The Boston University women’s hockey team had one hand on the Hockey East regular season title entering Saturday, but UConn ripped it from its grasp.
The Terriers squandered their final opportunity to achieve the feat for the first time in 12 seasons in a 3-1 loss to the Huskies at Walter Brown Arena.
What stings most?
“We outplayed them,” head coach Tara Watchorn said postgame.
No. 12 BU (21-11-2, 18-7-2 Hockey East) played its best game against the Huskies (21-11-2, 19-7-2 HE) in three tries. The Terriers played fast, got pucks behind UConn, and used contact effectively.
But senior netminder Tia Chan (33 saves) remained a puzzle that BU couldn’t solve. Her counterpart, senior Callie Shanahan, stopped 18 of 20 shots.
“We had all kinds of chances to find a way through her,” senior blueliner Maggie Hanzel said postgame.
The Terriers raced out of the gates, flying into the offensive zone, and did a good job of mucking up Chan’s crease. BU had all the momentum.
But it was the Huskies who opened the scoring at 6:44 of the first period. Junior forward Megan Woodworth’s shot for a rebound found the stick of senior defender Ava Rinker in front of the net. Rinker made no mistake, giving UConn a 1-0 lead.
Rinker was called for body checking at 4:36 and sprung out of the penalty box, catching the Terriers off guard, which led to the goal.
BU continued to pressure the Huskies into the second period, and on its first power play of the frame, freshman defender Keira Healey rang the post from below the circle. Watchorn liked what she saw from the Terrier power play despite it going 0-for-6.
“Amazing looks,” Watchorn said. “They gave us life, they gave us momentum. They’re gonna go in eventually.”
Junior forward Luisa Welcke’s sixth goal of the season got BU on the board at 18:47 of the second period. She cleaned up a rebound in front of Chan to knot the scoreline at 1-1.
Saturday afternoon was an extremely physical game. The Terriers did an excellent job using their bodies to clean UConn of pucks. The Terriers lacked discipline at points, taking five untimely penalties, but it didn’t cost them in the end.
“It’s something that we want to do every game,” Hanzel said. “Putting your body on the line shows your teammates that you’re in the game and willing to do anything.”
BU carried its momentum into the third period, but Rinker took matters into her own hands, putting the Huskies back in front at 5:33.
With a full head of steam, she picked up the puck as she entered the offensive zone, wheeled around the BU defenders, and picked out the top corner of the net from below the circle for her second tally of the day.
Shanahan vacated her net as the Terriers searched for the equalizer late. Graduate forward Jada Habisch’s empty net tally at 17:45 was the exclamation point of UConn’s second consecutive regular season title.
Even though BU ended its dream regular season with a bad taste in its mouth, the regular season was still that — a dream.
But the dream is over. The reality is that the Terriers are the No. 2 seed in the Hockey East tournament and will play host to a quarterfinal for the first time in five seasons.
“If we play that kind of hockey, we’re going to be pretty happy in a few weeks,” Watchorn said.
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