With a minute left in regulation, the Boston University women’s hockey team found themselves down a goal in game two of the Hockey East quarterfinals at Walter Brown Arena Saturday afternoon.
BU head coach Brian Durocher pulled junior goalkeeper Corinne Schroeder for the extra-attacker, but the Terriers (24-8-4, 18-6-3 Hockey East) were unable to tie the game and fell to the University of Maine (15-13-8, 9-11-7 Hockey East) and BU’s postseason was cut short.
Durocher said he didn’t think Friday’s results affected the game, but rather that the team simply did not play to their potential.
“I don’t think frustrations carried over,” Durocher said. “Unfortunately, when I look at our stick skills today, I thought they were very average.”
Similar to what happened in game one, the Black Bears got off to a good start. Frustrations continued to show for the Terriers as junior forward Jesse Compher was whistled for boarding just 15 minutes into the opening period.
While on the power play, freshman forward Ida Kuoppala converted to put Maine on the board first for the second consecutive game.
BU was given a chance to even the scoring with a power play of their own less than two minutes later, but the Black Bears were able to keep the puck out of their own net and went into the second period up 1-0.
The Terriers committed their second penalty of the game 7:01 into the second period. Sophomore defender Alex Allan was given a two minute minor for hooking. Much to BU’s luck, the Black Bears were unable to take advantage of the power play opportunity.
Despite squandering the power play, Maine still scored in the second period. With less than two minutes to go in the period, senior forward Tereza Vanisova weaved through BU’s defense and took a shot over Schroeder to extend the Black Bears’ lead to two goals.
The Terriers headed into the final period of play having yet to get on the scoreboard, while also facing a two-goal deficit.
Just 43 seconds into the third period, redshirt senior forward Sammy Davis was called for hooking and gave Maine a chance to extend their lead. However, the Black Bears were unable to convert.
It took 44 minutes for BU to find the back of the net. Freshman forward Julia Nearis shot a wrist-shot just over the stick-side of senior goalie Carly Jackson to bring the Terriers within one with just under six minutes to play.
The last five minutes of regulation looked promising as BU got off 11 shots applying pressure on the Black Bears. Durocher pulled Schroeder with a minute left in regulation for the extra attacker, but the Terriers were unable to pull even, ultimately falling 2-1 to Maine.
Durocher said it was too little too late for BU.
“The last five minutes may have made up for it a little bit, but too little too late,” Durocher said. “For whatever reason, today we came up very average with our stick skills. And that’s mostly passing, receiving and shooting the puck. We didn’t do a great job in that area.”
With the season ending, eight seniors will be leaving the program and Durocher said he feels the most for them.
“I’m the saddest for them,” Durocher said. “They certainly had a fantastic year with 24 wins, we had plenty of aspirations for more than that … We just hope that we will have that type of an image next year, but there’s no guarantee when you lose a group that big.”
Always good reading!! Best wishes next year!! Mammy