ORONO, Maine – After making an epic comeback from a three-goal deficit to Boston University in the decisive game three match of the best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal series, the Black Bears triumphed in overtime, 4-3, thanks to a natural hat trick scored by Brooke Stacey. She netted all three goals within a seven minute span with under 12 minutes left in the match. Stacey even assisted Tereza Vanišová's game-winner 4:39 into overtime.
 
The Maine women's hockey (19-13-5, 11-9-4 WHEA) team celebrated numerous firsts this past week. After defeating the Terriers in the first quarterfinal game, 3-2, the Black Bears achieved their first WHEA playoff win in program history while also breaking the record for the most wins in a season in Maine women's hockey history with 18, surpassing that record even further picking up their 19^th win to move on to the Hockey East Semifinals taking on No-4 seeded Northeastern University (17-16-3, 11-11-2 WHEA). This was the Black Bears first ever postseason series victory while also facing the Terriers for the first time in playoffs. Maine hadn't come back from a three-goal deficit since the 2012 season.
 
This Season

• Posting the advantage this season, 2-1-0, the Black Bears barely out-scored the Huskies, 6-5, after splitting a weekend at Mathews Arena with each team picking up a shutout.
• This will be the first time the Huskies have faced-off against the Black Bears in WHEA Tournament play.
• Both seniors, Catherina Tufts and Stacey, have notched two goals apiece against the Huskies this season.
• Rookie Michelle Weis recorded one goal and a helper on Northeastern earlier in the season while sophomore Tereza Vanisova dished out three assists.
• Five different players registered goals against Maine this season for Northeastern, including a goal and assist by leading scorer senior McKenna Brand (31 points) and sophomore Matti Hartman

NORTHEASTERN BY THE NUMBERS
2.83 : Goals per game
31.2 : Shots per game
2.64 : Goals against average
21.97% : Power play percentage
3.67 : Power plays per game
82.09% : Penalty kill percentage
4.1 : Penalties per game

Players to Watch:

• Junior Tori Sullivan paved the way to semis, potting both goals in the second match against UNH to ensure the quarterfinal sweep along with an assist in the first game for a season total of 22 points.
• Top-scorer, senior Denisa Krisova tallied a trio of helpers on UNH along with a goal to add on to her season accumulation of 11 goals and 17 assists.
• In between the pipes, rookie Aerin Frankel was named the league's Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week, after stopping 44 of 47 shots that she faced last weekend, and now has four WHEA awards on the season.

The Huskies are coming off of a sweep over UNH in the Hockey East quarterfinal round, 3-2 and 2-1. Northeastern will be competing in the semifinal round of the Hockey East tournament for the eighth-straight season, moving on to the championships in three of those seasons, most recently last year. No.2-seeded Northeastern faced-off against No.1-seeded Boston College in the 2017 Hockey East championship match, battling into overtime before falling short, 2-1. The Huskies have yet to claim a WHEA Tournament title.


MAINE BY THE NUMBERS
2.44 : Goals per game
29.4 : Shots per game
2.19 : Goals against average
9.68% : Power play percentage
3.35 : Power plays per game
85.51% : Penalty kill percentage
4.1 : Penalties per game

Dropping Records

• Senior Stacey is rolling on a hot streak after becoming one-of-four players to net a hat trick in the Hockey East quarterfinal series, doing so in the decisive game-three against Boston University on Sunday to help the Black Bears advance to the semifinal round. For her stellar performance, Stacey was awarded with Hockey East Player of the Week.
• Net minder, sophomore Carly Jackson became the first Maine goaltender to finish out the regular season with the lowest goals against average in the conference, 1.88 GAA.
• Weis earned a pair of assists on Stacey's first two goals in the decisive third match of the Hockey East Quarterfinals.
• Leading scorer, Vanisova displayed her speed and finesse on the ice racking up a grand total of three goals and three assists to help win the series against BU, including the game-winner in overtime on Sunday. She enters into the semis on a three-game goal streak with a total of 16 goals and 29 assists to rank 12^th in the nation for scoring leaders.

The Maine women's hockey program has yet to see a team advance past the semifinal round, but the University of Maine has high hopes for this extraordinarily skilled and driven team this year to continue making history. The Black Bears saw a huge improvement from last season finishing 9^th in the league in 2016-17 to jumping up to the No.3-seed in Hockey East and once again finding themselves nationally ranked by the USCHO poll, No. 10. This will be Maine's first appearance in the semis since 2006.


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-UMaine-