Hills Backstops BSU Women’s Hockey with 70 Saves Against #2 Ohio State

Last weekend during their road series at the Ohio State University, BSU women’s hockey asked goaltender Ava Hills to come in cold off the bench with the team trailing 6-0 midway through the second period. Hills came in and ended the onslaught, shutting out OSU the rest of the game with 20 saves.

The following night, Hills would get the start and save 50 of 52 shots, giving the Beavers a chance at the upset bid after jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first period before eventually falling short of knocking off the second-ranked Buckeyes by a final score of 2-1.

In total, Hills saved 70 of 72 shots in nearly a game-and-a-half of play for a .972 save percentage, a pretty good showing by the senior transfer from Saint Anselm who was just waiting for her chance in the net.

“It was awesome,” Hills said of her performance this past weekend. “I came in here and just wanted an opportunity to prove myself, and I feel like I definitely did that and gave the team the best chance to win on Saturday and kind of keep that score on Friday, when I went in, as minimal as possible.

“The goal going forward is just, every time I’m in the net is just give the team that’s playing in front of me the best chance to win,” she explained. “You just kind of have to lay it all out there and just have your teams back, because if you’re going in, they need you and you don’t have time to think. You kind of just have to go in and go. You don’t have time to adjust to speed. It’s—they’re already in the second period or whatever time it is, and they’re already at full pace, and so you need to catch up and you need to be quick.”

BSU women have byes the next two weekends before they hit the road again to take on rival Minnesota State on October 31 at 6 p.m. and November 1 at 5 p.m.