Fans had the opportunity to watch their Boston University women’s hockey team in an exhibition game at Walter Brown Arena last Friday, but the puck will officially drop on the Terriers’ first regular season as a Division I Hockey East team tomorrow night at 7 p.m. when they travel down the street to Northeastern University.
Northeastern’s team has a rich history in Division I, dating back to the 1980-81 season. The program has seen plenty of ups and downs: from its 12 Beanpot titles and 26-0-1 record in 1987-88 with Don MacLeod (210-60-6 career record) at the helm to its worst year ever at a dismal 3-25-4 last season.
BU hopes to start its own illustrious history in Hockey East against a Huskies team that is one of the weaker squads in the conference. The Women’s Hockey East Preseason Poll has selected Northeastern to finish in sixth place out of eight teams. The Terriers, meanwhile, are the ultimate underdog. With no Division-I experience, they have been picked to finish last in the conference.
“Mentally, we are always going to be the underdog,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “Physically, we need to work as hard as we can. It’s going to be a common theme all year so we better get used to it.”
In their history as a club sport, the Terriers have played Northeastern numerous times in both the regular season and the Beanpot. The Huskies are 24-2 overall in head-to-head competition.
Despite Northeastern’s poor performance last season, the Terriers will have their hands full against a strong core of forwards and one of the best goalies in the conference.
The Huskies have several of their top forwards returning from last season. Junior Amy Goodney led Northeastern in points, with 23, and assists, with 15, last year. Her eight goals were enough to tie her with fellow junior Crystal Rochon for second place on the team. Rochon was just one behind Goodney in both points (22) and assists (14).
Also coming back for Northeastern are sophomore Nikki Petrich and junior Ashley Bielawski. Petrich had a sensational freshman season, leading the team in goals with 12 and finishing with 19 total points. Bielawski tallied an even six goals and six assists last year. Joining Bielawski this year will be her younger sister, Ali. The freshman is expected to produce results immediately.
“They have a solid line with Petrich and the Bielawski sisters,” Durocher said. “Their team also has a nice blend of size and speed.”
Northeastern also has an outstanding goalie in senior Marisa Hourihan. She started all 32 games and racked up 1,235 saves with a 4.00 goals-against average in 2004-05.
“Many people think that their goalie is at the top of the conference,” Durocher said.
As for the Terriers, they will need to take heed of lessons learned from the exhibition game against the Bluewater Hawks. BU struggled to play hard end-to-end for a full 60 minutes, and the team will need to maintain its toughness late in games if they want to compete in Hockey East, Durocher said.
While there were some weak areas that Bluewater exposed late in the match-up, the Terriers did an excellent job in skating with a far more experienced team. There were several positives in the exhibition game that the squad wants to carry with them as the season progresses.
“I liked our energy and enthusiasm,” Durocher said. “We got some great individual performances from [Gina] Kearns and [Cara] Hendry and overall our line played well. We were also strong defensively. I don’t think most of the goals we gave up were easy goals.”
The Huskies also got a chance to play the Hawks last week and beat them, 5-4. Northeastern torched Bluewater for three goals in the first period, including two goals within 30 seconds. The Hawks bounced back in the second period but still trailed, 4-3. A power play goal by Huskies junior forward Marie Desrosiers late in the third left sealed it.
Going on the road to open the season for most teams would mean no home-ice advantage, but since the women’s team has just established itself in Division I, Durocher doesn’t see this as an issue.
“It’s not like we’ve built up any advantage at home yet,” he said. “I say it’s another hockey game and we’re going to get out and get after it the same way we would any game. It’s a great learning experience to go on the road for us.”
While Northeastern will certainly prove to be a challenge for the young Terriers, the Huskies are among the weaker teams in the conference that BU will have to play over the 31-game season. Playing the season opener against the Huskies will give BU a far better chance at success than if they opened against one of the conference’s best teams.
“At least it is a team we can stack up against more readily,” Durocher said. “It is not one of the elite teams like Providence or New Hampshire.”