Despite coming up short of its seventh consecutive win in its second game against the University of Connecticut on Saturday night, the Boston University women’s hockey team’s offensive depth was showcased in a home-and-home series this weekend.
The Terriers (11-6-1, 7-6-0 Hockey East) wield star players such as graduate student forward Mary Parker, junior forward Nina Rodgers and junior forward Victoria Bach, who have combined to tally 36.3 percent of the team’s total points. With half the season gone by, it can be easy to forget that BU head coach Brian Durocher has a plethora of offensive weapons at his disposal in addition to these three.
On Friday night, though, the familiar first line produced yet again, as each linemate added more points to their already-impressive totals.
However, sophomore forward Sammy Davis scored the most goals for the team this weekend with one in each contest.
“I think that just moving my feet and seeing the ice a little bit better has been a really big difference,” Davis said. “Just keeping my feet moving and carrying the puck more, which I’m happy about. So I need to carry that on to next weekend and then in January.”
During the first game against the Huskies (9-6-3, 4-3-1 Hockey East) on Friday, Davis scored the first goal of the contest eight minutes into the second frame, her fifth of the season.
The Pembroke native went onto spark another rally four minutes later with an assist on Rodgers’ goal. Parker would then score five minutes later to give the Terriers a commanding 3-0 lead.
The following afternoon, Davis shined once again and capitalized on a power-play opportunity off a rebound from senior defensemen Alexis Crossley’s missed shot at the 4:37 mark in the second period.
With senior forward Samantha Sutherland and freshman forward Deziray De Sousa also collecting assists over the weekend, BU has proven that it doesn’t need to rely solely on its first line to collect points.
Yet, the mixed results of the weekend show areas where the Terriers fell short, and Durocher saw some faults in his side’s performance on Friday night despite the 4-1 final score in favor of his side.
“One thing that happened there, [junior forward] Rebecca Leslie took a real hard hit, and all of the sudden we were short an elite player,” Durocher said. “It changes up the lines a little bit but we still created plenty of chances and had plenty of good players there. We just didn’t quite get the bounce or make the good shot or maybe make all the best decisions.”
On Saturday, the Huskies came back stronger, and the Terriers were unable to match their energy and aggressiveness. With shortcomings in the first period, and added momentum for UConn after forward Marisa Maccario’s shorthanded goal put the Huskies back on top in the second, BU’s offense struggled to tie up the game.
Despite its depth, the offense was hindered by the Husky goaltender, Annie Belanger, who has a 0.943 save percentage and a 1.84 goals-against average on the year.
“If the goalie comes up with all the saves, you can live with it,” Durocher said. “If you’re giving them too easy clears and you’re making too many of your own mistakes, then that compounds, and it really shortens up the time that you actually have on the power play because you’re regrouping and digging it out to come back up ice.”
The Terriers will look to rebound following Saturday’s loss, and continue to utilize the depth of their roster when they next take the ice on Friday at home against the University of Minnesota.
