The Boston University women’s hockey team will play against Harvard University in the Beanpot tournament Tuesday at Northeastern University. However, this game doesn’t have the hype the crosstown rival usually brings, as it is the consolation game of the tournament.
Both teams suffered disappointing losses in the opening round of the tournament. Last Tuesday, the Terriers (13-10-5, 8-8-4 Hockey East) suffered a tough opening round loss at the hands of Boston College by a score of 3-2. Meanwhile, Harvard (3-17-4) fell 4-1 against Northeastern (18-9-3, 13-7-2 Hockey East).
BU head coach Brian Durocher said his team’s heartbreaking loss still stings and it may impact how they progress into the week.
“It’s real hard to pick up the pieces immediately after something like that,” Durocher said. “We had a skate the next day that was a conditioning type of skate with a lot of pucks on the goalies but we really didn’t talk too much about what went on. We were saving that for later in the week and let everyone decompress right now.”
Durocher, however, is still taking the game on Tuesday seriously.
“When you’re going into a consolation game it’s still an NCAA game, it’s still a chance to win a game,” Durocher said. “It’s still a chance to play well … the last five games after that are going to feel like playoff games so we need to get better going into them.”
On the bright side, going into Tuesday’s matinee against the Crimson, junior forward Victoria Bach has a four-game point streak and junior forward Nina Rodgers has scored three goals in her last three games. The Terriers will rely on those two skaters to lead the way on offense the rest of season.
“Victoria is obviously a very established player, she’s one of the top, if not the top, players in the league from a skills standpoint,” Durocher said. “We’ve given her opportunities to grow on the top lines and on the powerplay unit and she answered the bell with her production. I’m really happy for her, excited for her.”
One of the main storylines going into this game is that the Terriers’ leading goal scorer, graduate student Mary Parker, will be going against her alma mater on Tuesday.
“I think she’ll tell you there’s a whisker of nervousness before the game,” said Durocher. “She respects those kids and they respect her from her time at Harvard. But she is having a unique season here and the number one thing for that night is you want to win. She’ll want to win. They’ll know she’ll want to win and she’s a competitor so it should be fun for her.”
Right now, two other Hockey East teams are tied with BU for third in the league standings. When asked how to distance themselves from the rest of the pack, Durocher kept it simple.
“W-I-N is the answer to that question,” Durocher said. “You lose a game to Merrimack that you go in thinking you’re going to win and the teams behind you pick up some ground. There are three teams right there that were just behind or tied with us and before this week is out they have the potential to all be ahead of us, so we definitely have some big games coming up.”
