NASHUA, N.H., – The Keene State College women's ice hockey team was just 13.1 seconds away from picking up their fourth win on the season against Rivier University, but a rebound in front of the net let to Raiders tying the game up at one and then scoring the game winner, to finally take down the Owls, 2-1.

Records

• Keene State: 10-6
• Rivier: 6-7

How it Happened


For the second time out of the four matchups between the two teams on the season, the first period went scoreless. After Owls' goaltender Makenna Montgomery was forced to make three saves in goal in the opening minute of play, the Owls went on the attack on the other side of the ice, with the Raiders' goalkeeper, Rachel Hinkley, saving all four shots from KSC in the opening four minutes. KSC continued to apply pressure over the next nine minutes, as Hinkley made six more saves in net, compared to Montgomery saving both of her shots she faced for the Owls. 13:12 into the contest, KSC had their first power play opportunity of the day, but they were unable to convert, having only one shot on goal that Hinkley saved, to go with three shots go wide of the net and another blocked. After killing off their first penalty, Rivier went up a skater with 4:28 remaining for a power play opportunity of their own. Just like the Owls, Rivier only recorded one shot on goal over the two-minute span, that Montgomery saved. The remaining 2:28 of the first, Montgomery made another pair of saves to bring her total to eight saves in the first.
 
Starting the second period on the power play for 1:13, from a penalty against the Owls with 47 seconds remaining in the first, Rivier was unable to capitalize on the opportunity after Paige Henault won the opening faceoff draw of the second period. KSC continued to pester Hinkley in net, as they recorded seven shots on goal in the opening six minutes of the third, but Hinkley saved them all to keep the score knotted at zero for the moment. Rivier tried their chance at opening the scoring over the next three minutes with three shots on target that Montgomery saved, to go with a shot hitting the post and missing for Briana Paxson. 8:03 into the second, KSC had their second power play opportunity of the contest, and it looked as if Hayley Owen had rifled a shot past Hinkley from inside the blue line, but a teammate's foot in the goal crease wiped out the goal scored by Owen to keep the score tied at 0-0. Shortly after the Raiders' penalty expired and Grace Bazin and Ava Iantosca had their shots blocked, Bazin found Brianna Finke who weaved through the Raiders' defense for the opening goal of the game with 9:29 left in the period. Montgomery and the KSC defense continued to lock down the Raiders with Montgomery making five saves over the next six minutes, to go with a pair of blocked shots, coming from Mallory Stuart and Rory Owens. After allowing the opening goal, Hinkley saved the final three shots in let for Rivier the rest of the period, as the game headed into the final 20 minutes of regulation with KSC up for the third time in their four meetings on the year.
 
The Owls looked to add another insurance goal at the start of the third period, but Hinkley saved all five shots on target in the opening 6:26 of the third, for wound up being the only five shots on target for the Owls across the final 20 minutes of regulation. After making three saves in goal over the opening nine minutes of the third, Montgomery recorded four more saved in net over a 1:57 span to keep the Raiders off the board still, with 5:22 remaining in regulation. The Owls' defense helped Montgomery out with a pair of blocks, coming from Emma McNeil and Abby Pomajba, to go with two more saves with Montgomery as the time ticked off the clock and Rivier called a timeout with 2:40 remaining in play. A minute later, Rivier pulled their goalie to try to get pull even but following a blocked shot by Camden Ladzinski and a two more saves from Montgomery, the rebound fell to Brianna Rumptz, who buried the shot to tie the game up at one apiece with just 13 seconds left. Both teams headed into 3-on-3 sudden death overtime for five minutes, for the second time this season between the two teams.
 
KSC nearly won the game less than 30 seconds into the overtime period after Henault on the first faceoff, but Hinkley made a pair of saves, on Owen and Finke to prevent the KSC win for the moment. The other side of the ice soon after, Rumptz netted her second goal of the day on a breakaway to give the Raider a 2-1 overtime win over KSC.
 
Inside the Crease

• Montgomery recorded 27 saves in net, as she has recorded 73 saves in goal over her four hours in net in the Owls' four games in six days.
• Finke reached the 10-10-20 mark with her goal in the game, while Bazin picked up assist number nine on the year.
• Rivier had the advantage on faceoffs, going 25-for-55 (45.5%), with Henault leading the Owls going 12-for-21 (57.1%) in her first game back at center in a while.
• Both teams went 0-2 on power plays. KSC has done a great job recently staying out of the box, as KSC has only averaged two penalties per game over the past four games, after recording 18 across the two games prior to that.

Up Next
Keene State continues their stretch of six games in nine days with their fifth game of the stretch on Friday, January 17, at 7:45 PM for senior day at home against Hilbert College.
Rivier next plays against Framingham State University on Saturday, January 18, at 3:20 PM.