The powers that be didn’t do BU any favors this weekend.
That was true even before this season, before the now 17 losses piled up. Facing Northeastern and Connecticut, Hockey East’s most prestigious program and its strongest team, on the same weekend is about as brutal as it gets. But doing it after losing five of seven, with a group of players still looking to find their confidence again? The schedule couldn’t have picked a worse time.
And to make this even harder — No. 5 NU and No. 6 UConn present entirely different challenges. The Huskies from Boston kill teams with their speed and skill on the rush. The ones from Storrs, Conn., are frustratingly stout defensively and pragmatic offensively. BU has played plenty of split series (different teams during the same weekend) throughout Tara Watchorn’s tenure, and the third-year head coach has often cited the similarity in styles of the two opponents when searching for ways to mitigate stress.
“I don’t think I’m gonna make that claim this weekend,” Watchorn said Wednesday on her midweek media call.
Watchorn wasn’t terribly interested in diving into the specifics of the challenge that awaits her Terriers, instead framing the weekend as an opportunity for BU (9-18-3, 7-12-2 HE) to “feel good about its game.” That’s classic coach speak, but then again, there’s only so much the Terriers can do to slow down NU (23-6-1, HE regular-season champs) and UConn (21-7-2). Might as well focus on your own game instead.
And besides, given that BU hasn’t scored in almost 130 minutes of hockey, that’s probably what it should be doing anyway. Watchorn said she thought the Terriers were noticeably better in their 2-0 loss to Maine on Saturday than in their 3-0 defeat at Vermont on Thursday, but that’s not saying much — BU recorded only 17 shots on goal, and, save for the called-back Kaileigh Quigg goal and a couple more net-front chances for the sophomore, it didn’t make the Black Bears terribly uncomfortable.
Still, Watchorn dug her heels in and defended her team’s performance midweek.
“We talked a lot about the controllables from Thursday to Saturday. Just the habits that, no matter how the game is going, we know we can do. And there was a commitment to those controllable things [on Saturday],” Watchorn said.
As for how to sell the team on its improvement, despite the scoreline and the shot count, Watchorn went to a place she’s gone before during this trying season. She declared BU needed to “celebrate” the things it did well, and while that can sound like a desperate coach trying to cope, that philosophy seemed to work earlier this season. It feels like forever ago now, but BU started 2-10 before embarking on a 5-1-3 surge, a run that included, yes, a shootout victory over UConn and an overtime win over Northeastern.
Clearly, the Terriers have lost the belief they had a month ago. Getting it back is likely Watchorn’s top priority, and finding things to celebrate even in defeat is her way of doing it.
“The shot count didn’t tell you the full story, in terms of our puck possession and territorial advantage,” Watchorn said of the loss to Maine. “By no means do I think it ever looked dominant. But it’s realizing that things are working and building off of it.”
Scouting the Huskies… and the Huskies
Whereas UConn clinched Hockey East’s regular-season title in the last period of the last game in 2024-25, Northeastern has already clinched that banner, still with two weekends left.
Dave Flint’s Huskies are a staggering 18-1-1 in conference play, their only blemishes an overtime loss to New Hampshire and a tie with Holy Cross (they also lost to BU in the Beanpot semifinal, but that wasn’t an official Hockey East game). NU’s roster is loaded — senior captain Lily Shannon has 37 points (18 goals, 21 assists), and star freshman Stryker Zablocki has 37 (14, 23). Sophomore Éloïse Caron “only” has 22 (13, 9), but BU can attest to her talent. Goalie Lisa Jönsson (.934 save percentage) is a repeat semifinalist for National Goalie of the Year.
Chris MacKenzie’s Huskies are comfortably in second place with a 14-5-1 record in Hockey East. They’re fresh off a 6-2 shellacking of Boston College. At 6th in the NPI, they’re in prime position to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament if they fail to win HE’s automatic ticket. Senior Kyla Josifovic is fourth in the league in points with 29 (11, 18), and junior transfer Julia Pellerin isn’t far behind with 23 (10, 13). Graduate goalie Tia Chan, like Jönsson, is a National Goalie of the Year semifinalist.
“They’re both very talented and able to execute in every zone,” Watchorn said of NU and UConn. “I’ll put it that way.”
At least BU is at home.