Lexie Bertelsen is about to become a lot more important around here, and Senior Night was a pretty good reminder.
After BU honored the six seniors and one graduate student who, in all likelihood, just played their final game at Walter Brown Arena, Bertelsen, the headliner of Tara Watchorn’s six-player freshman class, blasted home a desperately needed goal to give the Terriers some life late in the second period against Providence.
Senior Lilli Welcke, in her first game since returning from the Olympics, provided the assist on a 2-on-1 rush. Bertelsen (four goals, five assists this season) proceeded to break BU’s 103-minute scoring drought. The Terriers looked well on their way to losing their ninth game in 11 tries, before their pesky 5-foot-2 freshman ignited her reeling team.
It was one of those seniors who finished what Bertelsen started, as defender Maeve Kelly won it for BU midway through the third, her wrister from the right circle marking just BU’s eighth power-play goal of the season and the third tally, period, of Kelly’s 136-game career.
And while the Terriers’ performance certainly wasn’t world-beating, they finally have something to celebrate again that isn’t just the “tangible” improvements, however small, Watchorn kept finding during losses. BU entered Friday night having lost eight of 10, its only two victories since Jan. 17 coming against Merrimack, which is 4-17-2 in Hockey East. Providence (11-20-2, 8-13-2 HE) isn’t much better, but with the Hockey East tournament looming next week, the Terriers will take a 3-1 win.
With their regulation victory over the Friars, who they entered tied with for second-to-last place in the standings, the Terriers (10-19-3, 8-13-2 HE) clinched at least a home game in the first-round of the playoffs. And with Vermont headed to overtime against Holy Cross, BU technically still has a chance at missing the first round entirely. It would need a regulation victory against Boston College and a Vermont regulation loss on Saturday.
Senior Luisa Welcke, also in her return from the Olympics, sealed the victory with an empty-netter.
Here are two takeaways:
It wasn’t pretty, but BU will take it.
That was hardly a season-altering performance, hardly a victory that means the Terriers should be favored against whoever they end up playing in the Hockey East tournament next week. Put in contrast with BU’s final regular-season game at Walter Brown Arena last season, when it was battling UConn for the tournament’s No. 1 seed, the Terriers’ win over the Friars was pretty jarring. Even the most pessimistic of outlooks on BU’s chances before the season likely wouldn’t have imagined the defending league champions clawing for the right to host a first-round game.
But, look. A victory is still better than a loss. And given Watchorn has admitted her team’s confidence hasn’t fully recovered since that devastating Beanpot final defeat, the opportunity to debrief a win instead of another loss is welcome.
Still, the Terriers will need to play a lot better if they are to make a run in the playoffs. Getting outshot, 41-31, by the team second-to-last in the standings won’t cut it. — Sam Robb O’Hagan
BU’s power play finally scored.
The Terriers had been scoreless on the power play in the month of February, coming up empty on their first 13 attempts. That’s hardly surprising, considering BU entered Friday night with the second-worst conversion rate in the country, only ahead of 1-30 Saint Michael’s.
The Terriers didn’t look all that convincing on their first three power play chances, failing to register a single shot on their first and third attempts.
But BU got a chance at a fourth, with 8:07 remaining in the fourth period. This time, it made no mistake, winning the opening draw and cycling the puck to Kelly at the top of the right circle. Kelly unleashed a wrister, beating graduate goaltender Hope Walinski at the near post. It was Kelly’s first goal of the season, and it was the crucial goal that BU has struggled to generate for so much of this season. — Henry Dinh-Price