With Walter Brown Arena seeing its first NCAA action since the Boston University men’s ice hockey team left it dormant last December, the BU women’s ice hockey team gave the arena all the playing time it could Tuesday night, skating to a 2-2 overtime tie against Quinnipiac University.
Defense and goaltending stood out for BU, countering Quinnipiac’s quick offense.
The Terriers scored first with freshman forward Nicki Wiart sliding one by the Quinnipiac goalie stick side 14 minutes into the first period. The goal, assisted by freshman forward Laurel Koller, was Wiart’s first of the season, giving the Terriers a 1-0 lead in the second period.
But on the whole, the Terriers (0-1-1) were not as sharp offensively as was necessary to compete with the strong Bobcats (0-1-1).
“We did not play very well tonight. We were a little tentative and Quinnipiac played with a lot of tempo and a lot of pace,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “We didn’t really carry play tonight. A lot is gauged by how well we collect passes, and we didn’t seem to collect pucks tonight.”
Quinnipiac didn’t take too kindly to being behind by a goal. After controlling the puck in the BU zone for the first three minutes of play in the second, Quinnipiac freshman forward Jennifer Maclean caught the Terrier defense out of position, took a pass from Elyse Cole and slid the puck past BU goalie Allyse Wilcox.
Despite opportunities in the middle of the period, BU failed to capitalize twice in breakaway situations. But BU’s luck changed, as Bobcat defenseman Karra Stephen went into the penalty box at 6:12 for tripping. And BU capitalized.
At 7:34 of the second period – 1:22 into the power play – freshman forward Caroline Bordeau netted a rebound for her second goal of the season and put the Terriers up, 2-1.
The lead was short-lived, though, as the Bobcats quickly regrouped and Cole tallied her second point of the night, scoring an unassisted goal at 10:22 to knot the game at 2-2 – a score that would stick.
The tie seemed somewhat unfitting, as Quinnipiac was, up to that point, nearly doubling the Terriers in shots on goal. At the end of regulation, the Bobcats tallied 23 shots, dwarfing BU’s 13. Given such a low score, there was a lot to be said about Wilcox’s 21 saves.
“Allyse really tightened up her game tonight,” Durocher said. “The most noticeable was the placement of rebounds – the rebounds were sent out of danger. Quinnipiac really out-territoried and out-chased us tonight, so we relied on Allyse.”
Penalties were also a problem for the Terriers, who totaled six over the course of the game. However, the defense was solid on the penalty kill, allowing the Bobcats nothing during all 12 penalty minutes.
Though BU never broke, the point for an overtime tie was bittersweet, since the team is still looking for its first win.
“I didn’t think at any part of the game we really brought our A game,” Durocher said. “We kind of hung in there and showed some heart, but at no point did we really control the game.”
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