Ice Hockey, Sports

No. 6 BU prepares for clash against Northeastern

The No. 6 Boston University women’s hockey team will return to the friendly confines of Walter Brown Arena when it takes on crosstown and conference rival Northeastern University Tuesday.

BU (6-2-1, 3-1 Hockey East) is coming off a game where penalty kills and power plays dominated.

Freshman forward Victoria Bach scored her fourth goal of the season in BU’s last game Saturday afternoon against Yale University. PHOTO BY DANIEL GUAN/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Freshman forward Victoria Bach scored her fourth goal of the season in BU’s last game Saturday afternoon against Yale University.
PHOTO BY DANIEL GUAN/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

On Saturday, BU headed south to New Haven, Connecticut, to take on Yale University, with the Terriers ultimately returning home with one point due to a 4-4 tie.

BU and Yale (2-2-1) combined for 14 penalties, four power play goals and two shorthanded goals on the afternoon. There was not much five-on-five hockey being played, but BU coach Brian Durocher said this wasn’t entirely a bad thing.

“Every game has a different theme, and you have to do what it takes to do well,” he said. “Some days, it’s five-on-five hockey. Some days it’s special teams, and obviously, Saturday was a game that had a special teams theme to it. It’s good that we improved our power play, but we have to keep doing well in whatever the game requires. Going forward, I hope we get some consistency on the power play and score some more goals.”

Despite the amount of time the Terriers spent in the penalty box, the team still received contributions from its key forwards.

Freshman forward Victoria Bach, junior forward Rebecca Russo and junior forward Sarah Lefort all fired home a goal against Yale to push their goal tallies on the year to four, six and six, respectively.

“It was nice to see four different people score, and it means things are getting spread around, which is important,” Durocher said. “Playing on the power play certainly gives you more opportunities to score, and we took advantage of that. We look towards certain players to be goal scorers for us, and we can just hope that we have other players chip in as we keep moving along.”

Northeastern (2-5-3, 1-3 Hockey East) is a familiar opponent for the Terriers. The two sides met on Oct. 28 when BU opened up their home slate with the Terriers emerging as 3-2 victors.

While the Huskies certainly are a talented team, they haven’t achieved results that reflect their ability on the ice. The team has lost its last two games against the University of Maine and Boston College. Despite NU’s struggles, Durocher said he expects to see a team eager to get a victory Tuesday.

“They’ve been struggling for whatever reason, but it should be one of those games where Northeastern is in a situation where they have to win to turn some things around,” he said. “Our job is to keep things going while they’re down and put some pressure on them early. They’re looking for a spark, and we’re going to try to limit that.”

While they might not be getting desirable results, the Huskies have been buoyed by strong performances from three players.

Junior Kendall Coyne has led the way with five goals and six assists, sophomore Heather Mottau has chipped in one goal and five helpers of her own and freshman Lauren Kelly has contributed three goals and one assist.

“The first thing you expect from Northeastern is always Kendall Coyne,” Durocher said. “She is a real dynamic player and one of the best in the league. After that, their team really has no drop off, even all the way down to their fourth line. All six of their defenseman are solid Division One defenseman, and they have one of the top goalies in the league.”

With all of this considered, Northeastern definitely poses a sturdy challenge for the Terriers. A traditional Hockey East affair full of hard skating, team discipline and close attention to details should characterize the evening.

The Terriers are well aware of the dangers posed by Northeastern and that they need to approach the game with the right physical and mental state to get the two points on the table, Durocher said.

“The first charge is we know we’re getting back in Hockey East, and when you’re playing a quick turnaround game, you want to make sure your head is in the right place and you’re not taking too many long shifts,” he said. “We just have to try to take it one period and one shift at a time to make sure we have a good balance between offense, so we’re not getting caught out on either end of the ice.”

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Jonathan's a New Englander who writes about sports, features and politics. He currently covers men's hockey at BU, worked as Sports Editor during the spring 2016 semester and is on the FreeP's Board of Directors. Toss him a follow on Twitter at @jonathansigal.

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