When the Boston University and Boston College women’s hockey teams meet, the bevy of elite talent amongst the crosstown rivals seldom disappoints. The Terriers and No. 1 Eagles stayed true to that trend Saturday afternoon at Walter Brown Arena, with the latter grinding out a 4-3 win.
After a month-long winter break, BU (13-8-1, 10-4-1 Hockey East) and BC (21-0, 14-0 Hockey East) showed no signs of cobwebs when they capitalized on limited opportunities in the first period. BC Senior Haley Skarupa, who has more than 200 career points, got the best of BU sophomore goaltender Erin O’Neil at the 5:03 and 12:52 marks of the frame.
However, senior forward Sarah Lefort conjured up a backhanded feed and saucer pass to twice tie the game and negate goaltender Katie Burt’s normally resolute presence. Senior forward Kayla Tutino first did the deed 8:13 in when she chipped home her sixth of the year, and senior forward Dakota Woodworth cushioned in a wrist shot with 28 seconds left in the period.
“It was an impressive tone for the game and was exciting for the crowd because they like to see goals. They like to see offense with the kids who up front on both teams,” BU head coach Brian Durocher said. “[The players] are really, really talented and were on display today playing great and producing the opportunities that give you momentum in the ebb and flow of the game.”
Knotted at two and shorthanded for the first 1:40 of the second period, BU drew first blood on a rare chance. As has been the case so often this season, the connection between sophomore forward Rebecca Leslie and senior forward Rebecca Russo came up big, with the latter slamming home her second shorthanded goal of the season 1:05 in.
Jolted and noticeably more confident, BU had the nation’s last undefeated team on its heels. However, a career day from Skarupa resulted in two opportunistic goals to put BC up 4-3 and beckoned a tall task for Durocher’s team in the third period.
“We’ve got exciting kids who are good skaters who went out and got us the big goal to give us the lead,” Durocher said. “Then when you get an Olympian like Haley Skarupa getting the job done, it’s not as bitter of a pill to swallow. She’s a great player who I think we played pretty hard around, but she found her way to places.”
The defense stood tall and BU’s experienced forward corps benefited from three power plays in the third period, but neither element could fully get BC out of its rhythm. Despite the setback, Durocher shied away from disappointment and regret when evaluating his team’s performance.
Rather, he glowed about their compete level and overall approach with 10 conference games left on the docket. After all, BU boasts 14 upperclassmen, has won four straight Hockey East Championships, advanced to the last six NCAA Tournaments and tends to play its best hockey come January and February.
“We just need to be consistent,” Durocher said. “We’ve got too many seniors, too many juniors, too many upperclassmen who have been through the wars, and we can’t make excuses about experience or lack of talent or those things. We just have to keep at it, and I like the fact they did it today.”
The next chance to prove their worth is not far off, as four crucial points will be on the line when BU travels to the University of Vermont next weekend. Given his team’s recent stretch of games, Durocher issued a warning sign of sorts to the rest of Hockey East.
“I told [the team] after the game that people know we’re coming and people know we’re getting better,” he said. “We’ll have a couple more hard games this week and get ready to go up for Vermont for a couple big games.”
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.
