Women’s Hockey: Terriers Look to Start Off Strong in Series vs. Minnesota
Featured image by Holly Gustavsen
By Claire Smieszny
“There’s expectations now.”
This weekend, Boston University Women’s Ice Hockey (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HEA) will open their season against the Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-0-0, 0-0-0 WCHA) at home for two crucial games at Walter Brown Arena.
“We’re focusing on seeing how good can this team be,” Head Coach Tara Watchorn said. “Every year will be a little bit different, and how good can we be outside of, yeah, wins are one way of measuring that, but I think that for us, it’s solidifying and fighting and protecting how we do it.”
While the Terriers have yet to play a game that counts towards their record, Minnesota started out hot last week sweeping Boston College at home by scores of 7-1 and 11-0. It’s safe to say the Gophers have lived up to their no. 3 national ranking coming into this season.
While the Terriers have had one exhibition game against Concordia to get their feet under them, the result was not the most encouraging heading into such a highly touted opponent this weekend with BU eeking out a shoutout win.
While Minnesota will without a doubt be one of BU’s toughest opponents this season, the series offers the Terriers both a shot at redemption and establish that the program’s postseason run last year was no fluke.
After getting swept by the Gophers 1-0 and 5-2 last year in an early season series, a strong performance this weekend could put the Terriers on the map early as a program to be reckoned with. After winning the Hockey East tournament and earning a bid to the NCAA tournament last season, expectations are as high as they have ever been for this team during the Coach Watchorn era.
BU will see its biggest challenge in graduate student forward Abbey Murphy, the veteran team captain of the Gophers. She leads the team in points with four goals and five assists for nine points through just two games.
Despite strong goal-scoring abilities with four players already sitting with at least five points, Minnesota are undoubtedly weaker on the back-end. With one freshman goalie and a sophomore with just 90 minutes of playing time under her belt before last weekend, the Terrier offense has an opportunity to capitalize on and up their scoring average from last year’s series.
They certainly have the tools to do so, with top scorers like senior forwards Clara Yuhn and Sydney Healey returning from last year. Additionally, according to Coach Watchorn, the Terriers will start the season with junior goaltender Mari Pietersen between the posts. Pietersen boasted a .911 save percentage last season and a 2.07 GAA, making her a difficult opponent.
While only two games, this series will set the tone for the season. With a good performance the Terriers can set themselves up for a chance to improve even further on their impressive season last year, and continue building a new legacy for the program.
“Performing and playing a team like Minnesota, we want to recruit young women, we want to bring people to BU that want to win and want to play on the national stage every year, and so we want to get these wins, and we don’t shy away from that,” Watchorn said.
The Terriers will face the Gophers Friday, Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 4 at 4 p.m. at Walter Brown Arena, with streaming available on TSN+ and ESPN+.