Bochna Brilliance (Hockey East Tournament Championship Game Preview)
#2 Seed Terriers knock off #3 Seed BC Eagles in a double overtime instant classic
The #2 Boston University Terriers are comeback queens once again, coming back twice to best the #3 Boston College Eagles in double overtime to head to their first Hockey East Championship Game since 2016.
Women’s
#3 Boston College (3-2 W (2OT))
The #2 Terriers took on #3 Eagles in the 75th edition of the Battle of Comm Ave, with a spot in the Hockey East Final on the line. BC opened the scoring at 8:10 in the first. Clara Yuhn tied things up 2 minutes into the second, her tenth of the season, setting a new career high. The goal was her third career goal vs. BC, the 5th team she has scored 3+ goals against. At the tail end of the period, the Eagles again to the lead. 5 minutes into the third, quarterfinal hero Riley Walsh tied things back up at 2. Her 2nd goal and 4th point of the Hockey East playoffs. 60 minutes would not be enough, neither would 80 minutes as the teams headed to a second overtime. At the 7:12 of the period, Beanpot semifinal hero, transfer Lindsay Bochna tipped a puck on the goal into the net to send the Walter Brown Arena into a frenzy. The win was the Terriers' first in double OT since the 2012 Hockey East Tournament Final vs. Providence (2-1 W).
The semifinal was very even, with shots even at 40 and faceoffs 34-32 in favor of the Eagles.
Callie Shanahan’s 38 saves were her most since her first game of the season vs. Minnesota on October 4th (40).
Other Notes
In the 2025 Hockey East Playoffs, BU has led for 0 seconds, winning 2 games in overtime, with both game winning goals scored by transfer students
Of the 4 transfer students to score OT game winning goals in the Hockey East Tournament, 3 did so with BU (Jenn Wakefield, Walsh, Bochna)
Dog Fight for the Big Dance
Familiar foes face off for another trophy as #2 BU takes on #5 Northeastern for the Bertagna Trophy and a spot in the NCAA Tournament on March 8th at 12pm at UConn’s Toscano Family Ice Forum. This will be the second time this season that the dogs of Boston will face off at a neutral site game with a trophy on the line, with the teams facing off Beanpot final at TD Garden.
The teams will face off for the 4th time in their 4th different arena, just the 2nd time they’ve done so—both times vs. NU—and first since 2014-15. In that season they played 5 times including twice at Walter Brown Arena, at Matthews Arena, at Bright-Landry Hockey Center, and at the Hyannis Center.
The teams split their first four matchups with Northeastern taking the first at home (0-4), BU taking it’s home game at Agganis Arena (4-0), NU winning the Beanpot at TD Garden over the Terriers (0-4), before BU won the last matchup at Matthews (3-2 OT).
#5 seed Northeastern enters the game after two road upsets, at #4 PC (3-2) and at #1 UConn (3-1). Skylar Irving has 3 goals across the two games, including 2 of the 3 goals in the semifinal.
With neither team in a position for an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament, the winner will be Hockey East’s sole representative on the national stage.
Records
5-1: in Hockey East Finals
2-0: in Hockey East Finals as a #2 Seed
1-0: vs. Northeastern in Hockey East Finals
Stats
Riley Walsh’s 4 points is the most by a Terrier in a Hockey East Tournament since Sammy Davis (5) and Jesse Compher (6) in 2019-20
