Games don’t get much bigger than this for the Boston University women’s hockey team.
A Hockey East semi-final matchup against No. 6 Northeastern University awaits Saturday afternoon at Merrimack College’s Lawler Rink, with the winner advancing to likely face No. 1 Boston College Sunday for a berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Pegged as underdogs, the Terriers (22-13-2, 17-5-2 Hockey East) will have history on their side, as two victories secure a seventh-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and fifth-straight Hockey East championship title. Before arriving at that point, BU head coach Brian Durocher conceded that his team has let the lofty storylines seep into its psyche some, but knows nothing is guaranteed.
“The only way to get there is to focus on what’s next, and that’s the first shift and the second shift and the first period, etcetera,” Durocher said. “If it all adds up properly, then maybe you get yourself to championship game where it can be anyone’s ball game. It’s going to be two real tough battles, two real good teams that have had our number this year.”
As Durocher alluded to, Northeastern (28-7-1, 20-4 Hockey East) and Boston College (36-0, 24-0 Hockey East) have gotten the best of BU more often than not this season, winning a combined six of seven clashes. Such results might cause coaches to reevaluate things, but Durocher has a somewhat different approach.
His team boasts 14 upperclassmen, all of whom are well versed in the “win-or-go-home mentality” that accompanies this time of year and “know what’s at stake.” That experience should prove vital, and the Terriers don’t plan on switching much up when the puck drops Saturday afternoon.
“We just talk about playing hard in our defensive zone, making good decisions, not making high-risk decisions,” Durocher said. “I’ll call it a fairly similar week. The way this schedule falls, you got to get a few workouts in. And we’ve been trying to do that, trying to keep them short so we’ll have plenty of energy and jump when the weekend comes.”
Combatting that energy will be an aura of familiarity, as many of the star players on display know each other inside and out. Northeastern possesses the forward group of Kendall Coyne, Denisa Krizova and Hayley Scamurra, while BU has its own talented corps in senior Sarah Lefort and sophomores Victoria Bach and Rebecca Leslie.
Those six players have a wealth of international experience at their disposal and combined for 309 points across the regular season. There’s always the goaltender battle too, as BU’s Erin O’Neil and Northeastern’s Brittany Bugalski can each take over the game if need be.
With those stalwarts in mind, Durocher stressed that there’s not too much else left to prepare for, as hockey is a “read and react game.”
“You just try to remind them what [Northeastern] tries to do on the power play, what they tend to do killing penalties, are they aggressive or are they a little more passive,” Durocher said. “Maybe you throw in a new faceoff play or you tweak something ever so slightly … It’s on us to make good decisions, make high percentage plays and make those good instantaneous reads.”
One final plot line ahead of this weekend’s contests is that the friendly confines of the Hyannis Youth and Community Center no longer play host to the annual tournament. The Cape Cod rink served as the sanctuary of BU’s playoff dynasty, and Durocher said the rink helped his team “psychologically and probably wore on the opponents every once in a while.”
Regardless of the venue, there is the chance to make even more history, and the Terriers are focused on what’s ahead.
“Whatever history we make at Merrimack will be new a chapter,” Durocher said. “We start anew at a nice rink and hopefully the kids will answer the bell and start a positive tradition.”
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.
