While the No. 5 Boston University women’s hockey team has statistically had a rough couple of weeks after losing three out of its last four games, the team has actually been up-and-down all season thanks in large part to a rash of injuries.
Before the school year even began, the Terriers (6-4-1, 1-1-0 Hockey East) had a major headache when senior defenseman Tara Watchorn suffered a concussion over the summer. While Watchorn finally laced up her skates when BU went on the road to play University of Wisconsin, the Terriers have since had three more concussion-ridden players miss important games.
Senior forward Jenelle Kohanchuk, senior defensemen Kasey Boucher and junior goaltender Alissa Fromkin have all experienced concussion-like symptoms and missed playing time because of the injury.
According to BU head coach Brian Durocher, whether or not the three players will make their way back to the lineup this weekend is dependent on how they do over the course of the next few days.
“We’ll know a little more today, a little more tomorrow and hopefully come Thursday have a pretty good indication that there are no setbacks and people are ready to join us,” Durocher said.
Injured Offense
Kohanchuk’s concussion holds significant importance to the Terriers because of her expanding role on the team since sophomore forward Marie-Philip Poulin suffered an abdominal injury at the beginning of the season.
Kohanchuk, who scored 10 goals last season, has already scored four times in the first quarter of this season, filling some of the void left by Poulin.
The Terriers now find themselves with senior captain Jenn Wakefield leading the team offensively and two newcomers, junior transfer student Isabel Menard and freshman forward Kayla Tutino, covering the gap left by the injuries.
Jenn Wakefield has been there for us getting points, scoring,” Durocher said. “Kayla Tutino certainly has been there. But we have to do things differently. We may not set the league on fire offensively when you’re missing people like Marie-Philip or Jenelle Kohanchuk.”
Where in the world is Marie-Philip?
While BU has been attempting to handle the concussion situation, the lingering issue of Poulin’s absence has continued to impact the team.
The Terriers do have a light at the end of the tunnel, though, as Poulin has started to ease her way back into exercising.
Poulin, who scored 24 goals and was the Hockey East Rookie of the Year last season, has started doing light bicycle workouts.
“She’s on the slow path back,” Durocher said. “It’s not anywhere near the high tempo that you need as a Division I athlete. It’s more constant monitoring from the training staff and coaches.”
According to Durocher, Poulin is expected to return in January.
Durocher also hopes that the second half of the season will fare better for the injury-ridden team.
“With Marie-Philip, Jenelle, Kasey, Alissa Fromkin, it starts to become a pretty big list [of injuries] and I hope the injury gods will pay us back in the second half of the year,” Durocher said.
Paltry power play
Last season, BU led Hockey East on the power play with an 18.2 percent conversion rate. So far this season, however, the Terriers have struggled with the player advantage.
While BU only gave up one short-handed goal during the entirety of last season, the team has already given up two so far this year. The Terriers’ power play is currently ranked fifth out of eight teams in the Hockey East.
“I think everybody on the power play has to be a leader,” Durocher said. “I don’t think we’ve as a collective unit had enough leaders. I’m talking about when the puck takes a bad hop and we go to get to it, one person is going to get it instead of two, three or four.
“When it’s time to set something up and make an extra couple passes, just to kind of tire the opponents out a little, we’ve been rushing to throw something at the net or wide of the net.”
Advantaged disadvantage
Despite the challenges with the player advantage, the Terriers have had continued success when down a player. Over the course of the past two seasons, BU has led Hockey East in killing penalties.
So far this season, BU has killed off 60 of its 64 penalties, in the process scoring four short-handed goals, more than half of the amount it scored last season.
“When you have some of the players we have, we have the ability to threaten and/or score shorthanded and when that reputation is in front of you and the results are in front of you . . . it does make some people a little bit jumpy,” Durocher said.
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