Life ain’t easy against a team named Sioux

For a top-10 team in any sport, opening weekend is the time to make a statement to the rest of the country.
This weekend at Walter Brown Arena, both No. 2/3 Boston University women’s hockey team and No. 6/7 University of North Dakota proved that they deserved to be top 10 teams by splitting the opening series of the 2011-12 season.

The Terriers (1-1) took the season opener in a 4-1 victory over the Fighting Sioux (1-1), thanks to strong performances by senior center Jenn Wakefield and junior center Isabel Menard.

An early goal by North Dakota forward Alyssa Wiebe and five failed power-play opportunities for the Terriers left BU behind after the first period.

However, the amount of opportunities finally paid off for the Terriers in the second period, when senior forward Jenelle Kokanchuk scored a power-play goal to tie the game. Later in the period, sophomore forward Louise Warren put the Terriers ahead by a goal, followed by a power-play goal by Wakefield to give the Terriers a two-goal lead after two periods. Wakefield would round up the scoring with a shorthanded goal in the third.

“You’ve got to get a little luck and a good bounce here and there, and maybe we got them there in that second period to get those power-play goals,” said BU coach Brian Durocher.

Despite Friday’s win, things did not run so smoothly for the Terriers on Saturday. North Dakota scored the first four goals of the game despite solid play from sophomore goalie Kerrin Sperry, and the Terriers fell by a score of 5-1.
Monique Lamoureux-Kolls scored a hat trick in the game thanks to an empty net goal, and her sister Jocelyne Lamoureux added three assists in Saturday’s BU loss.

“The Lamoureuxs are definitely the straw that stirs the drink on that team, and they certainly were tonight,” Durocher said.

Menard had an impressive first weekend for the Terriers, scoring the team’s only goal on Saturday to go with her three assists in Friday’s game. In addition to the four points she scored, the transfer from Syracuse University made strong rushes to the net and showed great poise while carrying the puck.

The two games were both very physical, resulting in a lot of penalties called by the referees. In the two games, North Dakota had 17 total penalties in comparison to 14 penalties from the Terriers.

“It was a physical game, but I don’t think it was chippy,” Durocher said. “They are going to take penalties sometimes, and our team was right there with them.”

With all the penalties, both teams had a lot of power-play opportunities over the two games. While the Terriers only allowed one power-play goal, and even scored a shorthanded goal, the power-play performance will have to do better than two goals in 17 opportunities. The power-play unit was without Menard, Wakefield, and sophomore forward Marie-Philip Poulin during the preseason game, so this was the first in-game action for the Terrier power play.

“Three of us weren’t there for the power-play group I was on, so it is an adjustment just because we have two new players on it,” Wakefield said.

The Terriers were playing with only five defensemen over the weekend, which could have resulted in some fatigue with a quick turnaround after Friday’s night game. Senior defenseman Tara Watchorn is still out with concussion symptoms, while redshirt freshman defenseman Caroline Campbell is recovering from an ankle injury.

While the Terriers would have preferred to not lose in their opening weekend as No. 2 in the nation, the team knows their opponent was a good test to better prepare it for top teams later in the season.

“I like to think any time you play a top team it is going to prepare you for down the road,” Durocher said. “Whether it’s them or the Wisconsins or Harvards or BCs, any test like that is big when you get to playoff time and you get to the end of the year.”