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BOSTON – University of Maine senior goalie Lara Smart made her last appearance in a Black Bear uniform a memorable one.
But Providence College freshman right wing Sonny Watrous and sophomore left wing Karen Thatcher made sure it wasn’t a triumphant one.
Watrous broke a 2-2 tie with 9:06 remaining and Thatcher tallied the shorthanded clincher 6:17 later as the Friars beat the hard-working Black Bears 4-2 in their Hockey East semifinal at Matthews Arena Saturday afternoon.
Smart was sensational as she made 40 saves including 23 Grade-A (high-percentage) stops
The Friars outshot Maine 44-17 and were quicker and more skilled than the Black Bears.
But the Bears did a nice job clearing rebounds and tying up sticks in front of their net and were able to generate some odd-man rushes and occasional forecheck pressure.
Second seed Providence beat New Hampshire 3-2 in Sunday’s final to finish at 21-13-2. Third seed Maine concluded a 12-16-4 season.
“Lara was fantastic. She gave us a chance to win,” said Maine coach Rick Filighera. “Providence deserved to win. They were the better team. But I was so proud of our kids. They battled. Our defensive zone coverage was good. A lot of their chances were from the perimeter. We didn’t do a good job on our two-on-ones. We shot high a lot. We wanted to shoot low to create more rebounds.”
Smart said, “This was probably one of my best games [ever]. It would have been better if we had won.”
“She made a lot of awesome saves,” said Thatcher.
Senior defenseman Kelli Halcisak opened the scoring for Providence at the 14:52 mark of the first period before Maine freshman center Brigitte Laflamme equalized 58 seconds later and Kate Sunstrum, another Bear freshman center, made it 2-1 just 51 seconds after that.
Providence got the tying goal from sophomore right wing Katelynn Laffin 6:08 into the second period.
Watrous’ game-winner came off a Maine turnover just outside the blue line.
Rush Zimmerman broke into the zone down the left side and she slid it across to Watrous along the inner edge of the right circle.
“I pretty much one-timed it. In that situation, you try to go five-hole or blocker side. It went five-hole,” said Watrous, whose goal was her 16th of the season.
Smart got a healthy piece of her stick on it but the puck trickled through.
“I didn’t have enough strength on my stick,” said Smart.
Thatcher iced it just seconds after Maine’s Karen Droog had a glorious chance to draw the game level on the power play.
Laura Maddin had the puck at the right point and fed it across to the far post to an unattended Droog for a one-timer from 12 feet out.
“The puck was rolling. I tried to get as much as I could on it but it hit the side of the net,” said Droog.
As the power play progressed, Thatcher hounded Maine defenseman Morgan Janusc, knocked the puck off her stick, corralled it and cut across the top of the crease before tucking a backhander between Smart’s pads.
“I tried to pokecheck it but I missed it,” said Smart.
“I had to make up for the two-on-[0] I missed earlier in the period,” said Thatcher, who had missed the short side when she was set up by Hilary Greaves on the two-on-0.
Thatcher said Friar coach Bob Deraney has a checking drill they work on all year designed to force turnovers and it paid dividends.
Halcisak opened the scoring with a dynamic rink-length rush that she finished off by putting the puck between Smart’s pads.
Laflamme tied it when she swiped home a Droog rebound and Sunstrum gave Maine the lead by stealing the puck, slicing left to right across the low slot and beating Providence goalie Jana Bugden inside the far post.
Laffin drew the Friars level when she walked out of the right corner and shoveled the puck between Smart’s pads.
FRIARS 4, BLACK BEARS 2
Maine (12-16-4) 2 0 0 ? 2
Providence (20-13-2) 1 1 2 ? 4
First period ? 1. Providence, Halcisak 19 (unassisted), 14:52; 2. Maine, Laflamme 3 (Droog), 15:50; 3. Maine, Sunstrum 7 (Droog), 16:41. Penalties: Providence, Amrhein, checking, 17:11; Maine, Maddin, obstruction, 19:45
Second period ? 4. Providence, Laffin 5 (Youlen), 6:08. Penalties: Maine, Smethurst, tripping, 3:01; Providence, Zimmerman, high sticking, 14:22; Maine, Janusc, hooking, 18:52
Third period ? 5. Providence, Watrous 16 (Zimmerman, Bourget), 10:54; 6. Providence, Thatcher 9 (unassisted), 17:11 (sh). Penalties: Providence, Zimmerman, roughing, :18; Maine, Laflamme, tripping, 2:17; Providence, Zimmerman, roughing, 11:32; Providence, Gigliotti, holding the stick, 15:28; Maine, Aarts, checking, 17:56; Providence, Bourgette, cross-checking, 18:36
Shots on goal: Maine 8-2-7?17; Providence 17-14-13?44
Goaltenders: Maine, Smart (44 shots-40 saves); Providence, Bugden (17-15)
Power-play opportunities: Maine 0 of 6; Providence 0 of 5
High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 6-5-6?17; Providence 12-13-12?37
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