The University of Maine women’s ice hockey team will be relying on sophomore Jorden Mattison in goal when it visits Boston College for a 1 p.m. Hockey East quarterfinal game on Friday.
The Hockey East tournament is single-elimination this season.
Graduate student goalie Loryn Porter, one of the finalists for goalie of the year last season, has been lost due to a knee injury. Mattison has started the last seven games and has held opponents to two goals or less in four of them, and three or less in six.
She played two games apiece against nationally ranked Northeastern and Vermont.
She stopped 44 of 45 shots in 4-1 and 5-0 wins over New Hampshire last weekend.
“She has been playing well,” said UMaine coach Richard Reichenbach, who added that she received valuable experience playing against Northeastern and Vermont.
UMaine is the fifth seed and will enter the game with a 12-13-1 conference record and a 14-18-1 overall mark.
BC, the fourth seed, is 19-13-1 and 16-9-1.
UMaine has regained the services of Amalie Andersen and Rahel Enzler from the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Andersen played for Denmark and Enzler played for Switzerland.
“It’s great to have them back,” Reichenbach said.
UMaine will be looking to advance to the semifinals for the third straight year.
“BC has a lot of skill. We’re going to have to slow down their top line and do a good job in the neutral zone,” he said.
UMaine lost all three regular season games to BC, the last two were in overtime.
UMaine is led by Ida Kuoppala (9 goals, 14 assists), Ali Beltz (5 & 12), Ally Johnson (8 & 7) and Celine Tedenby (7 & 8) along with captain and defenseman Taylor Leech (4 & 10). Mattison has a 5-8 record, a 2.43 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.
BC’s top line features Kelly Browne (19 & 24), Hannah Bilka (18 & 17) and Abby Newhook (16 & 13). Abigail Levy has an 18-10-1 record in goal with a 2.41 GAA and a .933 save percentage.