After two fiercely competitive periods of play, the No. 6 Boston University women’s hockey team pushed past McGill University to take the exhibition game by a final of 4–1 Sunday afternoon at Walter Brown Arena.
Last week, BU coach Brian Durocher coined this contest as being the most competitive exhibition game that BU will play. While the Terriers took a substantive lead during the end of the third, Durocher said the game lived up to his expectations.
“I really thought they carried the play in the second period and maybe didn’t get as much as they should have out of it,” Durocher said of McGill. “We got a shorthanded goal that was a good individual effort and a real nice wrist shot that found the net. But I thought that they kind of carried the tempo and the play in the second.
“It could have been 2–1 or 3–1 for them, but thankfully [junior goaltender Kerrin Sperry] made a couple of good stops, and we got a couple of good bounces and we were up 2–1 [after two periods].”
After a scoreless first period where each netminder gathered eight saves, freshman forward Rebecca Russo put the Terriers on the board just seconds into the second frame.
With freshman forward Jordan Juron still in the penalty box after a tripping call with 1:17 left in the first, sophomore forward Kayla Tutino forced a turnover that sent the puck to Russo. Russo skated into the offensive zone by herself, and, after forcing McGill netminder Andrea Weckman out of position, notched a shot into the back of the net for the shorthanded tally.
Juron joined her classmate in scoring a goal just over six minutes later on a wrist shot into the top right of the net.
While these goals do not count toward their season records, Durocher said scoring in this exhibition game might do a lot to help the freshmen feel more comfortable on the ice.
“It probably bodes well for their confidence that they put the puck in the net in a college hockey game, albeit an exhibition game,” Durocher said. “It is always a good feeling.”
While Durocher said he was particularly impressed with the performance of Juron and Russo, he also said he was pleased with how his entire freshman class played during the exhibition game.
“There is still a lot to be learned by everybody. There’s still a lot for our team to have to sort of re-learn or make sure they know so they’re playing well,” Durocher said. “But it’s good to get them in a game like this where, without a doubt, this is a competitive team with a super first line. Everybody seemed to matchup against someone somewhere along the way.”
The Martlets brought the Terriers’ lead back down to one at 12:21 in the second when right wing Leslie Oles picked up her own rebound and slipped it past Sperry, making the score 2–1.
For the most part, the third period went along similarly to the first, with the teams playing evenly. In the last five minutes of the game, however, McGill showed fatigue and the Terriers capitalized.
“[McGill] played until whatever time their game ended last night — 9:30 — at [Providence College],” Durocher said. “They had the long drive to get down to Providence and then came up here … I think you saw that in the third period.”
With less than four minutes left in the third frame, Tutino picked up a pass from Russo and drilled a shot from the slot by Weckman. Just more than a minute later, senior co-captain Jill Cardella tallied a goal seven seconds into a power play to round out the scoring.
Although the Terriers experienced power from their freshman class as well as some veterans, the overall look of the team was different than what it will be when BU opens up its season against Boston College on Friday. The Terriers were missing three players — junior co-captain Marie-Philip Poulin, senior forward Jenelle Kohanchuk and freshman forward Sarah Lefort — due to Hockey Canada’s camps.
“Without a doubt, all of a sudden your talent level accelerates,” Durocher said of having those players back on the ice. “I think we’ll have an injection of talent, but right now I like the vibes. I like what people are doing as far as being good teammates and being around and being supportive. It’s a long season, and we’re going to have to get over hurdles in that regard.”
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