Women’s Hockey: Cook, No. 10 Terriers look to stay hot in weekend trip to Penn State
By: Patrick Donnelly
Coming off a bounce back weekend that saw them earn their first two wins of the season in Hockey East play, the Boston University Terriers (3-1-1, 2-1-1 WHEA will travel to Penn State (3-2-3) for a two-game set this weekend.
After a bit of a rocky week that saw them tie Merrimack before losing to New Hampshire, the two wins versus UConn and Maine this past weekend are sure to give the Terriers the jolt they need to keep moving in the right direction.
Senior defender Abby Cook comes into the road trip riding a three-game point streak (1g, 2a), which has accentuated her hot start as she has four total points in five games on the year.
The Kelowna, British Columbia, native has been a model of consistency on the backend for the Terriers as far as offensive production goes. In 116 career games, the right-shot defender has 73 points (15 goals and 58 assists), highlighted by last season where she recorded career-highs in goals with eight and assists with 20.
Goaltender Corinne Schroeder has been the team’s MVP in the early goings of the season with a 3-0-1 record to go along with a .965 save percentage, which leads the nation. The junior holds the second-best goals-against average in the country (0.98), and she is yet to allow a goal at even strength this season.
Schroeder earned Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week Honors this week for her efforts in the games versus UConn and Maine as she posted a 38-save shutout against the Huskies before making 27 stops, allowing one goal, versus Maine. The Elm Creek, Manitoba native is expected to start the first game of the trip.
Durocher has been stressing the importance of depth-scoring as Sammy Davis seemed to carry the lion’s share of the offensive production during the first few games. The absence of Jesse Compher, who did not travel with the team as she continues to nurse a “nagging” lower-body injury, did not help things along.
However, depth-scoring was the name of the game for the Terriers last weekend as Deziray De Sousa, Kaleigh Donnelly, Kristina Schuler, and Courtney Correia each got on the board with Nara Elia registering two assists as well. Durocher hopes that production will bode well for BU as the season continues.
The Nittany Lions come into the contest in the midst of a four-game unbeaten streak, which includes wins versus RPI as well as a victory and tie with Providence. Katie McMillan has led the way offensively for Penn State with six points (2g, 4a).
Natalie Heising has certainly been hot as of late for Jeff Kampersal’s group as she has five points total on the season, including four (2g, 2a) in her last four games. Goaltender Chantal Burke has been solid as well for her team, as she maintains a 3-2-2 record, which includes two shutouts, as well as a .923 save percentage.
The two teams met twice last year as BU hosted the Nittany Lions for a two-game set at Walter Brown Arena that saw a tie in game one before Penn State took care of the Terriers by a 1-0 score in game two. The two clubs have skated pretty evenly with each other over the years as the Terriers hold a 2-2-2 all-time record against Penn State, who consequently holds the same record versus the Terriers.
The action is set to get underway at 3:00 pm on Friday afternoon at Pegula Ice Arena with Saturday’s matinee slated for a 1:00 start.