This Week in Women’s Hockey: Winter Break Recap

Entering the new semester, the Boston University women’s hockey team (16-5-2, 11-5-2 Hockey East) ranks seventh in the nation. Over the break, the Terriers had six games, all within Women’s Hockey East play.

After sweeping conference rivals Boston College on Dec. 6 and Dec. 7 to end the year, the Terriers began the turn of the decade with a 1-0-1 weekend against the University of Maine (10-10-5, 6-8-4 Hockey East) on Jan. 4th and Jan. 5th.

BU won the first game against the Black Bears 3-2 in overtime thanks to junior forward Nara Elia’s second overtime winner of the season. Sophomore forward Mackenna Parker and freshman forward Julia Nearis each scored a goal to give the Terriers their sixth straight win. Sophomore goaltender Kate Stuart improved her record to 4-1-0 with the win.

The second game of the back-to-back series saw a different story for the red-hot Terriers. While BU fell behind 3-0 just 7:05 into the opening stanza, sophomore forward Courtney Correia lit the lamp late into the opening frame to put the Terriers on the board. Freshman defenseman Nadia Mattivi and redshirt senior co-captain Sammy Davis completed the comeback in the third period to force a tie. Junior goaltender Corinne Schroeder made 14 saves between the pipes.

The Terriers went on to play Providence College (13-9-2, 10-7-0 Hockey East) the following weekend, finishing with a 1-1 record against the Friars.

In the series opener on Jan. 10, the Terriers fell 2-1. Their only goal came on the woman advantage as senior defenseman Abby Cook found the back of the net with 2:05 remaining in regulation. BU attempted to complete the comeback in the final two minutes, but the Friars stood their ground to hold their lead.

The following day, Boston was able to bounce back with a 4-1 victory in which twelve different Terriers recorded a point. Davis, Elia, Mattivi, and Correia all lit the lamp for BU.

Davis opened the scoring just 2:53 into the game with Providence eventually tying it 10:46 into the first period. Elia gave the Terriers the lead 16:49 into the opening stanza, and it was all BU from there as Mattivi extended the lead at 13:20 of the second period, and Correia sealed the victory with less than a minute to go in the game. Schroeder was solid between the pipes stopping all 14 shots that came her way in the final frame of play.

In the final weekend before the new semester began, BU went 2-0 against Holy Cross (3-17-4, 3-14-1 Hockey East).

On Jan. 17, the Terriers won 4-1 to give head coach Brian Durocher his 300th win behind the bench. Reaching that milestone, Durocher now ranks 10th all-time among active head coaches, and is the 11th women’s head coach to win 300 games at the same institute. Durocher has been at the helm of the Boston University women’s hockey program for all 15 seasons of their existence.

In the historic victory, senior forward Deziray De Sousa tallied a career-high two goals, while Parker matched her career-high with two goals of her own. Schroeder made 17 saves to help lift the Terriers over Holy Cross in their first game against them in the weekend series.

BU was able to complete the weekend sweep the following day with a 4-1 win. Davis tallied two goals, while 10 different Terriers registered a point to help life BU to its third straight victory. Correia and sophomore forward Emma Wuthrich both scored in the victory, while Stuart made 11 saves and did not allow an even-strength goal to pick up her fifth win between the pipes.

With four wins in six games since the start of the new year, the second-place Terriers will look to stay hot this weekend with a two-game set against Merrimack College (1-14-3, 4-18-3 Hockey East), who sits at the bottom of the Hockey East standings. The series starts at 7 p.m. on Friday at Walter Brown Arena before turning to North Andover’s Lawler Rink at 2 p.m. on Saturday.