The No. 8 Boston University Women’s hockey team won the first game in a home-and-home, weekend series against the University of New Hampshire with a 1-0 shutout Saturday afternoon.
The Terriers (22-6-4, 16-6-3 Hockey East) left the Whittemore Center with a shutout of the Wildcats (15-14- 4, 11-12-3 Hockey East), behind a lights-out performance from junior goaltender Corinne Schroeder.
Schroeder made 33 saves to earn her fourth shutout of the season.
Prior to the weekend, Terriers junior forward Jesse Compher was named Hockey East Player of the Week Feb. 10 and was also selected as the number one Star of the Week by the NCAA. Compher led the conference last week with three goals and two assists for five points.
“Jesse’s had a good run here,” BU Head Coach Brian Durocher said. “Maybe not quite up to the standards of last year, but that’s in part with the injury of last year. But her confidence is growing, she’s playing good two-way hockey, [is] well on the power play. Good things are certainly starting to fall in place for her.”
It was a slow start for the Wildcats as the Terriers made it difficult for UNH to enter the neutral zone and find consistent offense in the first half of the opening period.
And, the frustrations got the best of them, as just over five minutes into the game, junior defenseman Maddie Truax was called for checking. The Wildcats killed their penalty, but not without the Terriers getting some offensive opportunities on their first power play of the game.
BU continued to apply pressure on the forecheck, eventually leading to a tripping minor on UNH.
This time, the Terriers’ power play was rewarded as sophomore forward Kaleigh Donnelly capitalized on a rebound off of UNH goaltender Ava Boutilier to give BU the lead just over halfway into the first.
The Wildcats had an opportunity to tie the game on their own power play towards the end of the period, but BU was able to keep them out of its net and skate into the second period with the one-goal lead.
While no pucks found the back of either net during the second period of play, plenty of penalties were called. Penalties were assessed six different times, with four to the Terriers and two to the Wildcats.
UNH had four opportunities to tie the game, including a 5-on-3 chance about halfway into the period. A UNH skater was called for checking 11:57 into the second. Then, while on the power play, Donnelly received a two-minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The Wildcats killed off their penalty, and the Terriers received another penalty as junior forward Kristina Schuler was whistled for holding. Despite being in a five-on-three disadvantage, the Terriers penalty-kill unit went to work and escaped the second period unscathed.
Four penalties were also assessed in the third period. Both teams spent four minutes in the penalty box, as BU was whistled for interference and hooking, while the Wildcats were called for embellishment and hooking.
Durocher said he was satisfied with how his team performed when down a player.
“I think they did a real nice job,” Durocher said. “They took care of business right from the start. There were a certain number of power plays for both teams. Obviously if you’re doing well killing penalties your goaltender has to do a good job, and I think [Schroeder] made a couple of real top saves.”
No goals were scored in the final frame leading Schroeder earned her fourth shutout of the season.
Durocher said the Schroeder handled herself well.
“She played very solid,” Durocher said. “Handling the puck, it’s a big rink, there’s a lot of room behind the cage, it’s not as easy to play at some rinks. She got back there time and time again and steered the puck to her defense and got us out the zone probably a little quicker.”
With the victory, BU needs one more win to secure the second seed and home-ice advantage in the Hockey East quarter-finals. The Terriers will look to claim the playoff leverage Sunday afternoon in the back-end of the home-and-home series against the Wildcats at Walter Brown Arena.
Durocher said the chance to play a home playoff series is one that cannot be passed up.
“You really want to have it,” Durocher said. “All three games [are] at home. You’ve definitely earned the advantage. I think our body of work has been really good.
