BOSTON — As Lola Reid glided back to the BU bench after her top-shelf snipe early in the first period Saturday afternoon, it appeared to first occur to the star freshman forward what she had just done. She raised a leg. She clenched her fists. And she let it all out.
This was no pre-ordained celebration. It looked like pure emotion, spilling from a player — and a team — that had probably built up a lot of it over the last week.
Boston University women’s hockey needed this.
About 18 hours earlier, down the road at Matthews Arena, a program attempting a return to the top of the game looked out of place in a 4-0 defeat against No. 13 Northeastern. Afterward, as her players stretched postgame not 15 feet away, head coach Tara Watchorn reached for the temperature dial and turned it all the way up. Watchorn is letting her players set their own standard this year. And her thoughts from a brutally honest session with the media boiled down to this: They weren’t good enough, and it’s on them to figure it out.
Thus, as the series with the Huskies shifted back to Agganis Arena, this early Saturday afternoon puck drop became one of the biggest games of the Watchorn era.
BU (2-3-0, 2-1-0 Hockey East), with its big aspirations and its new player-led movement, needed proof of concept against a top team in the country. It needed a win against a cross-town rival it hadn’t beaten in forever. And it needed a response.
“It’s obviously a tough environment to be in after a 4-0 loss last night,” senior assistant captain Maggie Hanzel said postgame. “We just wanted to reset and take some pride in putting the jersey on today.”
Did they ever. Back at home, BU took a 4-0 victory itself for the program’s first win over the Huskies in three years, its first win over a ranked opponent in six tries, and perhaps most importantly, its first win, period, since the season-opener against Merrimack, which was 11 days prior but was starting to feel much further away.
Reid’s tally kicked off the overarching theme of the afternoon: Everything the Huskies (3-3-0, 1-1-0 HE) did to BU on Friday, the Terriers gave right back Saturday. The unstoppable first-period goal, the suffocating forecheck, the dominance in the neutral zone, the physicality on the boards, all of it. BU got dominated, then turned around — in less than 24 hours — and did the dominating.
“I’m so happy with how everyone responded,” Hanzel said.
It was quite a statement from this group of players. The onus to enforce the habits necessary to avoid losses like Friday night’s — and the onus to respond once they do happen — is now on their shoulders. It’s a different approach, and Watchorn maintains it’s the way forward. But it’s still an unproven theory, and if the Terriers were to capitulate against the Huskies two days in a row, that would’ve left a significant dent.
Watchorn said she let her group of captains handle the message to the team after the loss Friday. Hanzel was one of them.
“The players took ownership of the environment they wanted,” Watchorn said. “And I think you saw that on the ice.”
You sure did. BU controlled the neutral zone, establishing its presence in that critical area from the very first shift, when Reid laid the boom on Huskies’ senior captain Taze Thompson. “The energy,” Hanzel said, “was great from the get-go.” The Terriers were sharp, too, like early in the third period, when junior forward Sydney Healey cooked a defender with a highlight-reel first touch to create a 2-on-1 that turned into BU’s second goal. They only went to the kill three times, and but for some nervy moments late in the second, BU was excellent in the defensive zone. In the first 40 minutes of play, Northeastern had just nine shots on goal.
There was an air of composure about all of it. “Clean it up a little bit in the defensive zone, and we should be smooth sailing from there,” assistant captain Julia Shaunessy told a rinkside reporter during the second intermission, with BU still only leading, 1-0. But she was right.
“It’s up and down the lineup,” Hanzel said. “Everyone’s doing the little things and taking a lot of accountability.”
As the waning seconds ticked away, a landmark victory about to become official, Hanzel said Watchorn reminded her to enjoy the moment. The last time Hanzel and the seniors defeated the Huskies was back at the start of their freshman year. Since, they’ve exited the Hockey East tournament in the first round twice, watched the only head coach the program has ever known leave and suffered for three losing seasons.
And now, here they are. Taking the lead on the long climb back.
When the team left the ice, a group of fans awaited them on the railing next to the tunnel. They were fired up, and so were the Terriers. Reid and linemate Alex Law led the way, leaping into their embrace. Every player in scarlet and white high-fived their supporters on their way back to the locker room. Then, as she walked past a camera posted up in the tunnel, Hanzel cocked her head, closed her eyes and just screamed.
“It’s a tough, tough way to start the weekend,” she later said. “But I think that everyone bounced back so well.”
Eventually, the woman entrusting them with so much was asked if this Saturday afternoon had reinforced that decision.
“100 percent,” Watchorn said. “They’re taking the reins, and it’s really fun to watch.”
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