Most unranked teams merely hope to keep up with Dartmouth College, ranked No. 6 in the nation. But not this team. The Boston University women’s ice hockey team saw its game with the Big Green as a chance to pull off another upset.
But the Terriers (4-2-3, 2-1-2 Hockey East) were unable to stun Dartmouth and extend their unbeaten streak, losing 4-3 to the Big Green (1-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) at Thompson Arena on Saturday. A pair of late goals kept BU within striking distance, but the Big Green shut down the Terrier offense in the final minutes to seal the win.
“I was impressed with Dartmouth,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “They were able to put a nice game together and control the game, while we couldn’t control ourselves.”
Dartmouth looked as if it would run away with the game as the team opened with three unanswered goals. Junior Caroline Ethier netted the first goal of the Big Green’s season with 11:26 remaining in the opening period. Senior Danielle Grundy and freshman Katie Gray were credited with the assists.
The next two goals came off of the stick of Shannon Bowman. The freshman proved why she was among Dartmouth’s top recruits Saturday. Her first goal, a rocket from the blue line, just slipped past BU freshman goalie Allyse Wilcox. Bowman then found the back of the net on the rebound of an Amy Cobb shot.
“She is a smooth-skating and talented player,” Durocher said of Bowman. “I wasn’t totally surprised by her performance because she is a well-recognized player.”
Bowman, the game’s first star, also earned an assist on goal late in the second.
So for the third time this season, it was up to the Terriers to overcome a 3-0 deficit. Less than a minute after Bowman’s second goal, freshman Caroline Bourdeau cut into the Big Green’s lead, netting her first goal of the game on assists by freshman Catherine Foley and junior Jessica Lortie.
Bourdeau was also a big part of the Terriers’ late-game comeback attempt as she scored the final goal of the game.
“Bourdeau is very consistent in whatever role you put her in,” Durocher said. “She is not outwardly dynamic, but she put herself in a position to play well.”
The other two times BU was able to come back from trailing by three, the team shut out its opponent for the remainder of the game. But not this time.
Freshman Erin Seman was called for cross-checking in the final minute of the second frame, and the Big Green took advantage of the power play. Senior captain Tiffany Hagge made it 4-1 with just 31 seconds left in the period.
Hagge was quieted by Wilcox and the Terrier defense for most of the game, but the goal could not have come at a better time for Dartmouth. “It was a disappointment for us since we had a little momentum going,” Durocher said. “We have to prevent careless penalties.”
Halfway through the third, freshman Genevieve Laing scored her fourth goal of the season, giving Bourdeau her second assist of the year. Hagge returned the favor late in the third period when she was sent to the penalty box for checking with 4:17 to play. Rather than a 5-on-4, Durocher opted to pull Wilcox for a 6-on-4 advantage.
“When you are down two goals, you got to take a risk,” he said. “You just try and slant the table in your favor and the two-person advantage was big for us.”
The Terriers took advantage of the advantage, peppering Dartmouth goalie Kate Lane, who eventually allowed a third goal. With 2:43 remaining, Bourdeau netted her second of the contest and fourth of the season.
“It is impressive to me that we keep making strong comebacks at the end of our games,” Durocher said. “It speaks volumes for our intensity and attitude.”
Unfortunately for the Terriers, Hagge’s power play goal in the second period was the difference-maker in the 4-3 loss.
The defeat was not for lack of strong goaltending, though. Wilcox, last week’s Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week, was bombarded with 44 shots. Her 40 saves are the second-most of the season, bested only by her 43-save effort against the University of Vermont.
While it was a loss on the stat sheet, the Terriers forced the Big Green to skate with them the entire way through, rather than rolling over to a superior team.
“I was terribly excited by our never-say-die attitude,” he said. “We should be an inspiration to any team in any sport on how to keep fighting.”
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
