Women’s Hockey: Terrier Offense Stifles Whitby

BOSTON — Junior Rebecca Leslie carried the puck through the defensive and neutral zones for the Boston University Terriers. Senior Maddie Elia broke up the slot to grant her an option up the middle. Leslie took the option, and Elia opened the scoring 93 seconds into the game.

From there, the Whitby Wolves (PWHL) could never get going. The Terriers piled on the scoring — including four power play goals on four opportunities. BU won this preseason affair by a final of 6-0, limiting the Wolves to eight shots on goal in the game.

“That was probably as important to me as anything else,” head coach Brian Durocher said. “We were on point there and paid attention to the little things.”

Elia was not finished with her parade. After Sammy Davis finished off a passing play with Nina Rodgers and Samantha Sutherland, Emily DiDanieli put the Wolves shorthanded again.

Right off the faceoff, Victoria Bach put a shot toward Rachel McQuigge. The puck fell on the ice, and Elia whacked it behind the Prinecton-commit for her second of the game.

“Had to get good, hard work out of everyone today to get ready for tomorrow,” Elia said. “Definetly was the plan.”

Only Davis scored in the second period. At center point on the power play, Savannah Newton fired through heavy traffic, hitting the stick of Davis to beat McQuigge.

“[That puck] had eyes. The goalie never really saw it until it until it came out of the net,” Durocher said.

Adding to her two assists already, Leslie was out for a goal to start the third. Elia left the puck for her to pick up at the top of the right faceoff circle, and Leslie faked out Makenzy Arsenault to score. Elia would add one more on a late player-advantage for the hat-trick.

“I think we’re pretty balanced right now,” Elia said. “I don’t think one side’s [forwards or defenders] better than the other.”

With the power play, Durocher “didn’t realize it was a perfect number” until after the game. “We haven’t had much time to work on it, but there’s talented kids out there, and sometimes you get a bounce here or there.”

The Terriers used all three goaltenders on their roster for this game. Senior Victoria Hanson started the game and finished with four saves. Junior Erin O’Neil played the middle frame, saving all two shots she faced. Junior Ashlyn Aiello completed the combined shutout with two stops in the third period.

“It’s always good to see less than ten shots on net, we’ll definetly carry that into tomorrow,” Elia said. That second line trio of Elia, Leslie and Nina Rodgers combined for nine of the fourteen points for BU today.

Durocher lined up Mary Grace Kelley with Bach and Mary Parker on the top line, while rolling seven defenders. Natasza Tarnowski centered Davis and Sutherland on the third line, while Natalie Flynn, Anna Streifel, and Deziray De Sousa rotated out as a fourth line. Only freshman Katie Shannahan did not dress for today’s exhibtion. Coach Durocher was, overall, thoroughly impressed by the efforts of his recruiting class.

“It’s a great place to start, but we know you’ve got to be six deep, and really we’ve got seven kids who can play,” the head coach said. “I’ll have a tougher decision tomorrow.”

The regular season opens Sunday afternoon against the Providence Friars. Last season, the Terriers beat the Friars in all three of match-ups. Face-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.