If the No. 9 Boston University women’s ice hockey team’s season thus far could be expressed in a mathematical equation, the resulting formula would be ‘BU is greater than or equal to its opponents.’
The Terriers (2-0-3) will attempt to be the former this weekend as they play No. 6/7 St. Lawrence University (2-1-1) tomorrow before traveling 10 miles down the road to face No. 4 Clarkson University (4-1-1), BU’s first ranked opponents of the season, on Sunday.
In order to maintain its undefeated season in these third and fourth games of a five-game streak of road contests, BU will look to build off the momentum it built after the first two road contests against Wayne State University last weekend. To be more specific, the team will build off its last five goals.
Last Saturday, with 1.6 seconds left in regulation, BU sophomore defenseman Tara Watchorn blasted a long-distance shot into the back of the net to tie the game at four, a game that would end in BU’s third tie of the season.
After coming mere seconds from attaining its first loss of the season, BU made sure it wasn’t that close on Sunday, and the player who had the biggest impact in doing so was forward Jenelle Kohanchuk. The sophomore standout, who was the leading point scorer on last year’s squad with 31 points despite only playing in 28 out of the team’s 36 games, scored all four goals, a program record, to pace the Terriers in their 4-2 win. That performance earned Kohanchuk the Pure Hockey Player of the Week Award in the Hockey East conference.
BU coach Brian Durocher, however, hopes to rely on his whole team, not just Kohanchuk, to get it done over the weekend.
‘I think team is the optimal word,’ Durocher said. ‘We want to make sure the other players do a good job this weekend and make sure they contribute. Everybody played hard in both games last weekend. Jenelle had a great game with four goals, but we’re looking to be more balanced this weekend.’
Kohanchuk, Durocher and the rest of the Terriers will certainly have their hands full against St. Lawrence.
The Saints rose in the polls back to No. 6/7 after sweeping a two-game series with Robert Morris University last weekend, a team the Terriers beat 4-3 in overtime two weeks ago. St. Lawrence had previously fallen due to a tough loss to University of Connecticut and a tie with Providence College.
The Saints have relied heavily on senior goalie Brittony Chartier and her amazing 1.97 goals-against average and .900 save percentage. If the Terriers can find a way to consistently beat Chartier, their chances will be all the better considering the Saints offense has been rather mundane, averaging 2.67 goals per game before a six spot against RMU bloated that figure to 3.25.
The competition doesn’t get any easier the next day against Clarkson. After opening the season out of the national polls, the Golden Knights have climbed to No. 4 thanks to a win and tie over then-No. 6 Boston College.
Even with that success, Clarkson has shown vulnerability against Hockey East opponents already this season. The Golden Knights fell last Sunday to the University of Vermont, the very same UVM team that was picked to finished dead last in the Hockey East standings at the beginning of the season, on the road by the score of 4-1.
If BU hopes to duplicate UVM’s performance, they will need to key on junior forward Melissa Waldie, two-time ECAC Hockey Player of the Week this season, who has scored at least once in five of Clarkson’s six games and has eight points on the season. BU will also focus on a familiar face in senior Dominique Thibault, a transfer from Hockey East-foe University of Connecticut, and her seven points.
Wins over both schools would provide huge signature victories for a program that had not defeated a ranked opponent until last season when they defeated No. 5 Mercyhurst College on Oct. 11.
‘It’d be fantastic to get two wins up there,’ Durocher said. ‘I think Clarkson is a lot like us and is the strongest of the two clubs, but St. Lawrence is still very solid. To try to get two wins would be fantastic for us going forward.’
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