In the budding days of his 12th year marshalling the Boston University women’s hockey team, head coach Brian Durocher didn’t shy away from what needs to improve this go-around.
The Terriers’ defense, often the backbone of their run to six straight NCAA Tournaments and four straight Hockey East Tournament titles, lost its brawn in 2015-16. They leaked 3.05 goals a game, narrow contests turned into losses and March brought about the unfamiliar feeling of watching playoff hockey from home.
The details — forechecking as a unit, keeping sticks extended, etc. — became all that more troublesome, making a 23-14-2 season seem bittersweet. Now, with a packed non-conference and Hockey East slate underway, BU has a simple message on its mind.
“I’m not worried about us breaking out of the zone, I’m not worried about us producing things offensively; we have talent there,” Durocher said. “We just have to be better, and it’s everybody. It’s not just the blueliners. It’s the wingers, it’s the centers, it’s everybody being disciplined and it’s real easy to swing in any part of the ice. If you do that consistently, you may look fast, you may look offensively good, but you just can’t give up the numbers of goals we gave up last year.”
Naturally, eyes turn to personnel who could remedy the problem at hand. The main netminders — junior Erin O’Neil and senior Victoria Hanson — should duke it out for playing time, with Durocher challenging both to earn the starting spot.
There’s slightly less clarity on the blueline, though, as four freshmen defensemen have come in as part of a six-member recruiting class. Senior co-captain Alexis Crossley, senior Sarah Steele and junior Savannah Newton could all be shoe-ins, but Durocher stressed experience won’t guarantee ice time. And as senior forward and co-captain Natalie Flynn put it, righting the ship could be as much a mental battle as a test of skill.
“From day one, coach has already made defense a top priority,” Flynn said. “If we reiterate that every practice and just focus on battling in the corners, battling in front of the net, staying in position, our defense will happen. It’s definitely something we need to focus on because we can score goals, but if we can’t keep them out of the net it’s going to be tough to win. We just have to keep that focus.”
While concern gravitates toward BU’s own zone, attacking pieces are in place to make goals flow. Yes, the ever-talented quartet of Sarah Lefort, Kayla Tutino, Rebecca Russo and Dakota Woodworth have all graduated, but there’s a healthy blend of newcomers and returners to light the lamp at Walter Brown Arena and beyond.
The headliners are juniors Victoria Bach and Rebecca Leslie, a duo that both earned Second Team Hockey East nods last year and have scored a combined 162 points across their careers. Other cast members include sophomore Sammy Davis, last year’s runner-up for Hockey East Rookie of the Year, and senior Maddie Elia, the producer of 76 points through 113 career games. Then there are the under-the-radar contributions of senior Samantha Sutherland, an energetic winger Durocher said was snakebitten in 2015-16.
And if they’re firing on all cylinders, Durocher said, his team will start grinding out more games of the 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 variety.
“My biggest goal every season is for us to play well in the highest number of games possible,” Durocher said. “If there’s 33 or 34 in a schedule, we should be ready and play well in 30 or 31 games. There’s going to be a night or two maybe where you just don’t have it or you’re tired coming up to exams, whatever it may be, but there shouldn’t be very many of them.”
Chances to grant Durocher’s wish will arise early and often for the Terriers, especially through a vaunted non-conference schedule. BU will visit the up-and-coming Pennsylvania State University program in October and host a perennial national contender in the University of Minnesota in December.
Wins won’t come easily, and the long haul of a college hockey season is even further complicated by what could be a wide open Hockey East conference. Several stars — namely Boston College’s forward duo of Alex Carpenter and Haley Skarupa and Northeastern University’s Kendall Coyne — have graduated, making the league less top heavy than in years past.
Such circumstances have led BU to finish second in the preseason poll, and Flynn argued surprises could be in store.
“I’ve thought about this a lot,” Flynn said. “Most teams lost a lot of big players so it keeps that level of mystery alive. You don’t know who the new kids are and how good the other teams are going to be, so we just have to focus within ourselves and know we’re a great team.”
Crossley, who transferred to BU from the University of New Hampshire, expressed similar sentiments and wagered Hockey East will be injected with plenty of new flavor.
“There are a lot of teams in Hockey East that have lost a lot of top players, but I think while they were some of the best players in the country, we can’t forget about all the players who are up and coming,” Crossley said. “I think that a lot of the talk is always about those players who are so good that graduate, but we can’t forget about the ones who are going to show up this year and replace those people.”
Replacing old cogs is something that’s certainly been on Durocher’s mind all offseason, as his freshman class is supplemented by two transfers. Mary Parker, a graduate student forward and four-year player at Harvard University, is primed for a big role, as is junior forward Nina Rodgers, who comes to Commonwealth Avenue after two years, and two national titles, in Minnesota.
Whichever way you splice it, though, there’s no denying this year’s Terriers are a team in transition. Long gone are the big names that BU built its reputation on, and in steps the likes of Bach, Leslie and Crossley to leave their own legacy.
Issues on defense need solving and leadership falls on new shoulders, but this is still the same BU program Durocher has earned such respect for. And with that comes a certain expectation, a certain belief that hardware is always within reach. After all, according to Crossley, that’s the dream.
“Our ultimate goal is to make it to the Hockey East Tournament, win the Hockey East Tournament and hopefully hitch a ride to the national championship,” Crossley said. “I think every year that’s our ultimate goal, and we’re coming in hard this year at the beginning with that in mind. But we’ve got to take it one game at a time and focus on the process.”
And much of the same held true for Durocher, with the caveat that results will come if BU does the little things right. The rest will fall into place later, he said.
“You’re going to have injuries, you’re going to have things happen and people are going to have to step up to win that game,” Durocher said. “Some people might have to step up on another given day. It’s important for us to be very thorough and very consistent day after day.”