Women’s Hockey: Terriers face a crucial Hockey East doubleheader against UConn

By Bobby Serafin

The Boston University Terriers (5-1-3, 4-0-3 H.E.) return to action with a gigantic home-and-home series with fellow Hockey East frontrunner UConn (8-1-0, 4-1-0 H.E.). This battle will have an immense impact on the conference, as BU looks to overtake Northeastern for the top spot, while UConn hopes to use this doubleheader to leapfrog BU in the pecking order. This matchup couldn’t be closer, with both teams coming in tied at No. 9 in PairWise. 

Last week the Terriers, despite not playing their best hockey, were able to best both their opponents. They first took down Vermont on Oct. 29 in a dramatic shootout win to reverse their season long shootout woes, and then followed that up by going on the road and defeating Providence College on Halloween by a final of 2-1. 

One of the things that the Terriers will look to improve on is their power play (just under 14% for the year), which hasn’t converted a chance in four straight games. That task will most likely be put on offensive leaders such as Courtney Correia, who was recently named Hockey East’s Player of the Month for October, and Julia Nearis, who converted BU’s last power play tally way back on Oct. 15 in a shootout loss against Merrimack.

Correia leads BU in scoring with 11 points in nine games (6g, 5a) and Nearis is right on her tail with 10 points in seven games (4g, 6a), giving her a higher efficiency (points per game). BU has also gotten great production from underclassmen such as Julia Shaunessy, Christina Vote, and Catherine Foulem. 

For this back-to-back against the Huskies, look for Durocher to use both of his stellar goalies, Kate Stuart and Callie Shanahan. Both post goals-against averages under 1.80 and save percentages above .920, which makes for quite a dynamic tandem and gives this Terriers squad some flexibility. 

This doubleheader will be no easy task for the Terriers, as UConn comes in with a nearly unblemished record, their lone loss coming against an apparently upset-happy Merrimack. That game was the Huskies third straight against Warriors, so familiarity definitely played a role in the result. 

While UConn’s schedule has been pretty pedestrian, facing a lot of Hockey East’s bottom-tier teams, they still have looked extremely impressive. They have a very balanced attack led by graduate Natalie Snodgrass, the team’s top scorer with eight points in nine games (3g, 5a). Snodgrass has been a staple of the UConn attack for five seasons now, her best statistical season coming as a freshman where she had a point per game season (38 points in 38 games). 

This game will display two contrasting styles, with the Huskies averaging over 35 shots per game as opposed to the Terriers’ 25. There aren’t huge differences in either group’s special teams, but UConn is the far better face-off team at just over a 56 percent win rate. This has been an area of improvement for the Terriers, who sit at only 46 percent. 

The first game of the doubleheader has the Terriers traveling to Storrs, Conn., for a 6 p.m. start on Friday Nov. 5, with both teams returning to Walter Brown Arena the following day for a 3 p.m. matinee. 

Featured Image by Joe Eachus