Jesse Compher closes in on a Husky in the Beanpot Final. Photo by Caroline Fernandez.
This past weekend, the Boston University women’s hockey team (22-6-4, 16-6-3 Hockey East) shut out the University of New Hampshire (15-14-4, 11-12-13 Hockey East) twice to secure home-ice advantage in the Hockey East quarterfinals.
Prior to last weekend, Terriers’ star forward Jesse Compher was named Hockey East’s Player of the Week for the Week of Feb. 10. Compher, who led the conference last week with five points (three goals and two assists), was also selected as the number one Star of the Week by the NCAA.
“Jesse’s had a good run here,” head coach Brian Durocher said. “Maybe not quite up to the standards of last year, but I think that is in part of the injury of last year. But, her confidence is growing, she’s playing good two-way hockey, well on the power play, and good things are starting to fall in play for her which is nice.”
Saturday afternoon saw a game of frustration from both teams. The Wildcats earned six penalties, while the Terriers racked up seven.
It was the first period while on the power play that BU scored their only goal of the game, and only goal between the two teams.
On the Terriers’ second power play of the opening period, sophomore forward Kaleigh Donnelly capitalized on a rebound off of UNH goaltender Ava Boutilier to give BU the lead just over halfway into the first.
Donnelly had the only goal of the game, earning BU junior goaltender Corinne Schroder her fourth shutout of the season.
“She played really solid,” Durocher commented. “It’s a big rink where there’s a lot of space behind the cage. It’s not as easy to play as some rinks. She got there time and time again, and kind of steered the puck to her defense and got us out of the zone probably a little quicker or without as much pressure as some other games.”
Sophomore goaltender Kate Stuart got the start for the second game of the home-and-home series against UNH. She stopped all 17 shots in the contest and earned herself her first collegiate shutout.
Compher potted the game-winning goal in the first period, and redshirt senior Sammy Davis had an empty-netter with just over a minute left in regulation to complete the weekend sweep of the Wildcats.
With the two victories, the Terriers clinched home-ice advantage for the Hockey East quarterfinals.
“You really want to have it,” Durocher said. “Just because it’s a three-game series. All three games at home, you’ve definitely earned the advantage. And, I think our body of work has been very good.”
Up next, BU will take on UConn this Friday and Saturday as the Huskies come into Boston for two games at Walter Brown Arena.
The Huskies (16-14-2, 13-10-2 Hockey East) are coming off a 2-1 loss in the latter half of a back-to-back series against Merrimack College last weekend.
UConn is led offensively by Natalie Snodgrass who leads in points (30), goals (14), and is tied for the team lead in assists with 16.
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