'Fractions of an inch': Vermont hockey falls in semifinals after officials review
Lily Humphrey raised her arms in celebration. Other teammates followed suit. Fans jumped out of their seats.
The University of Vermont women's hockey team appeared to have slipped in the game-tying goal in the final minute of Wednesday's Hockey East semifinals vs. Providence.
Only it hadn't. And after an extended officials' video review following the final buzzer confirmed no-goal, reality set in for the Catamounts: Another program-setting, 22-win season came to a swift, cruel conclusion one win away from the conference's title game. Again.
Delaney Couture's second-period goal stood up and goalie Hope Walinski's 30 saves kept No. 2 Vermont scoreless for the first time this season in the third-seeded Friars' 1-0 triumph in front of 1,250 at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
"Just heartbreaking," UVM coach Jim Plumer said. "Our kids played their hearts out. I’m so disappointing for this large group that is graduating, to not get the opportunity to play out their dreams of playing in the championship game.
"They’ve given everything we could’ve asked for this program. I’m just heartbroken for those guys."
UVM pulled goalie Jessie McPherson (18 saves) with 90 seconds left in the third period for the extra skater in attempt to solve Walinski and prolong their season.
Theresa Schafzahl flung a wrister from the left faceoff circle with 30 seconds to go and Walinski made a pad save, the puck spilling to Humphrey in front of the crease. The senior poked the rebound five-hole on Walinski, but the puck was cleared off the line by a Providence skater as some Vermont players and fans cheered what they thought was the tying goal.
But an official behind the net signaled no goal and play continued, putting all skaters into scramble mode. After the final horn, officials reviewed the play and, several minutes later, deemed the puck did not completely cross the line, according to Plumer.
"I talked to some people already who have seen it and said that most of the puck was over the goal line, but the whole puck wasn’t over the goal line. It came down to fractions of an inch," Plumer said. "Who knows if it had been called a goal on the ice, there would’ve been enough to overturn it."
Plumer said it was hard to accept the defeat given this team's run.
"If you look at our bench during that (the review) and saw everybody with their arms around each other, this team is so tight," Plumer said. "I think at this point it’s so fresh that I’m not sure how to process it all. This is the heartbreak of sports: Someone’s got to win, someone’s got to lose. And it wasn’t that they wanted it more than us, or we didn’t want it enough — it came down to a fraction of an inch."
Plumer also credited Providence and Walinski, a 5-foot-5 goaltender who earned the starting nod just a couple weeks ago.
"They found themselves a goalie late in the season and had the guts to make a goalie change and she’s got some mojo going," Plumer said. "We couldn’t get the puck to the middle of the ice and their defensemen did a good job pushing us to the outside."
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Vermont claimed 22 wins, Hockey East's No. 2 seed and hosted a semifinal game for a second straight season. Plumer's squad, led by seniors and fifth-year players, has reached new heights.
"They transformed this program, they put us on the map. They connected us with the community," Plumer said. "They came here when this program was not a destination for people who thought they were going to win championships.
"They believed in what we were doing. And they spread that belief to other people."
Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont women's hockey: Catamounts fall to Providence in semifinals
