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The University of Maine women’s hockey team needs just one win over Boston College or one University of Connecticut loss to Providence in season-ending action this weekend to earn a berth in the four-team Hockey East Tournament.
Maine is in the fourth and final Hockey East playoff slot, two points ahead of UConn.
Guy Perron’s Bears are also just two points behind third-place Providence.
Maine hosts second-place BC on Saturday and Sunday at noon while UConn plays a home-and-home set with the Friars.
The Bears hold the tiebreaker with UConn, winning two of the three meetings.
If Maine ties Providence, the Friars own the tiebreaker with a 1-0-2 series edge.
“We’re in a good spot. We control our own destiny and that’s where we want to be,” said Maine senior center Cheryl White. “We don’t have to worry about anybody else. We just have to worry about getting our job done and go from there.”
Maine is 6-3-2 in its last 11 games, 4-1 in its last five.
“We’ve played a lot better hockey in the second semester,” said junior defenseman Kelly Law. “We’re starting to jell as a team. Things are starting to work for us. We’re scoring goals, keeping goals out of our net and winning games.”
The Bears have made up a lot of ground in the second half but White and Law aren’t surprised.
“Making the playoffs were never out of the question for our team. The league is really tight this year. Anybody can beat anybody,” said White. “We came in with the right mentality after Christmas. We’re peaking at the right time. Everything is starting to fall into place. Our hard work is starting to pay off.
“Everybody is starting to chip in and do their jobs,” added White.
She said the team is receiving balanced scoring and goaltenders Rachel Gettings and Genevieve Turgeon have been “playing great for us.”
Freshman Turgeon is 8-6-4 with a 2.23 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage while junior Gettings is 6-1-1 with a 1.26 GAA and a .935 save percentage. Turgeon has four shutouts and Gettings has two.
Boston College will be a formidable opponent as the Eagles are 15-3-1 in the league, 18-9-4 overall and ranked 10th in the country.
“They’re really strong. We’re going to have to play our best hockey. We’ve been really great at home so hopefully we can keep it up,” said White.
Maine, 16-7-6 overall and 8-7-4 in Hockey East, has an impressive 9-1-4 record at Alfond Arena with the only loss coming to league leader New Hampshire, the nation’s top-ranked team.
Maine has allowed just 11 goals in its last nine games.
“Since I’ve been here, our defense corps has been pretty solid. This season, everybody has been playing better team defense and that has helped the defense corps out,” said Law.
She said all of the defensemen “bring something different to the table” and they have all stepped into their roles.
Maine has received most of its scoring from its top two lines along with defensemen Law (7 goals, 17 assists) and Julie Poulin (7 & 17).
Junior center Brigitte Laflamme (14 goals, 14 assists) leads the team in scoring and she is flanked by LW Patricia Gagnon (7 & 7 in 11 games) and RW Sonia Corriveau (10 & 11).
White (14 & 6) centers the other scoring line between LW Vanessa Vani (11 & 12) and RW Katie Sunstrum (3 & 3).
The Hockey East Tournament will be Saturday and Sunday, March 4-5, at Northeastern University’s Matthews Arena in Boston.
The tournament champion earns an automatic berth to the eight-team NCAA Tournament.
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