Two games into the season, the No. 4/6 Boston University women’s hockey team is 1-1-0 after a series split with the University of North Dakota.
On Saturday, the Terriers lost their season opener, 5-4, at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D. The Fighting Sioux scored the first goal 3:49 into the game. Less than four minutes later BU responded with a goal by senior forward Jillian Kirchner. The Fighting Sioux tallied again at 17:29 to end the first period with the lead.
BU tied the game 2-2 7:32 into the second frame when freshman forward Louise Warren fired a backhand shot past North Dakota goaltender Jorid Dagfinrud. The Terriers took the lead a minute-and-a-half later when freshman defender Kaleigh Fratkin passed the puck to the post and junior forward Jenn Wakefield scored. This was the only time BU would have the lead during the game.
North Dakota scored three straight goals to take a 5-3 lead.
With six seconds left in the game, a scramble in front of the net led to a goal by freshman forward Marie-Philip Poulin.
Sophomore goalie Alissa Fromkin took the loss with 28 saves while the Terriers were outshot 33-23. Furthermore, the team went 0-for-6 on the power play.
“We were a little disappointed in the way we competed the first night,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “We’re trying to feel our way around and get used to each other. We had some good opportunities, but they didn’t get the bounce and didn’t find the net.”
On Sunday, the Terriers dominated the Fighting Sioux, 6-2, defeating a Western Collegiate Hockey Association team for the first time in the team’s history and acquiring its first win of the season.
“We rebounded real nice today winning the game,” Durocher said. “We played a little more like we’re supposed to be playing.”
UND scored the first goal 4:33 into the game. Then, BU answered with four goals in a row. Wakefield scored the first goal when senior forward Lauren Cherewyk passed to her as she was driving toward the net. BU took the lead on the next goal on junior forward Jenelle Kohanchuk’s first tally of the season.
A little over a minute later, the Terriers increased their lead with a short-handed goal by Wakefield, her second of the night. Poulin followed by also scoring a short-handed goal in the second period.
Halfway through the third frame, Kohanchuk appeared to give BU a 5-1 lead. However, after video review, the goal was disallowed.
The Fighting Sioux notched one more tally on the night in the third period making it 4-2 in BU’s favor.
With 1:58 remaining in the game, UND pulled its goalie for an extra attacker, but Poulin quickly got her second goal of the game. With 15 seconds left, Kirchner also scored to give BU the win with a final score of 6-2.
“[Wakefield and Poulin] are high-end, world-class players,” Durocher said. “We expect a lot of them, and they expect a lot of themselves. We need them to play well.”
Making her BU debut in net, freshman Kerrin Sperry had a solid game in the goal with 21 saves. Sperry will continue to rotate with Fromkin for the netminder’s spot.
“We’re going to get both of their feet wet,” Durocher said. “This is their time to shine a little more, play a bigger role. They help me make decisions with how they play. Both played well this weekend.”
The Terriers still have not scored a goal on a power play going 0 for 10 in these first two games.
“We want to continue to work on our power play and make sure we’re taking advantage of the situation and continued knowledge on everyone’s part on how hard we have to work,” Durocher said. “Unfortunately we didn’t bring our A game the first night, but we rebounded today.”
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
