Women’s Hockey: Penalty-Prone Terriers Set to Face Power Play-Driven Huskies
BOSTON — Boston University takes an average of 5.9 penalties per game. The Connecticut Huskies see 27.0 percent of their goals (10-for-37) come on the power play.
UCONN’s power play enter this weekend with a 15.9 percent efficiency, good enough for 13th in the NCAA. In the last five games, UCONN scored four of their 12 goals with an extra player on the ice.
BU’s penalty kill is busy every game. The team has never played a game in which they have not taken a penalty. Of the 10 goals allowed in the last five games, four came while shorthanded.
GAME INFORMATION
Boston University @ Connecticut, 7 p.m. Friday (2nd), Freitas Ice Forum
Boston University vs Connecticut, 3 p.m. Saturday (3rd), Walter Brown Arena
STREAM: http://mixlr.com/wtbusports/
COMMENTATORS: Jarrett Leonard and Max Wolpoff
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT HUSKIES: 8-5-3 overall, 3-2-1 Hockey East, 2.31 goals per game (T-17th NCAA), 1.88 goals allowed per game (T-11th NCAA)
The Huskies are coming off a dissapoitning performance in the Nutmeg Classic on Quinnipiac’s campus in Hamden, Connecticut.
It took an extra-attacker goal from Justin Fredette in the last 11 seconds to force a tie against Yale, only to lose in the shootout due to tournament purposes. After the first five players made their shootout attempts, Theresa Knutson missed to give Yale the win.
In the consolation game against the Bobcats, the Huskies did not recover after Mellisa Samoskevich gave Quinnipiac a lead 18 seconds into the third. UCONN lost 3-2 in the 13th annual Nutmeg Classic, won by Merrimack College.
UCONN is playing only their second game at Freitas Ice Forum in one month. The road trip opened with a loss at Boston College, then rebounded for three consecutive wins against Merrimack, New Hampshire, and Brown. Their one home game for November came as 5-3 win over Maine two weeks ago.
The Huskies stumbled to the finish of the second leg after tying Vermont in Burlington. Then came the Nutmeg Classic, officially a tie and a loss.
Leah Lum (10 goals, six assists) and Theresa Knutson (seven goals, nine assists) lead all Huskies with 16 points each. After Brianna Colangelo (14 points), the production begins to drop off. Just one — Jamie Fox at nine — of the other 13 players with points have no higher than six tallies.
In goal, Annie Belanger has most of the minutes for UCONN. In 14 games (12 starts), the junior out of Sherbrooke, Quebec is at a .944 save percentage (5th NCAA) and a 1.81 goals against average (13th NCAA).
#Receiving Votes BOSTON UNIVERSITY TERRIERS: 10-5-1 overall, 6-5-0 Hockey East, 3.88 goals per game (1st NCAA), 2.88 goals allowed per game (23rd NCAA)
Five games in eight days became five straight wins for BU. Victoria Hanson started all five contests and combined to make 136 saves on 146 shots. She made a career-high 41 stops in the 4-1 win over Princeton Friday night.
The Terriers are tied with Boston College for fifth in penalties per game with 11.9 penalties and 190 total minutes in 16 games. BU also has the 21st ranked penalty kill at 84.7 percent. Providence is the only Hockey East team that spends more time in the sin bin, but they are also second in the nation with five shorthanded goals — Northeastern has seven.
The top three Terriers taking turns in the penalty box are Maddie Elia (28 penalties in minutes), Savannah Newton (22 PIM), and Victoria Bach (20 PIM). The only skaters to not take a penalty this season are Breanna Scarpaci and Anna Streifel (four games played).
Streifel and Mary Grace Kelley are in a back-and-forth battle for the last forward slot. Streifel played at Lawler Rink, then Kelley slotted in for the rematch at Agganis Arena. Streifel proceeded to play the next three games, even as Natalie Flynn centered the third line for the Princeton series with the absence of Natasza Tarnowski.
Mary Parker needed an empty-netter and the overtime-winner to keep her point streak alive last weekend, but it rests at nine games entering the weekend. She is three goals behind Dani Cameranesi of Minnnesota (18) for the national lead.
Linemate Victoria Bach has 14 points in her last eight games. She leads all Terriers in shots on goal with 85 — no other Terrier has cracked 75. With four points in the three games last week, she passed Jillian Kirchner for eighth all-time. Next up is Louise Warren at 108 points and Jenn Wakefield at 111.
Nina Rodgers followed up a two-assist night at Harvard by adding a goal and another two helpers against Princeton Friday. She started the game-winning play in overtime the next night, extending her point streak to three games and nabbing Hockey East Player of the Week honors. With 14 points this season, Rodgers is five better than her best year at Minnesota.
Rebecca Leslie and Maddie Elia are nearing the century mark. Leslie, after a two-point weekend, is at 96. Elia, with a four-point weekend, comes in at 93. They would become the third and fourth Terriers to reach the 100-point plateau this season.
Samantha Sutherland found the goal column for the first time since the Maine series against the Tigers. After opening the season with seven goals in three games, the senior out of Fernie, British Columbia scored two in the next 13 games. In that same span, she’s totalled five assists.
In 35 games played between these Hockey East rivals, BU holds the advantage with 22 wins to Connecticut’s nine. The team’s have tied four times, one coming last season.