If you were to tell me that halfway through the hockey season, the women’s team – in its first year, no less – would have a better record than the men’s team, I would have said what Larry David did in a recent episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” when someone asked him to jump off a ski lift:
“What are you, *!’%$#^ nuts?”
Well, we’re now roughly midway through the season and not only does the women’s hockey team have a better record, they have hijacked the spotlight from the guys, and for the time being, it shines on them alone.
The men’s team is 4-5-2 and in sixth place in Hockey East, while the women are 7-7-3 and third in Hockey East. The women were picked to finish dead last in the Hockey East preseason poll, but now sit above such established programs as Boston College, Northeastern University, the University of Maine and the University of Connecticut. I don’t think it can be emphasized enough that they are a first-year program and that for the majority of players, this is their first year of college hockey.
Instead of picking up the proverbial pom-poms and cheerleading for the female Terriers, what I’ll do instead is list some facts that speak for themselves:
They have no seniors. I repeat, they have no seniors.
They carry 21 freshmen, two sophomores and four juniors. That means 78 percent of their roster is comprised of rookies. That’s Absurd. With a capital A.
Freshman goalie Allyse Wilcox was named Hockey East Rookie of the Week twice and also earned Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week.
Freshman forward Gina Kearns was named Hockey East Rookie of Week.
Junior forward Cara Hendry and freshman blue-liner Amanda Shaw were selected to the Hockey East All-Star team.
Freshman Laurel Koller, second in Hockey East with 17 points, was named Hockey East Rookie of the Month and New England Journal Player of the Week.
BU has four players in the top 10 in Hockey East scoring.
Wilcox leads all Hockey East goalies with 388 saves.
They put together a seven-game unbeaten streak.
The Terriers have accomplished all of these things and we’re not even halfway through the season. For a team that went into the year with little to no expectations – at least from the point of view of everyone on the outside – all of these achievements are, as Larry David himself would say, “Pretty … pretty … pretty … good.”
“I think we’re surprising a lot of people, including, at times, ourselves,” said team captain Cara Hendry, who captured one of the Terriers’ seven individual Hockey East awards. Surprising would describe it. So would astonishing, remarkable, implausible, ridiculous or incredible – choose your adjective.
What the women’s hockey team has done is made a name for itself. Now when students talk about BU hockey, it’s not just about the men’s team.
The Terriers have gained the respect of not only their opponents, but of young high school players everywhere who are looking at colleges to play at next year. You don’t think the Terriers’ amazing success in its infancy has put the program on the radar screens of the top players in the nation? Believe me, there are going to be some high-caliber freshmen coming to BU next season. On the whole, the Terriers have ensured success for the future.
And the future of the women’s hockey program is best described by Hendry: “We continue to grow as a team, and we’re only going to get better.”