The Boston University women’s hockey team responded well to two tough Beanpot Tournament losses last week, sweeping the University of New Hampshire in a home-and-away series this past weekend.
The Terriers’ (19-11-2, 16-4-2 Hockey East) victories over UNH (10-21-1, 7-15 Hockey East) could not have come at a better time, as the team now heads into the final weekend of the regular season with the conference’s No. 2 seed within reach. That position became a reality after a 6-4 win Saturday at Walter Brown Arena and a 6-2 win Sunday in Durham, New Hampshire.
“We’re just trying to string wins together and get ourselves in a good frame of mind coming off a couple tough Beanpot losses,” Durocher said. “Both games, I thought we played very well in. It was good to get rewarded with some goals. We have good offensive players, and we expect them to get goals. This weekend they got their share, and it’s good to see the confidence go up as we head toward the playoffs.”
The goals came in bunches Saturday, and BU had to come back when an upset appeared in the books. The Terriers found themselves in a 2-0 hole at the end of the first period, but stormed back thanks to a five-goal third frame.
Junior Cassandra Vilgrain, who is third on the team in goals with 10, scored the first two for the Wildcats. Sophomore forward Rebecca Leslie got BU on the board just 30 seconds into the second period, but forward Amy Boucher scored on the power play to give UNH the 3-1 advantage heading into the final period.
The Terriers did not control much through the first 40 minutes of play, as they only mustered 15 shots on UNH goaltender Kyra Smith during that span. The final frame was an entirely different story, though, with BU coming out with great energy and attacking intent.
“That’s always a great thing when you get the energy going,” said BU assistant coach Katie Lachapelle. “One line gets to feed off another, and you start to get more shots and kind of feel it a little bit more when you’re getting out there. We had a couple great possession plays in the zone that led to some goals. The kids never gave up, and kept working hard.”
Senior forward Rebecca Russo got the Terriers’ comeback started with a goal 12 seconds into the period, and scored again on the power play just under six minutes in to tie the score at three.
Freshman forward Sammy Davis scored off a great possession play to give BU its first lead of the game, but the UNH’s leading scorer, junior Jonna Curtis, would tie the score at four with less than eight minutes to go.
Leslie put the Terriers on top for good four minutes later with her team-leading fourth shorthanded goal of the season, and senior defenseman Alexis Crossley added an empty-netter in the final seconds to cement the 6-4 scoreline.
Russo noticed that come the third period, BU consciously changed its approach, and it paid off.
“Definitely the mood in the locker room changed,” Russo said. “What needed to happen was more shots from the first period to the third period. Any shot can go in in hockey, so why not crash the net, attack the net, draw a penalty, maybe? I think the more shots, the merrier and the better for us.”
Sunday’s contest at UNH was less competitive, with the Terriers controlling most of the game from the opening faceoff. There were no goals in the tight first period, with BU amassing seven shots to the Wildcats’ 10.
The Terriers scored three goals in each of the subsequent periods, though, securing four crucial points in the process.
Sophomore forward Victoria Bach, who leads the team in goals but had not scored since Jan. 30 against Merrimack College, tallied BU’s first two goals in the second period. Leslie added her third goal of the weekend with just over a minute left in the second stanza to help the Terriers head into the locker room with a 3-1 lead.
The third period was much of the same. After UNH defenseman Amy Schlagel netted a power-play goal at the 5:41 mark in the frame, BU scored the final three goals, including two empty-netters, to come away with the win and the weekend sweep.
“It was one of those late season games that probably didn’t have as much emotion as others,” Durocher said. “Part of it might be that rink. It’s a big, big rink, so there’s a lot of skating, a lot of loose pucks, but both teams played technically really well. They had a few more shots than us, but we found a way to finish. We got probably a few more nice stops by [sophomore goaltender] Erin O’Neil to help us get out of there with a win.”
Nick Neville is a junior in COM studying journalism and the Sports Editor of the Daily Free Press. When he's not making a paper on Beacon Street, you can catch him working as a Sports Correspondent for the Boston Globe or helping to produce BU's only professional sports talk show, Offsides. Follow him on Twitter: @n_nebs95
