Tara Watchorn admitted she hasn’t had enough time to properly reflect on the Boston University women’s hockey team’s 3-1 win at Boston College in November.
But holding an arch-rival to nine shots on goal — on the road — has proved hard to forget. There’s a specific thought, Watchorn said Wednesday, that keeps popping into her head, even over two months after the fact.
“Yeah. We did that to BC,’” she said.
She didn’t say where the win ranked among the performances she’s overseen in her one-and-a-half seasons as head coach. Her predecessor, however, offered one unprompted in a conversation with the Blog a couple weeks ago.
“Arguably,” Brian Durocher said, “their best game in five years.”
The Terriers could use a performance like that on Friday, when they welcome the No. 11 Eagles to Walter Brown Arena for an enormous standalone game.
Only three points separate third-placed BC from BU and UConn at the top of Hockey East. Friday’s game begins a daunting stretch for the Terriers, in which they play BC, Northeastern, UConn and Providence in the span of nine days.
Providence, fifth in Hockey East, is only nine points behind BU and UConn. Fourth-place NU is only four. The Terriers’ first conference regular season title in over a decade could easily be won or lost over the next week and a half.
And there’s also the not-so-small matter of hosting Vermont on Saturday, only a few weeks after the Catamounts took a game from BU in a series in Burlington.
“I feel confident in the mentality and rhythm we’ve built in. I think it’s going to be [about] staying healthy, managing our load in practices but keeping the high compete so we’re ready for game to game,” Watchorn said. “It’s going to be a great test, and it’s going to be cool to see.”
One pressure point of this upcoming stretch — at least the first three games, which conclude with Northeastern at Matthews Arena on Tuesday — is how BU deals with “track meets,” or better yet, how BU prevents games from turning into them.
Each of the Terriers’ most recent losses to the Eagles, Catamounts and Huskies were caused in part by those opponents’ speed. All three are dangerous on the rush — especially BC and Northeastern. BU, for all its strengths, isn’t the fastest team, preferring to control possession of the puck and, thus, the pace of play. When the Terriers can’t do that and are forced into end-to-end hockey, games usually get away from them — look no further than the 4-0 Beanpot final loss to the Huskies.
“I’m always gonna lean towards establishing territorial advantage, first and foremost,” Watchorn said. “Track-meet style is fine, but we get to that when we’re not managing how we end our shifts. When we’re starting each shift going back to our [defensive] zone, you’re not setting yourself up for success.”
BU’s “Corsi For” percentage — how many total shot attempts it’s taken relative to its opponents, a good measure of time spent in the offensive zone — is 57.2. That’s 11th in the country and second in Hockey East. BC’s is 45.9, which is 28th and seventh, and Vermont’s 45.0 is 31st and eighth. The difference in style is evident — now it’s a matter of which one is actually played on the ice.
The good news for BU, though, is that because BC and Vermont are similar, it alleviates some of the stress of preparing for two different teams in the same weekend (less than 24 hours separate puck drops). Additionally, one thing BU’s talked a lot about this season is never changing its game for anybody. The coaching staff, junior defender Maeve Kelly said, has actually made an effort to avoid heavily pre-scouting opponents.
“I think we’re going to be able to make adjustments within ourselves, and then the pre-scout of the opponent,” Watchorn said. “We’re in a good spot to make those adjustments one game to the next because our foundation is so solid.”
The Terriers’ foundation, so far, has withstood nearly every test it has faced. Even when BU has lost this season, it’s responded right away, like this past weekend, when the Terriers easily swept Holy Cross after the deflating Beanpot final loss. But this upcoming two-week stretch is, undoubtedly, the most consequential challenge BU’s faced.
Watchorn, in typical coach-speak fashion, said she’s preaching taking things “one game at a time.” She was asked Wednesday how that mindset manifests itself.
“I think it starts from taking pride in every day,” Watchorn said. “And it’s not just the game. It’s the practice every day that week.”
She did say, however, that BU understands the bigger picture.
“Our team is mature enough now to give context to the game,” Watchorn said. “Like, we gave context to the Holy Cross game — it was 11 months since we played them [at Walter Brown] last [in a Hockey East tournament loss], and it fired us up. They’re mature enough to give context to the game and know where it lives in our schedule.”
Good thing they are, because the context for the next five couldn’t be much bigger.
Some notes on BU:
– Lola Reid is tied as BU’s second-leading scorer, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. The freshman was benched, for all intents and purposes, in the middle of the Beanpot final and was then demoted to the extra forward role on Friday in Worcester. Though Reid scored her first goal since Nov. 1 in that 2-0 victory, she remained the 13th forward on Saturday and didn’t see the ice much in BU’s 3-0 win.
On Wednesday, it didn’t sound like Watchorn was planning to move her back onto a line.
“To be honest, I think we can use her more right now as a 13,” she said. “How do we create a fourth line you can put out there in any situation? And then how do we find ways to help Lola settle into a role that’s impactful for her and the group? So right now, actually, her being in that 13 spot is us trying to use her more.”
– After two shutouts on 40 total shots faced in the series sweep of the Crusaders, sophomore No. 2 goalie Mari Pietersen was named Hockey East Goaltender of the Week. They were the first two shutouts of her career and, at least on Friday, Pietersen had to seriously work for them, as turnovers in the defensive zone left her out to dry on multiple occasions.
Asked if Pietersen earned another start this weekend, Watchorn was coy, as she typically is when speaking about goalies. She did not, however, shut the idea down.
“It would be hard not to think about it, that’s for sure,” she said.
In seven games and six starts, Pietersen has allowed 12 goals and boasts a .904 save percentage.
– Graduate forward Lindsay Bochna, a transfer from Providence with six goals and six assists this season, was added to BU’s leadership group as an assistant captain, the team announced Thursday.
Some notes on BC and Vermont:
– The Eagles (17-8-1, 13-5-1 HE) lead the conference in goals per game (2.9), despite being sixth in shots on goal (27.8). Leading point-getter Sammy Taber has 10 goals and 16 assists — the sophomore’s 26 points lead Hockey East. Fellow sophomore forward Julia Pellerin, who scored the overtime winner at Agganis Arena in November, leads the team and is second in the league with 14 goals.
There’s also senior captain Abby Newhook (seven goals, 14 assists), whose 21 points are six more than BU’s leader, graduate defender Julia Shaunessy.
Said Watchorn, before the November series: “They definitely have firepower. If you make mistakes and give them chances off the rush, they’re probably going to make you pay for it.”
– The Catamounts (5-19-2, 4-13-2 HE) sit eighth in Hockey East. But in nine games against top-five conference opponents, Vermont has tied Providence twice, taken UConn to overtime, lost by only a goal on three other occasions and beaten BU.
In Burlington in early January, Watchorn said the Cats play a unique style of hockey, one that promotes chaos and is totally at odds with BU’s game plan.
Very few Hockey East opponents have been easy for BU this season, and Vermont certainly wasn’t one of them.
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