After a weekend sweep against Merrimack College, the Boston University women’s hockey team will travel to the Bright-Landry Hockey Center in Cambridge to play rival Harvard University on Tuesday night.
The Terriers (7-5-1, 6-5 Hockey East) come into this matchup with four wins in their last five games, while the Crimson (1-5) are in the midst of a five-game losing streak.
BU’s defense this weekend helped lead the team to victory, and head coach Brian Durocher said he hopes this momentum will carry over into the contest with Harvard.
“I think that was the highlight of the weekend in my eyes,” Durocher said. “We were able to keep them off the scoreboard because that’s what championship-winning teams have to do. They have to be good on defense and we did that on Saturday. So it should generate momentum and a good feel going into Tuesday’s game.”
Despite not playing for the four previous games, senior goaltender Victoria Hanson stepped up as a key contributor in both contests against the Warriors (4-10-1, 2-7 Hockey East). Hanson stopped 45 shots over the weekend on her way to a Saturday afternoon shutout, the first of her career.
The Stoughton native upped her save percentage to .925, and Durocher has been impressed with her play.
“I’ve always talked about save percentage and right now she’s got hers in a nice position,” Durocher said. “So there may be an idea to lean in that direction but we’ll make the decision sometime [on Monday].”
The Terriers have shown time and time again this season that they are a tough competitor offensively. With stellar goals (3.85) and shots per game (36.9) averages, they have the opportunity to wreak havoc on a middle-of-the-pack Crimson defense, which has allowed 2.60 goals per game.
Harvard’s goaltenders, Brianna Laing and Molly Tissenbaum, are some bright spots defensively, as their save percentages (.926 and .933) are 27th and 36th-best in the country, respectively.
BU’s top-scoring forwards, graduate student Mary Parker and junior Victoria Bach, will go up against senior Sydney Daniels, Harvard’s offensive leader. The Southwick product has four goals for a side that averages just 1.50 goals per game.
Strong goalies from schools like Northeastern University and Boston College have hindered the Terriers in the past, but Durocher said he hopes his team makes use of every opportunity going into Tuesday’s contest.
“We have to make better use of our shots and secondly, get some traffic and rebounds,” he said. “I thought we had some traffic on Saturday at the net but we really couldn’t get too many rebounds and we need to be a little bit more determined and stronger — whatever it takes to get to a couple of those loose pucks.”
History is on Harvard’s side, as the Crimson own a 8-3-1 record against their crosstown rivals in the all-time series. The Terriers will have to put up a tough fight if they want to secure a win away from the friendly confines of Walter Brown Arena.
“One game doesn’t make a season or make you the best team in college hockey,” Durocher said. “You have to do it night after night and to have a real good defensive stand on Tuesday night will be the most important because we’ll find ways to generate offense and score goals, but we want to make sure that we’re keeping them to a low number of goals and that gives you plenty of opportunities to win games.”
