Between the excitement over Tuesday’s thrilling Beanpot opening-round victory and the anticipation for next Tuesday’s championship game, this Saturday afternoon’s conference matchup against Providence College could easily be overlooked.
After all, in the heat of the Beanpot tournament, with the championship game coming up against archrival Boston College, a little old regular season game against the Friars can’t be that important — can it?
Beanpot aside, the Terriers are still in the heat of a playoff race and Saturday’s game against the third-place Friars could be considered the most important game of the season.
“Without a doubt, this is a huge game for us,” said BU head coach Brian Durocher.
The Terriers are currently in fifth place in Hockey East, seven points behind Providence and the University of Connecticut — who are both tied for third. With the strength of schedule in their favor, the Terriers can still make their move into the fourth slot but not without a win on Saturday — and a little help from their Hockey East counterparts.
UConn plays its last five games of the season against the top three teams in the conference, with a game against BC on Saturday, two against No. 5 University of New Hampshire and two more against Providence.
In contrast, BU only has one more game remaining against top Hockey East teams after this weekend’s contest against the Friars, when they skate against UNH one more time.
“We’ve got to get help from UConn not coming up with the win, but we need to gain seven or eight points in the standings, and it all starts here with Providence,” Durocher said.
But it won’t be easy to send Providence packing. The Friars boast a 10-2-3 Hockey East record and haven’t lost in two weeks, when they dropped a close game, 3-1, to UNH. Since that game, the Friars have tied UNH, 2-2, and defeated the University of Vermont by scores of 5-1 and 10-1.
“Providence is a real strong, physical team,” Durocher said. “We can’t let them get the angles or position. We’ve got to get between them and the net and not get into a strength on strength battle.”
Going up against Providence netminder Jana Bugden will be a challenge in itself. The senior goalie has posted a .924 save percentage this season, and during her last game against the Terriers, she made 24 saves en route to a 5-3 win.
BU will need to capitalize on strong special teams play this weekend. Last Saturday, the Terriers came out of an 0-11 slump on the power play, converting on 2-of-5 opportunities against Northeastern University in a 4-4 tie.
The penalty kill will need to be in top shape as well if the Terriers expect to fend off a Friars’ attack that netted five power-play goals in their weekend games against UVM. The Friars, who have also scored at least one goal with the man-advantage in each of their last six home games, will hope to take that luck on the road to Walter Brown.
“Providence plays a hard, physical game and their size forces opposing teams into penalties,” Durocher said. “We’ll need to keep our composure and not lose sight of winning the penalty game and getting a couple of pucks past Jana.”
“The magic number is three,” he continued. “If we can get three goals we can give ourselves a good chance.”
With a win over Providence, coupled with a UConn loss to BC, the Terriers could move within five points of the fourth and final playoff spot. With a loss, however, the Terriers put themselves at least nine points behind the Huskies and in a very difficult spot to continue their drive for the playoffs.
And with Beanpot excitement hovering, how the Terriers handle their first-ever championship berth as a varsity team may be an even bigger test of the squad’s focus.
“There’s no question history is in front of us in that matter,” Durocher said. “No matter how hard coaches try to remind a team, when you win on that first Monday, it’s tough — and when you win on the second Monday, the following weekend has been even tougher.”