It all comes down to this.
This weekend will decide the playoff fate of the Boston University women’s ice hockey team. Every blocked shot, every suicide and every minute spent in the weight room this season comes down to these two games.
For the first time in program history, the Terriers have a chance to clinch a Hockey East playoff bid, and it comes in this weekend’s home-and-home series against Northeastern University. BU hosts the Huskies (7-22-3, 6-12-1 Hockey East) tomorrow at Walter Brown Arena before concluding the regular season Sunday at Matthews Arena.
With three points, the Terriers are in. If not, they’ll have extra incentive to root against rival Boston College. The Eagles face a similar do-or-die situation with a home-and-home set against Providence College to conclude their season.
“You have to have a sense of urgency,” said junior co-captain Gina Kearns. “This weekend is make-or-break for us. We either continue on for another week or so, or it ends. It’s definitely going to give us a sense of urgency and we’re definitely going to play a little harder this weekend.”
Currently, BU (13-16-3, 9-9-1) holds the fourth and final playoff spot with 19 points, one point ahead of the fifth-place Eagles. Because BU has won two of the three matchups with the Eagles this season, they would be awarded the playoff berth in the case of a tie. If BC wins both games this weekend, BU just can’t lose one. If BU loses both games, BC will need to win just one. There’s also an outside chance that if both BU and BC win out, the Terriers could catapult over PC for third place and BC would take fourth with a tie-breaker over Providence.
All three scenarios seem unlikely given this weekend’s matchups. BU defeated the Huskies, 3-1, at Matthews Arena on Jan. 13, while BC would be hard-pressed to take two games from the third-place Friars, who defeated the Eagles, 3-2, in their only other matchup back Oct. 30. Even with the upper hand, the Terriers are not acting as if they’ve already clinched.
“We just need to play our game,” Kearns said. “We’ve seen Northeastern a couple times and we know we can skate with them. At the same time they are a good team. They have a really good goalie [freshman Leah Sulyma]. We just have to continue our success on the power play and penalty kill and get a couple goals five-on-five.”
Last time against Northeastern, the Terriers built a 2-0 first-period lead en route to a 3-1 win. Sophomore Melissa Anderson, coming off a hat trick and an assist in her last outing, was the game’s first star with a goal and an assist.
BU will look to exploit Northeastern’s weaknesses inside the blue line. The Huskies have allowed 115 goals (second-worst total in the conference) in 32 games for an average of 3.59 per contest. The Terriers (81 goals against) are tied for the fourth-best scoring defense in the conference.
Sulyma has been put on the spot this season and responded well, facing an astounding 989 shots – the most in the conference – for a .910 save percentage.
“We will continue to try to put pressure on their defense and try not to get into a crazy sort of run-and-gun game,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “The difference between last year and this year is that they have a pretty solid goaltender. Now, we could go play one heck of a game and if we’re not screening the goalie, not getting loose rebounds and not playing hard around the net, she can shut the door on us and make life miserable.”
After missing the Hockey East Tournament by four points last season, making the playoffs has been a goal of the Terriers since preseason. It’s been on their minds all year, and they have a chance to reach that goal this weekend.
“Obviously if we get three points we sow-up our own destiny and get in the playoffs,” Durocher said. “That is a huge goal we had as a team, but I think it’s also a testament to us crossing another plain – reaching another goal and developing as a program.”
