Hampshire concludes the 2008 calendar year with two games this week. The Wildcats play host to Northeastern University on Dec. 9 and travel to play 10^th-ranked Harvard University on Dec. 12. Both games begin at 7 p.m.