The Terriers had to wait some time for their first conference victory, and they had to wait more than a week just to get a chance at number two.
The Boston University women’s ice hockey team earned its first Hockey East victory of the season last Tuesday with a 3-2 win over the University of Maine. But that was 10 days ago and now the Terriers hope to build off their delayed momentum this weekend.
BU (3-8-2, 1-2-0 Hockey East) takes on the No. 1 University of New Hampshire (13-2-0, 7-0-0) Saturday at the Whittemore Center before hosting the University of Vermont (4-7-1, 0-4-1) Sunday at Walter Brown Arena.
The Terriers have played UNH twice this season, losing both times. As their No. 1 ranking might suggest, the first-place Wildcats are the most balanced and experienced team in the country. They have scored an astonishing 61 goals, while allowing just 18. The Terriers have netted 35 and yielded 43.
“[UNH] is the most complete team we’ve faced this year,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “They’ve got a solid but young goalie [freshman Kayley Herman] and probably the best defense corps of anybody we’ve played. They’re somewhere between 10 and 12 deep at forward. They’re the best team we’ve played in my eyes.
“We’ll have to play a textbook game to beat a team like that.”
In the teams’ first meeting Oct. 21 in Durham, BU dropped a close decision, 3-1. UNH freshman Jen Wakefield scored twice to give the ‘Cats a 2-0 lead, but BU battled back with a second-period goal from sophomore Sarah Appleton to halve the UNH advantage. The Wildcats scored an empty netter in the final seconds, but the Terriers certainly challenged their more experienced counterparts.
The second matchup was not as close. The Terriers were thoroughly outplayed in a 4-1 loss Nov. 1 at Walter Brown.
Junior netminder Allyse Wilcox started both contests between the pipes, and will get the nod again Saturday.
The Terriers will face a much weaker foe Sunday in Vermont. While the Wildcats are tops in the Hockey East, Vermont (one point in conference play) occupies the basement. The Catamounts are an up-and-coming program with just one year of scholarship players.
“Vermont is somewhere in the position we were in year one,” Durocher said. “They’ve made giant steps from last year.
“They’ve added scholarship money to the program, which they did not do for a long time there,” Durocher said, and those scholarship dollars should eventually help the overall talent on the young program’s roster. “They’re going to be a team that I think belongs on the same ice surface in Hockey East.”
BU (two points) is tied for fifth place in the conference standings with Northeastern University and Maine. With the exception of a Dec. 8 game against Sacred Heart University, the remainder of the Terriers’ schedule is entirely Hockey East opponents.
While the Terriers want to give No. 1 UNH all it can handle, the game against Vermont Sunday is just as important when it comes to playoff seeding, as only the top-four teams in the conference qualify for the postseason.
“It’s a game that on paper we’re supposed to win,” Durocher said of the game against the Catamounts. “If we’re going to challenge for the top four in the league, it’s one that’s very important for us to win.”
The Terriers, who have earned points in consecutive games only twice this season, enter the weekend with a chance to build on the momentum that came from last week’s win over Maine.
“I think [a successful weekend] would help our kids because they’ve fought real hard and played pretty darn well,” Durocher said. “We’ve found ways to just barely lose but play well. We have to try and put a halt to that.
“One way to do that is to go out and earn a victory — or two victories — and gain some of that positive momentum.”
