The Boston University women’s hockey team will look for a strong finish to its regular season this weekend with a home-and-home series against conference rival Northeastern University.
The current Hockey East standings have the Terriers tied with the No. 10 University of Connecticut for third place with 25 points, putting them two points behind No. 6 Boston College’s 27 and six points back from the No. 5 University of New Hampshire’s 31.
Since each Hockey East victory counts for two points, the Terriers (15-10-7, 12-6-1 HE) could gain a maximum of four points if they take both games from the Huskies. However, BU’s position in the standings at weekend’s end will depend on a variety of factors. They could surpass BC for the second spot if the Eagles lose both games of their home-and-home series with Providence College.
But they can also drop as low as fifth place if Northeastern (12-17-3, 7-11-1) gets the best of them and UConn and Providence have success in their weekend bouts.
The schedule might be an advantage for the Terriers, who will take on sixth-place Northeastern after beating the Huskies, 2-1, in the Beanpot consolation game last Tuesday. On the other hand, the two teams trailing BU in the standings right now, UConn and Providence, will face the conference’s only ranked teams ‘-‘- UNH and BC, respectively.’ ‘
Northeastern’s most formidable strength is goaltending. The Huskies boast two talented young netminders ‘-‘- freshman Florence Schelling has posted a 2.12 goals-against average in her first year of collegiate play, and sophomore Leah Sulyma has allowed 2.04 goals per game. The two have split time almost equally for Northeastern all season (Sulyma has played only five more total minutes than Schelling).
The Terriers have already seen both Sulyma and Schelling this season. Sulyma shut BU out, 2-0, Jan. 8 at Walter Brown Arena, posting 31 saves in the winning effort.
Schelling thwarted the Terriers for almost all of last Tuesday’s game at Matthews Arena. BU escaped with a victory after senior co-captain Sarah Russell netted the deciding score, but not before Schelling put her full arsenal of skills on display with a 30-save exhibition. Despite the loss, Schelling impressed BU coach Brian Durocher with some very difficult saves.
‘They’ve got big-time goaltending,’ Durocher said of Northeastern after the Beanpot consolation win. ‘We’ll have to work hard to do the little things: screening, kicks, rebounds, go under the net, because you just don’t beat their goaltender too often with straight shots.”
The Terriers look to rebound from a defeat at BC last Saturday, a game in which they skated to a 3-3 tie with the Eagles before being ousted in the shootout. It was the Terriers’ first shootout loss of the season, and snapped a three-game winning streak.
Freshman forward Jenelle Kohanchuk will look to stay hot in her third game back from injury. Kohanchuk provided a score and an assist against Northeastern last week, and notched two goals in the contest with BC.’
Junior forward Melissa Anderson netted the other goal for the Terriers on Saturday against BC, bringing her season point total to a team-leading 25. Kohanchuk closely trails Anderson with 24 points.
Senior goaltender Allyse Wilcox had a strong performance in net Saturday, saving 23 shot and giving up three goals. Wilcox, senior co-captains Russell and Gina Kearns, and the other seven Terrier seniors will look for success in their final two regular-season collegiate games.
This weekend’s double feature commences Saturday at 2 p.m. at Northeastern’s Matthews Arena. The second game starts at 3 p.m. Sunday at Walter Brown Arena.
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