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Boston College Women’s Hockey knew it would be a tough trip down Comm Ave to face the rival BU Terriers on Friday, but I don’t think anyone expected the Eagles to be so comprehensively dominated. Boston University took an early 1-0 lead and cruised from there, being the Eagles in every facet of the game on the way to a 6-0 win.
There’s no two ways about it — the Eagles were dominated in this one from start to finish. With three important skaters out of the lineup due to injury incluing leading scorer Hannah Bilka, senior captain Erin Connolly, and elite defender Hadley Hartmetz, BC was down to just 15 skaters. Whether it was just that the Eagles were mentally frazzled being down some of their biggest players or just that the Terriers were ready to pounce on the Eagles with a short bench, BU took control early and never relented.
The Terriers score early in the first period, and were outshooting BC handily until the Eagles put on a mini-flurry late in the frame to make the shot count a bit closer. But BU responded with a dagger of a goal with just 94 seconds left in the frame to make it 2-0, and from there the Eagles just looked defeated.
The Terreries exploded for three more goals in the second and one more in the third to make it an even touchdown for the 6-0 score and outshot BC by a whopping 35-14 over the final two periods. Kelly Pickreign replaced starting goaltender Maddy McArthur about halfway through the game, but it made little difference as the Terriers just kept peppering the new goaltender as if nothing had happened.
BC will get a chance at revenge on Saturday afternoon at Conte Forum in what will be the final game of the first half. The Eagles will hope to win not just to stop the bleeding and get back some confidence heading into the break, but also to keep themselves on track for a potential NCAA tournament berth as the Terriers are one of the Eagles’ prime competitors for one of the few spots up for grabs. Puck drop is 1:30pm on Saturday, with the game being picked up on NESNplus.