By Mark Fraenkel
After sophomore forward Lacey Martin lit the lamp to give the Boston University women’s hockey team (12-13-5, 11-8-4 Hockey East) the overtime win over the University of Maine, BU is set to play the Providence College Friars (14-13-5, 11-12-2 HE) in a home and home series.
Tuesday’s come from behind win over Maine gives the Terriers some needed momentum heading into the final weekend of the season. Since December, BU has struggled. After losing to Yale to end the first semester, BU did not win in regulation again until Jan. 28th against Holy Cross.
The Friars will also enter the weekend coming off of a win. Powered by goals from freshman forward Ashley Clark, senior forward Ciara Barone, and junior forward Delaney Couture, the Friars beat Merrimack College on Tuesday in North Andover, Massachusetts. Graduate student goaltender Sandra Abstreiter made 32 saves in the shutout.
These two games have great importance for the Hockey East standings ahead of the conference tournament next week. In Hockey East, the top six teams have a bye into the quarterfinals. Currently, BU is in fifth place with 37 points. Providence, on the other hand, is in seventh place with 35 points. Losing this weekend would likely force the Terriers into an opening round matchup next week.
The two teams have already met once this season. Back in late October, BU defeated Providence 2-1. Sophomore forward Catherine Foulem and freshman forward Christina Vote both scored for the Terriers in the victory. Senior forward Sara Hjalmarsson scored the lone goal for the Friars. Senior goaltender Kate Stuart made 28 saves for BU, while Sandra Abstreiter made 25 saves for Providence.
BU on average currently scores 0.3 more goals per game, as the Terriers score 2.2 goals per game while the Friars score 1.9 goals per game on average. However, BU does allow more goals on average than Providence. Currently, Head Coach Brian Durocher’s team allows 2.5 goals on average, while Head Coach Matt Kelly’s team only allows 1.9 goals on average.
After Tuesday’s win over Maine, Durocher told the media that he’s looking for a good start from his team in Providence this weekend.
“Let’s start with just that, a good start. That we do that when the gate opens down in Providence,” Durocher said. “We’ve got to get down there and play a good defensive game the start.”
The Terriers and Friars will first face off at Schneider Arena for Friday’s game at 6:00pm. Providence will travel north to Boston on Saturday for a 5:00PM game at Walter Brown Arena. We will have full coverage of the series, follow along on Twitter @BOShockeyblog and Instagram @boston.hockey.blog
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