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Pride rally, beat Connecticut for 12th consecutive win; NWHL schedule modified

Connecticut rookie Haley Skarupa scored a goal in the third consecutive game Saturday night but it wasn’t enough as Boston beat Connecticut, 5-2.

BOSTON, Feb. 4 – Meghan Duggan scored two goals in the third period as the defending National Women’s Hockey League champion Boston Pride won their 12th straight game with a 5-2 victory over the Connecticut Whale Saturday night at Warrior Arena.

Boston (12-0) had to rally from a one-goal deficit after Connecticut took a 2-1 lead on a tip-in goal from Micaela Long with 2:50 left in the second period. But the Pride came out quickly in the third period with two goals in the first four minutes of action to regain control of the contest.

Duggan, the captain of the U.S. women’s national team, had two goals and an assist while Alex Carpenter had a goal and two assists. Gigi Marvin had two assists for Boston, which beat Connecticut for the fifth time this season and 10th consecutive game.

The Whale (4-10) had goals from Long and Haley Skarupa, who scored a goal for the third straight game. Skarupa has scored five goals in the last three games. The Whale have dropped a franchise-record six straight games.

Boston took a 1-0 lead on a late first period goal from Carpenter off an assist from Duggan. But Connecticut responded less than a minute on a power play goal from Skarupa off assists from Kelli Stack and Dana Trivigno.

Long deflected a pass from Shannon Doyle past Boston goalie Brittany Ott to give Connecticut a 2-1 lead late in the second period. Whale goalie Shenae Lundberg, getting her first start since December 3, stopped 15 Boston shots in the second period.

But Boston quickly regained control in the third period on a goal by Kacey Bellamy with 2:41 gone in the period to tie the game at 2-2. Duggan added her second just two minutes later for a 3-2 Boston lead. It was her tenth goal in the last eight games. A power play goal from Brianna Decker with 10 minutes remaining extended the Boston lead to two goals, 4-2.

https://youtu.be/2z2ms_ZlVrc

NWHL cuts games, modifies playoff schedule
On Friday, the NWHL announced that they would be shortening the 2016-17 season to have it completed before March 19 to players on the respective national teams can participate in the upcoming IIHF World Championships. Originally, the league was going to take a two-week break for the world championships and complete the regular season and playoffs.

Instead of a best-of-three semifinal and championship series, the playoffs will be single-elimination contests on March 16-19. The Whale will lose three regular season games including scheduled home games at the Northfield Ice Pavilion against Buffalo (March 5) and New York (March 19).

The decision was agreed to by the league and player representatives.

“One of the primary missions of the NWHL is to help women realize Olympic dreams and national team aspirations, so concluding our season prior to the world championships is the right thing to do,” NWHL commissioner Dani Rylan said. “We always want to be supportive of our national team players, so we’re glad to have worked something out with the player reps. In the end, we all want what’s best for women’s hockey, and you’ll see that in the sprint to this year’s Isobel Cup and in the coming seasons of the NWHL. It’s a very exciting time for the game and for our league.”

Connecticut has three players who will participate in the world championships – Kelli Stack, Haley Skarupa and Dana Trivigno – with Team USA. The world championships are scheduled to run from March 31 through April 7 in Plymouth, Michigan.

Connecticut’s remaining schedule includes games at New York (Feb. 19) and Buffalo (Feb. 26) and home games with Boston (Friday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m.) and Buffalo (Sunday, March 12, 3 p.m.).

Boston will host the first semifinal game on March 16 with the No. 2 and No .3 seeds meeting on Friday, March 17. The Isobel Cup championship game will be Sunday, March 19.

The league also announced that all four teams will return for season 3 next year and there will be additional neutral site games to help grow the sport and league.

Boston 5, Connecticut 2
At Boston
Connecticut (4-10)                 1  1  0  — 2
Boston (12-0)                         1  0  4  — 5
First period
Boston 1, Alex Carpenter (Meghan Duggan), 18:51; Connecticut 1, Haley Skarupa (Kelli Stack, Dana Trivigno), 19:45 (pp)
Second period
Connecticut 2, Micaela Long (Shannon Doyle, Nicole Kosta), 18:10
Third period
Boston 2, Kacey Bellamy (Alexandra Bender), 2:41; Boston 3, Meghan Duggan (Alex Carpenter, Jillian Dempsey) 4:08; Boston 4, Brianna Decker (Alex Carpenter, Gigi Marvin), 10:50 (pp); Boston 5, Meghan Duggan (Blake Bolden, Gigi Marvin), 13:40 (pp)
Shots: Connecticut 22 (12-5-5), Boston 38 (11-15-12)
Goalies: Connecticut, Shenae Lundberg (L, 1-4) 38 shots, 33 saves; Boston, Brittany Ott (W), 22 shots, 20 saves

NWHL standings

  W-L-OTL Pts. GF GA
x-Boston 12-0 24 52 17
New York 6-6-3 15 43 47
Buffalo 5-7-1 11 36 51
Connecticut 4-10 8 44 60

x-clinched regular season championship

Saturday, February 4
New York 3, Buffalo
Boston 5, Connecticut 2
Saturday, February 12
All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, 3 p.m.
Saturday, February 18
Buffalo at Boston, 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, February 19
Connecticut at New York, 3 p.m.

Since 2009, the Collinsville Press has been providing award-winning coverage of sports and news in the Farmington Valley and across Connecticut.

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