Women’s Hockey: BU set for WHEA quarterfinal series vs UNH

This weekend, the BU Terriers (19-7-8, 15-6-6 WHEA) will play host to the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (13-15-6, 10-14-3 WHEA) at Walter Brown Arena in a best of 3 quarterfinal series to kick off the 2019 Women’s Hockey East Playoffs.

The Terriers finished the season white-hot going 11-1-3 over their final 15 games including winning the Women’s Beanpot for the first time since 1981 defeating both No. 3 Northeastern and Harvard. They ended up finishing 3rd in WHEA behind only heavyweights No.7 Boston College and No. 3 Northeastern.

On the season, BU got unbelievable seasons from first-line forwards Sammy Davis and Jesse Compher. Compher finished tops in WHEA with 55 points and Davis ties for third with 47. Together, their 102-point masterpiece of a season for the Terriers (40 goals and 62 assists) lead the offensive charge and proved to everyone that after losing a large senior class last season, BU was far from out of the spotlight.

In net, sophomore Corrine Schroeder was even better than she was her rookie year, averaging just 1.96 goals per game, 3rd best in WHEA. Together with a defense headlined by the elite duo of seniors Reagan Rust and Connor Galway, the Terriers put up a marvelous season. BU also happened to have a 23.6 power play percentage, which was by-and-large the best in WHEA while the Wildcats finished 7th at 15.8 percent.

For the Wildcats, their final 15 games saw them play to a 7-6-2 record, not quite good enough to get their record over .500, but still a strong finish to the season. On the season, their offensive game wasn’t quite as strong with leading scorer Taylor Wenczkowski compiling just 26 points on the season.

For UNH, it was a much more defensive minded season, as their duo of goalies, Kyra Smith and Ava Boutilier combined to allow just 2.11 goals per game on the season for the Wildcats. Boutilier, a sophomore, began the year as the starter but had her season cut short due injury after eight starts.

The key for the Terriers will be scoring early. BU finished second in WHEA with 36 first period goals and tied for first with 40 in the second. They need to jump out early to a lead against these ‘Cats.

They’ll also need to make the most use of their top scorers in Davis and Compher, while also utilizing the incredible defense (and all-around game) that both the first and second defensive pairings have brought to the table. Finally, as long as Corrine Schroeder stays as sharp like she’s been all season long, the Terriers will have a great chance to advance to the next round and contend for the WHEA Championship.