Fresh off a key two-game sweep against the University of New Hampshire, the Boston University women’s hockey team looks to finish the season strong in its final two games this weekend.
The Terriers (15-10-6, 10-8-4 Hockey East) will face Northeastern University on Friday and the University of Maine on Sunday.
After two straight wins last weekend, the Terriers sit at third in the Hockey East standings behind Boston College and Northeastern (19-10-3, 14-7-2 Hockey East). With only two games remaining, BU sits atop four teams only within four points of the Terriers, which makes the final games crucial for nearly the entire conference.
The Terriers are 0-2 against the Huskies this season and 1-1 against the Black Bears (10-20-1, 6-16-1 Hockey East), though they have not played either team in 2017.
After his team scored nine goals in two games, BU head coach Brian Durocher is confident about the Terriers’ offense effort.
“The recurring theme that keeps going well with this team is we keep finding ways to score goals,” Durocher said. “It’s an important part of the game. We want to keep working on our defensive side of the game. Our calling card is definitely that we get goals. We continue to get solid play from [senior goaltender] Victoria Hanson, as well. A few good things are definitely happening.”
Another positive element from last weekend for the Terriers was the performance of junior forward Rebecca Leslie, who had two goals and two assists in the series. She has played well after an injury earlier in the season and will be an important factor in the playoffs.
“I certainly hope that Rebecca continues her positive ways,” Durocher said. “Usually it takes you a little while to get going [after an injury] because of your condition, just to test a little bit of your timing. Her first game back she had a good run. I would love to see her keep going. She’s one of the premier kids here offensively.”
Despite solid offensive play for BU, four of New Hampshire’s five goals came on power plays.
To Durocher, that must change.
“We didn’t do a good job last weekend killing penalties,” he said. “We just have to be a little more determined killing penalties, maybe shut things down just a little bit more.”
The Terriers’ defense has a difficult task ahead against Northeastern.
“The toughest thing for us to deal with [against Northeastern] is they’ve got a cast of good-sized forwards,” Durocher said. “They go to the net hard, and they create space for smaller kids that have a little more skill. But we have to match up against them and not let them get easy goals. It takes a lot of effort and a lot of work because they are a big group of kids and that’s what we probably struggle with the most.”
In regard to the Black Bears, Durocher said their underwhelming record is misleading. Despite a 20-loss season, Maine has played well against BU, BC (22-4-5, 16-3-3 Hockey East) and Northeastern this season. Though Maine currently sits in eighth place in Hockey East with only 13 points, the final weekend can create some interesting scenarios.
“They’re gonna be fighting for their lives,” Durocher said. “I don’t know how things will shake out with the Vermont/Merrimack series, but going into the game on Sunday, it could potentially be an all-or-nothing thing for [Maine] — win or the season’s over, so we might have to deal with that intensity and motivation.”
With numerous teams still in the thick of it this late in the season, winning the final two games could prove essential for BU.
“The last thing you want to do when you can take care of business is be standings watching,” said Durocher. “The best thing you could do is win 2 games, you know you’re at home for the best-of-three series, and most importantly, have a little bit of a nice run of potentially a four-game winning streak and feel good about yourself.”
