Strong 3rd period play boosts BU women’s hockey team

With the help of strong play in the third period, including six third-period goals over two days, the Boston University women’s hockey team defeated both the University of New Hampshire and the University of Vermont this past weekend.

Coming into this weekend, BU (6-1-1, 3-0 Hockey East) had won two straight games over Yale University and Northeastern University. As the weekend concluded, the Terriers won two more, giving them a season-high four-game win streak.

“I have to commend how hard these kids work,” said BU coach Brian Durocher on his team’s play in the third period. “The longer they keep people from scoring against us, the more adrenaline, momentum that we get.”

The Terriers have been a team the past few years that has been used to success. The team has made the Frozen Four two out of the last three seasons. During last season’s runner-up finish, the Terriers dominated the score sheet, scoring 3.8 goals per game, including 51 in the third period of play.

This year BU has not had that same explosive offense, scoring nearly one less goal per contest at 3.0. The Terriers have totaled 24 goals this season, good enough for fourth in the Hockey East. Although the team has not scored as much as it has in years past, it has scored when it has counted the most, as nine of the 24 goals this season have come in the final period.

This past Friday night in Durham, N.H., the Terriers entered the third period tied at one goal apiece with UNH (5-3-1, 1-1-1 Hockey East). At 14:32 in the period, the Terriers finally took their first lead of the game, thanks to the play of freshman forward Maddie Elia and senior captain Louise Warren.

Elia charged up the ice to grab the puck after BU had flipped it into the offensive zone. Elia took the puck from the corner and fired it to the slot to Warren. The captain weaved around the defense and backhanded the puck into the net for the goal and the 2-1 lead.

The second goal in the period came from Warren in the final seconds of the game, as she added an empty-net goal to seal the win by a 3-1 margin.

The next day against Vermont, the Terriers held a 2-0 advantage going into the third period. With another dominating performance in the last period, the Terriers put the game out of reach with four goals in the frame.

The feeding frenzy came just 1:13 into the period. Senior forward Taylor Holze threw the puck out of the defensive zone towards the Vermont blue line. Warren raced with a Vermont defender and won the puck. She then deked around the coverage and backhanded the puck past goaltender Madison Litchfield for the goal.

Just more than three minutes later it was Warren doing the scoring again for the Terriers. She took the puck from the Vermont defense along the left wing boards and took the shot near the left circle to beat Litchfield for her second-straight multi-goal game.

“The team has really come together the past few games,” Warren said. “The whole team contributed, I was just the lucky one that sunk two of them.”

The Terriers continued the attack in the third and added two more goals from people not named Louise Warren. Sophomore defenseman Diana Bennett notched her first collegiate goal at the 6:50 mark when she grabbed the puck in the slot and backhanded a shot past Litchfield for the third goal of the period.

With just over three minutes to play in the game, the Terriers finished their scoring foray when junior forward Kayla Tutino ripped a forehand wrist shot past goaltender Roxanne Douville who had replaced Litchfield, giving the Terriers the final goal in a 6-0 win.

“[Saturday] the stars really lined up,” Durocher said. “Those are the things we hope for, that we can keep the team chemistry and get more people involved. We had a super game and really a good weekend and a consistent effort.”