Hockey East quarterfinals: UVM women survive with thrilling OT winner

University of Vermont women's hockey coach Jim Plumer admitted in the post-game news conference of the stinging effect an early playoff exit would've had on his team.

"I think it was one of those games if it hadn’t gone our way … we would’ve been kicking ourselves and people who would’ve felt really bad about themselves," Plumer said.

Instead, it was Natalie Mlynkova and Theresa Schafzahl, the Catamounts' leading scorers, to the rescue.

Mlynkova deposited the tying goal on the power play in the second period and Schafzahl fired in the game-winner in overtime as second-seeded Vermont survived a major scare from No. 8 New Hampshire for a 2-1 victory in the Hockey East quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

Schafzahl flipped in the walk-off tally at 9:48 of the first extra period for the Catamounts (22-10-3), who will host No. 3 Providence on Wednesday's semifinals. Vermont has yet to reach the Hockey East championship game in its program history.

"I’m just proud of the group effort and our big time players (Mlynkova) and (Schafzahl) stepped up and scored big goals," Plumer said. "This UNH team deserves a lot of credit. Their goalie’s been outstanding. We had to grind."

Schafzahl, who set the program record Saturday for assists (24) in a single season, carved out her 22nd goal of the winter with a combination of grit and teamwork.

Corrine McCool fought along the boards to jar loose the puck, and Schafzahl peeled away from two UNH defenders and lifted a shot past UNH goalie Ava Boutiller's stick side, just inside the post, to ignite Gutterson into celebration.

"I feel like we had so many open nets and chances that one of them had to go in. I’m just really happy we got it done," Schafzahl said. "Honestly, I was freaking out a little bit because in overtime anything can happen. That’s hockey, it goes so quickly."

Saturday, UNH and UVM played for the fourth time in 15 days. And the Wildcats, playing with confidence from a 6-3 first-round win over Holy Cross, took advantage of UVM's early nerves to strike first.

Rae Breton's rebound rifle at 4:47 of the second period gave the Wildcats (12-21-3) a 1-0 advantage. UVM also failed to get a shot on net for the first 10 minutes — an uncharacteristic start for a team that averages three goals and 27 shots per game.

Vermont, though, leveled the contest on a power play chance just over three minutes after UNH's goal. Mlynkova circled to the top of zone and lifted a shot that evaded a screened Boutillier for her team-leading 24th tally at 8:06 of the second.

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After missed chances and big saves, on both sides, UVM and UNH ended regulation tied for the third time of the four recent meetings.

"I had told the team before the game and I reminded them before overtime … I said, 'Spreadsheets and Powerpoint presentations and databases don’t win games, people do, people make plays,'" Plumer said.

And Schafzahl made a play.

"It’s huge. You don’t want to disappoint the fans. In overtime when you start to get tired and sometimes it’s hard to back-check or whatever, but seeing all fans and all those little kids there — you want to do it for them. It was amazing," Schafzahl said.

UVM goalie Jessie McPherson posted 29 saves. UNH's Boutillier finished with 30 stops.

Wednesday's semifinal between UVM and Providence is set for a 7:30 p.m. start on ESPN+.

All-league honors for Catamounts

Graduate defenseman Sini Karjalainen was named Hockey East's co-defender of the year earlier this week with Northeastern's Megan Carter. Karjalainen posted two goals and 19 assists in 27 league games this winter.

Karjalainen, Schafzahl were also named to the Hockey East first team, while goaltender Jessie McPherson (20 wins, 91.1% save percentage) and Mlynkova landed on third team and Lara Beecher earned a spot on the all-rookie squad.

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 edge UNH in Hockey East playoffs