Once the puck got by University of Connecticut goalie Sarah Moses for the first goal of the night, the offensive floodgates opened for the No. 10 Boston University women’s hockey team in its 6-2 thrashing of the Huskies.
From the second the puck dropped at Walter Brown Arena, the Terriers (7-1-1, 4-0 Hockey East) were in charge in both the offensive and defensive zone, physically beating down the Huskies (3-6-1, 0-2-1 Hockey East) throughout the game. Wednesday evening’s domination of the Huskies was not an anomaly for the Terriers. The offensive outpouring represented a trend: the win over the Huskies marked the fourth straight game for the Terriers with at least three goals.
“I thought our team came out and really skated well,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “We put a lot of pressure on them early and got ourselves a 2-0 lead. Some will say that’s the worst lead in hockey, but we found a way to make it 4-1 and to be up three goals after two periods. I thought we played a pretty unselfish game all the way around. We got everybody involved which is great and had contributions from many people.”
The Terriers started the game off aggressively, stringing together a series of five shots in the first two minutes following two face-off victories from freshman center Maddie Elia. The offensive opportunities quickly turned into goals for the Terriers when senior defenseman Kaleigh Fratkin slapped a shot past Moses following a pass from sophomore defenseman Lillian Ribeirinha-Braga 7:24 into the first period.
The goals began to stack up when sophomore forward Dakota Woodworth zipped the puck into the net just 43 seconds later with the help of sophomore forward Rebecca Russo and sophomore defenseman Alexis Woloschuk, giving the Terriers a 2-0 lead.
The offensive explosion continued for the Terriers in the second period when Woloschuk knocked her first collegiate goal past Moses 2:45 into the second stanza.
“Alexis is a pretty cerebral player,” Durocher said. “You may not take any one part of her game and say ‘wow,’ but she thinks the game, she never really gets rattled. I watch her after she makes a mistake or doesn’t make a perfect pass and she is the same player. She doesn’t go up and down, which is really important and allows you to have good composure.”
Woloschuk was nearly speechless when asked about her first collegiate goal.
“I don’t know what to say,” Woluschuk said. “It feels pretty amazing. There’s not much better feeling than that.
“It felt pretty good to get [the goal] out of the way, but I can’t take most of the credit for it. It was a nice pass from [senior captain Louise Warren] and there were a lot of people in front of the net, so I don’t think the goalie had much of an eye on the shot.”
The goals kept raining in for the Terriers when sophomore forward Sarah Lefort snapped a wrist shot past the outstretched glove of Moses, who looked overmatched by the Terriers all night. Lefort’s goal 13:14 into the second period was her sixth of the season, the second-highest mark on the team.
The Huskies scored their first goal of the night when freshman forward Susan Cavanagh wrapped around the net and slid the puck past freshman goalie Victoria Hanson after receiving a pass from freshman center Kelly Harris 15:28 into the second period.
The Terriers would answer, as junior center Kayla Tutino had the goal of the night just over a minute into the third period when she received the puck at the red line from freshman right wing Samantha Sutherland. Tutino deked and weaved past two UConn defenders before she snapped the puck past a diving Moses.
Just over 11 minutes into the third period, the Huskies struck with their second goal of the game on a wrist shot from junior forward Rachel Farrell after a nice setup from junior forward Sarah MacDonnell.
The Terriers responded quickly four minutes later with a shorthanded goal from Russo, who took another Husky turnover and netted a wrister past the glove of an out-of-position Moses.
Hanson showed a lot of poise and consistency in her second start of the season, stopping 26 pucks en route to her first career victory for the Terriers.
“She was great,” Durocher said. “Unfortunately at her first start at Robert Morris, we didn’t get a goal for her, so as well as she played out there, we never really gave her a chance to win the game, because we didn’t gather one for her, so tonight it was nice for her to get a couple of goals in front of her and give her a chance to relax.”
Durocher said he believes the root of the Terriers’ success on the offensive attack during their five-game winning streak has come from the team’s unselfishness.
“People are really moving the puck,” Durocher said. “Obviously some great efforts from many, many people. Louise Warren comes to mind initially. She’s doing a great job but our defense is throwing a lot of shots around. … If the [defense] keeps getting pucks to the net, our kids will have a chance to tip them or find rebounds, but I commend everyone for how they are unselfishly moving the puck awfully well.”
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