Cote Pushes Women’s Hockey Past New England College in OT, 3-2

HENNIKER, N.H. – Shana Cote struck with 12 seconds remaining in overtime to lead Suffolk women's hockey to a 3-2 victory over New England College Friday night at Lee Clement Arena. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | New England College 2
RECORDS: Suffolk (7-10-3, 7-4-1 NEHC) | New England College (2-17-1, 0-11-1 NEHC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Scoring started quickly on both sides. Suffolk needed just 30 seconds to find the back of the net. In the neutral zone, the Pilgrims attempted to surge forward, but Madison Duff intercepted the pass and flipped the puck deep into NEC's zone to Cote, who found Maddy Burton. Burton made a move on Cianna Weir to give the Rams a one-goal edge.  

NEC responded three minutes later. Madison Nipper diverted a Rams' pass and used it to the Pilgrims advantage, out skating a pair of Rams defenders for a one-on-one with Julia McLellan. From the left, Nipper shot right and scored easily to even the score at 1-all 3:29 into the action.  

It was a standstill from there as neither team put the puck away for the remainder of the opening frame and the entirety of the second stanza.  

The Pilgrims were the first to end the draught. Despite Suffolk going on the power play, NEC took advantage of the first face-off on with special teams on the ice. Cortney Reyes took the draw, Kaylee Cross picked up the puck, flipped it out of the hosts zone and found Tara Turcotte on the blue line. It was a one-on-one with McLellan from there for Turcotte, who won the battle stick side to put the Pilgrims in front, 2-1, 6:19 into the third period.  

Suffolk stayed in the one-goal hole for nearly 10 minutes before Sydney Tietz answered for the visitors. With help from Grace Scholz, the sophomore sunk the game-tying marker with 4:30 left in regulation.  

Determined to end things in 60 minutes, the Rams pressured Weir between the pipes. The Pilgrims netminder denied all seven of Suffolk's attempts, while McLellan turned aside the pair she faced to force the game into the extra session.  

Both teams had their chances in the extra five minutes, but it wasn't until there was only seconds remaining that Cote was able to capitalize. The sophomore won a face-off and the Rams fired off shot-after-shot with the fourth finally sneaking past Weir to give the blue-and-gold the victory. 

NETMIINDER NOTES

• McLellan registered 25 stops in the victory for Suffolk. 
• Weir had 57 saves to her credit in the setback.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Cote had two points of the night including the game-winner and one assist. 
• Tietz notched the game-tying goal, while Burton put Suffolk on the scoreboard. 
• Duff and Scholz each dished out one helper. 
• Suffolk commanded shots, 60-27, while NEC won the face-off battle, 31-27.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk remains unbeaten all-time against New England College, 4-0-0. 
• The Rams and Pilgrims played in OT for the first time in program history. 
• Suffolk competed in its fourth OT contest of the season, sixth of the season. 
• The Rams picked up their first victory in OT in program history, moving to 1-0-5 all-time when playing in overtime in program history. This season, Suffolk is 1-0-3 when playing more than 60 minutes.  
• Burton extended her point streak to three. Over that stretch she has assembled a six-point stat line with five goals and one helper. 
• Duff is on a two-game point streak with one goal and one assist over the last two outings. 
• Cote pushed her point streak to three. In that span she has built a four-point stat line with one goal and three set-ups. 
• Cote registered her sixth game-winning goal, second of the season. 
• Scholz is now on a three-game point streak with four points, one goal and three handouts over the last trio of contests.  

POST-GAME PIC
  

COMING UP
Suffolk heads to Southern Maine tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 1 for a 1 p.m. showdown.