The No. 3 Boston University women’s ice hockey team lost for the first time since November on Thursday, 4-2, before salvaging a weekend split with the University of New Hampshire with a 3-1 victory on Saturday afternoon.
The loss snapped a 13-game winning streak for the Terriers (22-3-3, 12-2-3 Hockey East), but BU outshot the Wildcats (13-14-0, 6-11-0 HE) 54-16 in Thursday’s game.
UNH senior goaltender Kayley Herman shattered her career record for saves (40) and set a new school record with 52 stops, surpassing the previous record of 48.
“When you put 50-something shots on the other team and they find a way to keep all but two of them out of the net, you have to commend the other team’s goaltender and what they might have done in front of the net,” BU coach Brian Durocher said. “Sometimes as hard as you’ve worked, you can’t quite create breaks, and I think that all rolled together into Thursday’s result.”
Despite the high shot total, the Terriers got off to a slow start against the Wildcats on Thursday. UNH defenseman Margaret Hunt struck with her first goal of the year at 17:54 in the first period, and the Wildcats added goals from forwards Arielle O’Neill and Kristine Horn to give UNH a 3-0 lead heading into the third.
Junior forward Jenelle Kohanchuk finally found the back of the net for BU 21 seconds into the third period when she caught a rebound off freshman forward Marie-Philip Poulin’s shot and tucked it in to tighten the game to a 3-1 Wildcat advantage.
UNH extended its lead to three at 11:39 in the third when freshman Sarah Campbell deflected a shot past BU sophomore netminder Alissa Fromkin.
The Terriers attempted a comeback, as senior assistant captain Jillian Kirchner scored from the goal line with less than four minutes remaining, but a 14th consecutive victory was simply not in the cards for BU.
“I think for the most part, we worked pretty hard and played pretty well on Thursday,” Durocher said. “I also measure, at the other end of the ice, that we keep a team in the teens in shots. That means we’re not just running and gunning and letting the defensive part of the game go for naught. Sometimes the bounces go in the other direction, and again, it’s part of a long season.”
On Saturday afternoon, the Terriers got back to their winning ways when they traveled up to Durham, N.H. for the second half of the series.
The Terriers got off to a better start there as junior defenseman Kasey Boucher netted the first BU tally at 11:43 in the first period. In the second period, freshman forward Louise Warren extended the lead to 2-0 when she pick-pocketed a UNH player in the neutral zone and then cashed in on the breakaway.
UNH made the game interesting in the third period on a power-play goal at 7:21, but BU hung on and ex-Wildcat Jenn Wakefield iced the victory for the Terriers with an empty-net goal with six seconds left on the clock.
“We got the first goal of the game, the first two of the game, and that certainly tilts things in your favor a little bit,” Durocher said. “I think that was probably the biggest difference. I commend our kids on continuing to play good defense but this time turning the tables and getting the first and second goals of the game.”
With the win on Saturday, the Terriers clinched a bye into the semifinal round of the Hockey East tournament. BU also recorded its program-best 22nd victory and 10th road victory of the season.
Those accomplishments came at a price, however. Sophomore forward Taylor Holze missed both games with an ankle injury after tripping on the Commonwealth Avenue ice before Thursday’s game. In the third period of Saturday’s game, Poulin blocked a shot with her hand and had to miss the rest of the game.
Doctors are still evaluating both players, but Durocher said he does not expect the team to struggle if either player needs to miss a significant amount of time.
“So far when we’ve had injuries or people missing for national team activity, we’ve been able to continue to succeed, win or get ties,” Durocher said. “That speaks awful well for the team and the depth of the team.”
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.
