After falling to Harvard in the first round of the Beanpot last Tuesday, the Boston University women’s hockey team (10-12-5, 9-7-4 Hockey East) lost to Northeastern University in the Beanpot consolation game (23-4-1, 17-3-1 HE) by a score of 3-0 Tuesday night at Matthews Arena.
Powered by redshirt senior forward Maureen Murphy’s hat trick, the Huskies dominated the Terriers throughout the game.
“I think today I was a little frustrated still with the past game last week and just wanted to come out here and make a statement even though it was a consolation game,” Murphy said postgame.
The contest came at the conclusion of a calendar week for BU which was emblematic of a tough second half of the team’s season. Since the Terriers’ game against Harvard a week ago, BU tied a good University of Connecticut team last Friday and then got shut out against Boston College on Saturday.
Instead of starting senior goaltender Kate Stuart, BU head coach Brian Durocher opted to start fellow senior Nicole McGuigan. The decision was a reward for the netminder’s dedication to the program despite playing behind star goalies like Corinne Schroeder and Stuart.
“Nicole has been a fantastic teammate — you know, maybe someone who didn’t come in with the same resume as them and may not be on the exact same level, but somebody who’s continued to improve, made herself better, worked extremely hard and she’s one of those people that’s a locker room presence,” Durocher said. “I was as excited for her as anybody.”
Northeastern head coach Dave Flint chose to start junior goaltender Gwyneth Philips in place of stellar graduate student Aerin Frankel. Flint’s move worked as Philips picked up her second shutout of the season. Flint gave Philips the start in order to reduce the workload of Frankel ahead of a tough next stretch for the Huskies.
“We have six games in the next 12 days, which is going to be a lot on our team and in our goaltending,” Flint said postgame. “I have the luxury of having two really good goalies. And so we decided to go with Gwyneth tonight.”
The Terriers were also missing two of their starters on Tuesday afternoon. Freshman forward Kylie Roberts and sophomore defenseman Julia Shuanessy were both missing from the lineup for BU.
Durocher said he wanted to give freshman forward Olivia Haag a chance to play so he switched her with Roberts in the lineup. Shuanessy’s absence was more injury driven, according to Durocher.
“Shaunessy is dealing with a sort of an injury that you know might require surgery down the road. So with the way our schedule is set up, it probably was good today to give her the day off,” Durocher said.
Northeastern was missing senior forward Alina Mueller to the Olympic games.
With 8:45 remaining in the first period, senior forward Emma Wuthrich was sent to the box for hooking. The Huskies capitalized on the power play. A crisp pass from graduate defender Skylar Fontaine to Murphy led to Murphy’s 20th goal of the season.
Murphy thanked her teammates and said Fontaine and Mills gave her the goal “on a platter.”
Durocher was impressed with the Providence College transfer’s play.
“She is a great player and has been a great player,” Durocher said. “When you have speed, you have hands, and oh by the way, you shoot the puck extremely well, it’s a tough matchup.”
About five-and-a-half minutes later, Northeastern’s graduate defender Brooke Hobson received a minor penalty for hooking. Despite a few good looks for the Terriers on the power play, the Huskies were successful on the penalty kill.
Although his team held a 1-0 lead at the first intermission, Flint said he was disappointed.
“First period might have been the worst period of hockey we’ve played this year,” Flint said. “And I let the team know that and I thought we were a little bit better in the second and third, but still not where we need to be.”
Early in the second period, a missed shot by sophomore defender Madison Cardaci led to an opportunity for junior forward Haylee Blinkhorn, but the Terriers couldn’t convert.
Murphy added her second goal of the game eight minutes into the second period.
With just over two minutes remaining in the second period, Hobson was sent to the penalty box for cross checking. Senior forward Mackenna Parker had an eventful power play, with two promising looks. Then, in the neutral zone, she received a two-minute minor for elbowing.
As Parker was serving out the remainder of her penalty in the early seconds of the third period, sophomore defender Andi Calderone joined Parker in the penalty box.
Northeastern’s junior center Katy Knoll had a great backhanded opportunity on McGuigan but missed wide. With just under 30 seconds left on the penalty kill, Murphy completed her hat trick. Northeastern’s last hat trick was from Chloe Aurard in January against Merrimack College.
In their last 120 minutes of hockey, the Terriers have not scored a goal.
“Sometimes you have to get that goal to kind of change the complexion of the game, change the momentum, and that’s the thing that’s really been a tough out for us all year,” Durocher said. “You know you play hard, you’re getting a few chances but maybe not enough to get one over the line.”
BU was outshot by Northeastern 37-14 in the loss. McGuigan made 34 saves in her first collegiate start.
The Terriers will next head to Burlington for two games against the University of Vermont this weekend. BU hosts the University of Maine at Walter Brown next Tuesday.
For complete BU hockey coverage, check out the Boston Hockey Blog and follow along with @BOShockeyblog on Twitter and @boston.hockey.blog on Instagram for updates.
