Women’s hockey earns weekend sweep against Clarkson

Facing the defending NCAA national champions on the road, the No. 6 Boston University women’s hockey team swept a two-game series versus No. 7 Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York.

“It’s a long trip to get up there, that’s for sure,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “It’s a bit of enemy territory over there. So we really hoped that we’d be able to shake out our bus legs and come out strong.”

The Terriers (3-1) entered Friday and Saturday’s matchups fresh off some healthy competition against the Boston Blades of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League on Oct. 11. In the exhibition game, BU lost 5-3, despite outshooting the Blades 35-24.

After opening up their title defense with a loss against St. Lawrence University on Oct. 3, the Golden Knights (3-3) responded with three straight victories, outscoring their opponents 10-1 over the stretch.

“They’re a slightly different team than last year, especially in terms of the leaders they lost,” Durocher said. “But they’re still a tough opponent, and they recruited really well this offseason.”

In the first tilt between the two teams, BU started off the game strong, launching 11 shots to Clarkson’s six in the first period. However, the Terriers could not break through until the second stanza, when junior forward Dakota Woodworth scored her first goal of the season off assists from freshman forward Victoria Bach and junior forward Kayla Tutino.

The Terriers would never give up their initial lead, as they scored another second period goal off the stick of senior forward Marie-Philip Poulin at 10:15. Clarkson cut the deficit to one soon after Poulin’s strike, when defenseman Erin Ambrose snuck one past sophomore goaltender Victoria Hanson 19 seconds later. But not to be denied, BU locked the game up just over two and a half minutes into the third period, when junior forward Sarah Lefort scored to give the Terriers the final 3-1 advantage.

Despite making just 19 saves, Hanson was huge for BU, allowing just the one goal and making six power-play saves, including five in the final period. The win puts Hanson’s season record at 2-0, as she handed off her duties between the pipes to freshman Erin O’Neil for the second game of the weekend set.

“I thought we had a thorough game,” Durocher said. “We had a decent advantage for the entirety of the game. Hanson had a really solid game for us, and she made some tough saves, which were crucial.”

Saturday was not only special because the Terriers were going for a two-game road sweep of the reigning NCAA champions – it was also Durocher’s birthday.

“In my mind, there was some more motivation,” Durocher said, with a chuckle. “They were a little bit hungrier, and I think they had a little bit more to prove. We wanted to get an early one, and low and behold, the first shift we got our wish.”

Perhaps in Durocher’s honor, BU got off to a blazing fast start, notching three first period goals, the first of which came just 50 seconds into the game off the stick of Poulin. Taking Poulin’s lead, the Terriers’ star freshmen went to work, as both Bach and fellow forward Rebecca Leslie got on the board to give BU the 3-0 advantage going into the final two thirds of the contest.

BU broke even with the Golden Eagles in the second period to make it a 4-1 game as the teams entered the final frame. Clarkson cut the lead to two when forward Cayley Mercer converted an unassisted chance near the midway point in the period. However, Poulin’s day was not over, as she put the nail in the coffin with an empty-net wrister off assists from Tutino and Lefort at 18:50, making the final score 5-2 and completing the weekend sweep.

Following a disappointing 5-2 defeat at the hands of rival University of Minnesota on Oct. 4, BU responded emphatically with consecutive wins over Clarkson. According to Durocher, the Terriers did not change much about their game plan, rather they made good on their promise of more consistent play.

“We played well for most of the game against Minnesota, but the lesson learned was that we can’t have a few stretches of bad minutes,” Durocher said. “We played smart, not only in game one [of this series] but also in game two. We didn’t take any lazy liberties in terms of penalties, and we played hard for all 60 minutes of both games.”