The Boston University women’s hockey team faced its two biggest tests of the season thus far Friday and Saturday against No. 7 St. Lawrence University and No. 4 Clarkson University on foreign ice.
The Terriers (2-1-4) gave up a one-goal lead in the third period against St. Lawrence (2-1-2), and had to settle for another tie, 2-2. Saturday afternoon, BU was dominated from start to finish by Clarkson (6-1-1), 7-2, who showed why they are a threat to win the NCAA championship.
On Friday night, BU started off strong, outshooting St. Lawrence, 13-3, in the first period and taking the lead on senior Jonnie Bloemers’ first goal of the season. BU struck on an early power play when senior Melissa Anderson’s shot was blocked by St. Lawrence senior goalie Brittony Chartier, but Bloemers was at the right spot to put home the rebound.
‘I think we came out of the gate and skated fantastic for 25 minutes,’ BU coach Brian Durocher said.
After St. Lawrence evened the game with an unassisted goal by sophomore Vanessa Emond, BU took the lead heading into intermission thanks to sophomore Carly Warren’s first goal of the season. Warren took the puck from the left of Chartier, who was out of position, and tucked it into the net to give BU a 2-1 advantage heading into the locker room.
The Terriers’ struggle to hold a lead in the third period continued as they were outshot in by the Saints. St. Lawrence’s pressure proved too much as they evened the game at two goals at 10:04 mark.
Senior goalie Melissa Haber made two saves from shots by Saints freshman Kayla Sullivan and senior Courtney Sawchuck. However, the rebound came to Emond in the slot and she flipped it past the goal line for her second goal of the night. Haber kept the game tied for the rest of the third period and made the saves she needed to preserve the tie.
‘ ‘In the last period, it was a fairly even battle,’ Durocher said. ‘We got the go-ahead goal late in the second [period] and they would like to close the deal but they got a rebound goal that tied it at two and that is how the game ended.’
Durocher attributed the tie to his team not taking advantage of power plays and other offensive chances.
‘There was a little bit of a letdown on one of our power plays that I think we sort of played down to their level and probably gave them a little bit of a lift,’ Durocher said. ‘They kill off a penalty and then they get themselves a fairly easy goal. But had we been able to get that second goal either on that power play or somewhere in the first period where we really dominated the game and had them on their heels, it might have changed the complexion, but that did not happen.’
Saturday afternoon, BU faced its toughest test of the season against No. 4 Clarkson. The Golden Knights dominated the first period and the entirety of the game, outshooting the Terriers 30-21, and scoring on 3-of-5 power plays before taking the game 7-2.
‘I think absolutely everything that could, went wrong in that game,’ Durocher said. ‘I don’t think we were quite as prepared as we wanted to be. We took a couple of early penalties. We didn’t get the type of goaltending we are accustomed to.’
The Terriers were down 4-0 early in the second period before sophomore Jenelle Kohanchuk tallied her team-leading sixth goal of the season with an assist by classmate Tara Watchorn. Just when BU looked to have some momentum to mount a comeback, the Golden Knights struck eight seconds later.
‘The one time we were back in the game a little bit [was] at 4-1, we got grounded a bit and gave up fast goals,’ Durocher said. ‘The fourth goal to start the second period, and then we score to make it 4-1 and who knows maybe you can get one more goal before the period is out. Within 15-to-20 seconds we give them a fifth goal and it was lights out right there.’
‘ BU tallied their second goal of the night with a little more than one minute left in the third period. Junior Lauren Cherewyk found classmate Jillian Kirchner who cut the goal deficit to five, but that was all for BU would get.
‘ ‘[This] was a game where we brought our C-game, but not our A- or B-game,’ said Durocher when judging his team’s performance. ‘We will pick up the pieces and proceed from there.’
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