The Boston University women’s hockey team extended its win streak to four games after victories over Northeastern University and the University of Maine in its last two games of the regular season.
Despite dropping both games to Northeastern (19-11-3, 14-8-2 Hockey East) and splitting with Maine (10-21-1, 6-17-1 Hockey East) in earlier matchups this season, BU (17-10-6, 12-8-4 Hockey East) found itself with a 7-2 win over the Huskies and a 5-0 shutout of the Black Bears.
On Friday night, senior Paige Savage opened the scoring for Northeastern.
However, the Terriers responded with five unanswered goals. Junior forward Nina Rodgers knotted the score on BU’s first power play with a wrister from the far left circle.
“I loved the first [goal],” said BU head coach Brian Durocher. “We got the puck, and we moved around three, four times. I always tell them if we can get their team moving a little bit, maybe get them deceived and then start to deliver to the net, the bodies hit the net and we did that.”
Less than a minute later, senior forward Maddie Elia capitalized on a rebound from a shot by junior forward Rebecca Leslie.
In the second period, the Terriers were able to extend their lead to 5-1, which began with graduate student forward Mary Parker shooting the puck into the top shelf off a nice feed from junior forward Victoria Bach.
After senior forward Samantha Sutherland found the back of the net, Northeastern opted to switch goaltender Brittany Bugalski, who has started in 30 games, for senior Sarah Foss.
The decision proved detrimental for the Huskies as Bach sailed the puck past Floss during the Terriers’ extra-man advantage halfway through the period.
“If we have patience and don’t try to make a nine-bell pass going through skates and sticks, we put a lot of pressure on the power play,” Durocher said.
Going into the final frame, senior Heather Mottau put the Huskies on the board for the second time in the night, but BU kept pace with another goal from Parker 29 seconds later.
Captain and senior forward Natalie Flynn capped the game with a goal at 13:58.
“It’s not about a goalie, it’s not about a lack of this or a lack of that, it’s tough clean focus and not turning one bad play into a second bad play,” Durocher said. “It’s about being determined at every little thing that adds up and I think we had a little more of that focus [on Friday].”
On Sunday afternoon, Maine came out hungry for a win to secure the eighth spot in the Hockey East playoffs.
After a hard fought battle in front of the net, Leslie was able to break through and get the Terriers on the board first.
BU’s third-ranked power play in the nation continued its hot play, as Leslie capitalized 25 seconds into the second frame and Parker netted another with just over a minute and a half remaining.
“That’s a talented group that I think sometimes we try to do something extra special when it’s ill-advised,” Durocher said. “This weekend they kept it simple. They moved the puck around [and] they got the other team a little bit fatigued or out of place and all of the sudden you get goals at the net.”
For the second time during the weekend, the Terriers caused the opposing team to switch its goalie. After Bach’s early goal less than a minute into the final period, the Black Bears put senior Mariah Fujimagari between the pipes.
Sutherland topped BU’s lead with another power play goal, leaving the team at five for the weekend.
With 35 saves, senior goaltender Victoria Hanson was able to keep Maine off the board for her second shutout of the season, and the Terriers secured home-ice advantage for the Hockey East quarterfinals next weekend against the University of New Hampshire.
“They have nothing to lose,” Durocher said. “They’re the underdog, and they’re going to come out and play hard, so it’s our job just to keep doing the little things and playing well in every facet of the game.”
