No. 6/7 women’s hockey splits weekend series with Vermont

It was more a tale of two scores than it was of two games for the No. 6/7 Boston University women’s hockey team in this past weekend’s series against the University of Vermont at Walter Brown Arena.

The Terriers (16-6-2, 11-4 Hockey East) were shut out for the first time all season when they played the Catamounts (11-15-1, 2-12 Hockey East) on Saturday, falling 2-0 to their conference opponent. For all the trouble they had finding the back of the net in the first game though, scoring seemed to come with ease for BU on Sunday when the Terriers tallied five goals in the first period en route to a 9-2 rout of UVM.

In Saturday’s game, BU outshot the Catamounts by almost a 2-to-1 margin, firing 39 shots on net to UVM’s 21. The team also registered 99 total shot attempts on the day while UVM compiled 31, which was the Terriers’ first-period total. In spite of all the offense generated, no one on the BU roster could get anything past UVM goaltender Madison Litchfield to break through onto the score sheet.

Senior captain Marie-Philip Poulin appeared to have a goal in the second period, but it was called back because officials determined the net had been dislodged.

Despite the loss, BU coach Brian Durocher said he was happy with the way his squad played and noted that they fared well on both sides of the ice.

“We created a ton of opportunities, and at the same time we played solid, good defense on the other end of the ice, and that’s all you can ask for,” he said.

On Sunday, things started a little more quickly for BU. Just 55 seconds into the game, the Terriers got on the board with a goal from junior defenseman Lillian Ribeirinha-Braga. The blue liner fired a shot from below the left circle and beat goalie Molly Depew glove side.

Eight minutes later, BU broke through with three goals in as many minutes as freshman center Victoria Bach, sophomore defenseman Diana Bennett and freshman winger Rebecca Leslie cashed in for tallies. The offensive onslaught from the Terriers forced a UVM change in net, as Litchfield came in to relieve Depew immediately after Bennett’s tally.

With five minutes to go in the opening frame, junior forward Rebecca Russo converted a power-play chance to cap off a five-goal period for the Terriers.

Bach notched her second of the game just 2:28 into the second stanza, and Poulin added an impressive goal of her own. The captain took a rebound from sophomore goaltender Victoria Hanson and skated end-to-end, putting the puck between the pipes for BU’s seventh of the day. Before the period’s close, sophomore forward Samantha Sutherland potted an unassisted marker.

In the third period, sophomore goaltender Mia Becker made her first-ever appearance at the collegiate level and was able to fend off nine of 11 Vermont shots, including a penalty shot from UVM scoring leader senior Brittany Zuback.

Leslie put the bow on the victory for BU with the ninth and final Terrier goal of the game, assisted by Bach. It was the third point of the night for each of the linemates, who finished with first and second star honors, respectively.

The Terriers also had 13 different players register points, including six multi-point efforts from Leslie, Bach, Poulin, Sutherland, Ribeirinha-Braga and sophomore center Maddie Elia.

Durocher said that one of the keys to this turnaround was getting his team to stop trying to look for the perfect shot or play and instead go for what’s most likely to work.

“Last night, I commended [the team] on how well they played because we got 99 opportunities and only gave up 21 shots,” he said. “Today what I talked to them about was trying not to be as perfect. Instead of trying to get it an inch under the crossbar, get it a foot under the crossbar. Instead of taking the big slapshot, get a wrist shot or get a three-quarter, half type of slapshot to the net so they don’t get in the way and block it.”

The depth of scoring from the Terriers was also something that Durocher felt helped BU on Sunday and will continue to help as games get tougher and the team gets into the postseason.

“It’s great when people can score,” he said. “They obviously start feeling better about themselves, and to have some different people score, it wasn’t the top line getting the majority of stuff. It was a bunch of different people, and that’s a real positive for the team as we go forward because we can’t just count on one line to do the job or two or three players to do the job. It’s gotta be more of a team effort because there’s gonna be nights where somebody’s snakebitten, a line’s not playing as well, and to have some other people that can back us up is a great thing.”