CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Tara Watchorn almost always finds positives after BU losses. It’s part of the identity she has harped on time and time again to her players and the media. There are bad wins and good losses. Breaking down games should be done without emotion, and there are tangible things to pull away from practically every situation.
Fittingly, after BU’s 4-0 loss against rival Boston College, BU’s head coach brought the same attitude when she spoke to the media. She was content with the Terriers’ performance and felt like there were plenty of positives to take away.
“Disappointed, but saw some things that clicked,” Watchorn said. “And when we did our game plan, we saw it work.”
But the regular season is over now.
The Terriers have entered do-or-die territory. They have to find the back of the net if they want any chance of extending their season.
Give BU credit; it looked far sharper against BC than it did in its matchup with Northeastern and UConn — all top-three teams heading into the Hockey East playoffs.
BU held the ice tilt for much of Saturday’s effort, but just as the script read in the Terriers’ last meeting with BC back in November, the Eagles capitalized on turnovers, using their speed in transition to create odd-woman rushes and tally.
“We knew it was coming. I felt like I could count down the seconds before you knew it was about to go on the net,” Watchorn said. “Every time you could feel the build, so I think, hopefully, the benefit is players saw it too — the difference between when it was being executed and when it is not.”
BC struck first, shorthanded. After the Eagles were called for too-many-players, they turned BU’s power play into a deficit with 18 seconds left on the penalty kill.
The Terriers lost a puck battle down low, and junior forward Sammy Taber came blazing up the ice with freshman Ava Thomas in stride. Taber threaded a cross-ice pass to Thomas, and with only Maeve Carey back to disrupt the rush, Thomas snapped the puck cleanly past Michelle Pasiechnyk to give BC the one-goal edge.
For much of the second period, BU was able to sustain zone time; it controlled off the forecheck, peppered shots on BC goaltender Grace Campbell and ultimately played to its identity, but again a costly turnover at the blue came back to hurt the Terriers.
Thomas gained possession and broke out with Emma Conner on her shoulder. Maeve Kelly was left to defend the two-on-one, but as she lost an edge and went down, Thomas fed to Conner for BC’s second goal. With Thomas’ second point of the night, she finished the regular season leading Hockey East with 45 points.
And again, just over a minute later, a BU turnover led to sophomore Alanna Devlin finding the top corner of Pasiechnyk’s net.
Appropriately, BC’s final goal of the game came off a breakaway opportunity from freshman forward Maxim Tremblay that Carey couldn’t stop.
That’s not to say BU didn’t have chances. Notably in the second, sophomore Lola Reid and Mia Vergilii went on a 2-on-1. Reid chose to shoot — a save easily made by Campbell — rather than pass across to Vergilii. The Terriers fired off 24 shots on goal, but apart from Reid and Vergilii’s rush, few of BU’s chances were Grade A, and that is what has separated them from not only the Eagles but many other top-tier Hockey East opponents.
Aside from senior forward Sydney Healey, BU just doesn’t have players even close to scraping the Hockey East point leaderboards. And yes, goals aren’t everything, but with the postseason starting on Wednesday, you have to convert on quality attempts.
BU’s power play went 0-for-6 on Saturday and now ranks second-worst in the NCAA at just 7.6 percent. Still, Watchorn was encouraged by the unit’s overall movement, particularly with freshman forward Anežka Čabelová’s new found spot at the point.
“If we can’t play the game plan 5-on-5, then we can’t play the game plan 5-on-3,” Watchorn said. “Essentially the players that are doing what we need them to do are going to keep getting looks.”
Paschienyk, who had excellent performances against UConn a week ago and another solid showing against Providence on Friday, started against BC. She made 20 out of 24 saves, but her rebound control was subpar, and at times she didn’t appear to be seeing the puck well.
Junior Mari Pietersen alternated with Pasiechnyk all season, and during BU’s midseason push, where she spearheaded wins against Northeastern, Quinnipiac and Harvard.
A poor or mediocre performance from either of the two typically results in the other goalie playing the subsequent game, so whoever Watchorn starts on Wednesday, in this win-or-go-home match, will be telling.
BU will now look to face Providence on Wednesday, which it beat on Friday, for the first round of the Hockey East playoff.
“I think at the end of the day we have good goaltending, and if we make ourselves really hard to eliminate and play the right way, we have enough skill that we will score,” Watchorn said. “I have no doubt about that.”