Women’s Hockey: BU Terriers Silenced 4-0 in Regular-Season Finale

By Ryan Owens

The Boston University Women’s Ice Hockey (10-20-3, 8-14-2 HE) went away silently in their regular-season finale against the Boston College Eagles (16-17-1, 14-9-1 HE), falling 4-0 to their rivals at Conte Forum on Saturday night.

BU gave up backbreaking goals at crucial moments through the game, with the first being a shorthanded mark that was followed by a pair of goals in the second period, which proved too much to bear.

The Terriers have lost five of their past six games. The team has failed to score a goal in four of those efforts.

“I’m disappointed, but saw some things that clicked,” BU Head Coach Tara Watchorn said after the loss. “When we did our game plan, we saw it work. Once again, just not doing it for 60.”

Boston College has won three games in a row to end the regular season. Their win against BU marks the Eagles’ Grace Campbell’s second shutout victory in those three wins.

The Eagles’ poor discipline did not give the Terriers the most that they would have hoped for, as BU went 0-for-6 on the power play and gave up a shorthanded goal on one of their advantages.

“I liked that unit with [Anežka Čabelová], the way it started to develop,” Watchorn said of her power play. “If we can’t play the game plan 5-on-5, then we can’t play the game plan 5-on-4.”

Ava Thomas scored that shorthanded marker for BC, scoring thanks to assists from Sammy Taber and Caitlyn Flinn with 18 seconds left on the advantage for BU. Despite giving up the goal, BU played a strong first period and kept it close with their Commonwealth Avenue rivals through the first 20 minutes.

The true turning point of the game came in the form of two quick goals by the Eagles in the middle of the second period. Emma Conner and Alanna Devlin scored less than two minutes apart, giving BC a 3-0 lead and putting a stranglehold on the game.

“We knew it was coming,” Watchorn said of the BC offense and her team’s patterns of struggle against it. “I felt like I could count down the seconds before you knew it was about to go in the net every time,” Watchorn said.

The Terriers again played a strong third period, outshooting their opponents 8-3 thanks to the four power-play chances they had. However, the only scorer of the period was Maxim Tremblay of BC, who tallied the final marker with 10 minutes to go and cemented the victory for the Eagles.

The teams matched one another with 24 shots on goal throughout the game. Pasiechnyk stopped 20 shots, while Campbell stopped all 24 that she faced.

The win for Boston College is their third straight victory in the head-to-head matchup. The Terriers’ last victory against the Eagles came during the Hockey East tournament last season to send the team to the championship game that they eventually won.

BU will open its Hockey East tournament run on Wednesday when it hosts Providence College at Walter Brown Arena.