In a tie game, success on the power play can often make the difference between a win and a loss. The Boston University women’s ice hockey team was unable to find that success as it tied Boston College 1-1 in the consolation game of the Women’s Beanpot on Tuesday night.
The Terriers went 1-for-7 on the power play, mustering a total of 14 shots in 13:10 of the man-advantage. BU was often its own worst enemy during these advantages, struggling to keep passes in the zone and skating into the crease.
“Sometimes we kind of shot ourselves in the foot,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “I don’t have an answer for that because I think we have plenty of talent out there, plenty of people who have practiced it and know what they are supposed to do. I think it was more the mental mistakes we made than physical.”
The Terriers’ lone goal came on BU’s sixth power play of the night. Prior to the third period, BU tallied only six shots on four power plays, and in the first was unable to get a shot off at all on its power play. When BC senior defenseman Tracy Johnson went to the box with BU down 1-0 halfway through the third, Durocher called a timeout.
“I told them if we don’t get this done for physical reasons, I can live with it,” Durocher said. “But if we don’t get this done because we are mentally doing things absolutely wrong, one pass and shoot it into somebody, then I’ll have trouble living with that.”
After that timeout, the Terriers did get it done. With a little over 30 seconds remaining on the advantage, BU attempted to stuff a rebound in during a flurry of activity on the left side of the net.
The puck escaped unnoticed by sophomore defenseman Kasey Boucher, who was camped out alone at the right faceoff dot. Boucher fired a shot into the empty net, most likely before anybody else had even discovered the puck had trickled out.
“Everybody in the rink except Kasey was on one side of the ice,” Durocher said. “She came down Broadway and just whacked it in.”
The Terriers’ struggles on the power play may have been a side effect of playing in the consolation game. In a Monday night game where nothing is on the line &- no points in Hockey East and no championship to play for &- it is harder for teams to get into the game.
The game started slowly for both teams, but by the third period, competitive spirits began to take over and both teams started to play more aggressively. In the overtime period, BU senior forward Melissa Anderson and BC sophomore Mary Restuccia almost got into a fight, and Restuccia received a 5-minute major for punching, as well as a game disqualification.
“The atmosphere is tough [in a consolation game],” Durocher said. “You don’t want to be here. You sort of feel sorry for yourself a little. The game has to start to evolve and then the adrenaline gets going and the bodies get warmed up and the kids start going after it.”