The Boston University women’s hockey team (10-12-5, 9-7-4 Hockey East) is headed to Burlington this weekend for a series against the University of Vermont Catamounts (19-9-2, 16-6-1 HE). BU will look to get things going again after having only one regulation win in the last 10 games.
The Catamounts, on the other hand, have won nine of their last 10 games, most recently sweeping Maine while on the road on Feb. 4 and 5. Senior forward Theresa Schafzahl leads her group with 17 goals thus far, while senior defenseman Maude Poulin-Labelle is the points leader with 32 (12g, 20a).
UVM has averaged 2.9 goals per game and garnered 16 power play tallies this season––more than double the 7 of the Terriers. They’re on a hot streak at an important time in the year with just four regular-season games left on their schedule. As of now, they sit at No. 2 in the Hockey East standings, four points out of first.
Sophomore goaltender Jessie McPherson has been the go-to starter for her team with a 1.78 goals-against-average and .922 save percentage. BU hasn’t scored in the last 120 minutes of hockey they’ve played––they’ll have to work hard to get one past a confident McPherson.
In terms of goaltending for the Terriers, senior Nicole McGuigan got her first career start in Tuesday’s Beanpot consolation game against Northeastern and made 34 saves. Head Coach Brian Durocher has also been cycling freshman Callie Shanahan and senior Kate Stuart on a pretty regular basis; we could see two different starters this weekend.
One of the team’s biggest leaders this season, sophomore defenseman Julia Shaunessy, is fighting an injury that may need surgery down the line, Durocher said in the Beanpot press conference. She missed the Northeastern game but will hopefully be back in the lineup on Friday as BU has three games in five days.
The last person to score for the Terriers was senior forward Mackenna Parker who collected a shorthanded goal on Feb. 4 against the University of Connecticut. Sophomore forward Lacey Martin had the squad’s only goal against Harvard in the opening round of the Beanpot, but the lack of offensive production from the team as a whole has got to be frustrating.
This BU group has got to get some confidence back in their game and have short-term-memory about the last couple of weeks. They’ve looked deflated at times, understandably, but have the talent to string together a productive rest of the season.
Friday’s game is at 2:00pm and Saturday’s game is at 3:00pm. We’ll have a weekend recap of the series following its conclusion and make sure to keep up with us on Twitter @BOShockeyblog and Instagram @boston.hockey.blog.
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