Backcheck
For certain, the glass has to be accepted as half-full for the Vermont Catamounts, who have tied each of their last three games, all with the two Commonwealth Ave. queens no less.
Still, in order for their partial gains to amount to anything come the end of February, Vermont will have to start pouring on a few more ounces –and quick. The Catamounts have already consumed eight out of their 21 Hockey East games, at least three more than any of their conference cohabitants, and have yet to snag a single two-point package on a given night.
At a most peculiar 1-4-7 overall and 0-4-4 within league boundaries, the Catamounts are patently lacking in little more than a simple ice chip of finish. They are 1-0-6 when scoring first and dating back to last Sunday’s 2-2 deadlock with Boston College, they have planted themselves five one-goal leads in three games, only to see each of them deleted.
BC’s Kelli Stack drew 1-1 and 2-2 knots at Conte Forum last week and Boston University did what it is already renowned for and shrugged off surrendering the first goal in both bouts at Walter Brown Arena this past weekend.
Translation: Vermont has not trailed in any of its last 195 minutes of action, yet has not a single W to show for it. All credit here is owed to the fast-ripening rookie goaltender Roxanne Douville, the implicit victor in an October-long bout with sophomore Kelci Lanthier for the starting job.
Since Lanthier was seared, 4-1, by Northeastern on October 30, Douville has stepped in to go 0-1-3 in each of the last four games. In that span, she has not allowed any more than two opposing strikes per night and repelled a cumulative 122 out of 129 shots faced.
Her sweatiest moment, no doubt, was when she resisted six Terrier stabs in Saturday’s five-minute bonus round, including three unanswered from Jillian Kirchner all on one uninterrupted swarm around the cage. Either that or it could have been when she was outshot by BC, 6-1, in last Sunday’s overtime.
But then there’s the most obvious wrinkle yet again. Vermont’s skaters and shooters are consistently fizzling as each game progresses as evidenced by the shot clock as much, if not more so, than the scoreboard.
In their visit to Chestnut Hill, the Catamounts led the Eagles in the way of goals, 1-0, and shots, 10-7, at the first intermission. The rest of the way, overtime included, they were outscored, 2-1, and outshot, 30-12.
In Part I of the BU series on Friday, UVM mustered a 1-1 tie through 40 minutes, at which point the Terriers led the shooting gallery by a minute margin of 19-17. But in the subsequent 25 minutes, Boston ran up a 15-7 edge under the SOG heading, with only Douville holding the 1-1 draw steady.
The next day, a rare Green and Gold gale outshot its host, 16-4, within the middle frame, during which it spawned, but lost, a 1-0 lead. In the third, the Catamounts pelted Kerrin Sperry with three unanswered shots, including a go-ahead goal via Lindsey Cashman at the 1:12 mark.
But after that, BU unleashed 19 bids in contrast to Vermont’s seven and Jill Cardella smuggled home the equalizer with 10:15 to spare in regulation. After they lost their second lead, the Catamounts only scraped out three blocked shot attempts for the remainder of the third and tested Sperry on two separate occasions in overtime. And with 10.3 seconds left in that sudden death frame, defender Saleah Morrison took an ill-timed bodychecking penalty.
On the whole, it is not such an ominous outlook. A simple spike in conditioning ought to help the Catamounts tip the scale their way a little more regularly when they run into more inevitable arm wrestling bouts in the remainder of the Hockey East playoff push.
The only pressing matter is that UVM has less time and room to fix its flaws than anybody else in the league. Come the December deceleration, they will be past the halfway mark of their conference schedule (11 games played) and a couple of wins to start building upon in the New Year is incumbently needed.
***
New Hampshire’s declawed, youthful offense patently missed Courtney Birchard while she indulged in a Four Nations Cup victory with Team Canada. But a desperate Connecticut team could certainly accept any sort of sweep of the Wildcats, which it claimed this weekend in the form of a 1-0 win at Whittemore Center on Saturday, followed by a 2-1 squeaker at Freitas Ice Forum on Sunday.
Not unlike the Wildcats, Boston College flashed mild evidence of vulnerability induced by a Four Nations Cup absence, namely goaltender Molly Schaus. With BC’s 7-3 falter at St. Lawrence Friday night, only the second time the Eagles have authorized more than two opposing goals this season, all teams in the conference have at least one loss on their tab. Although backup stopper Kiera Kingston rapidly rebounded to help stamp a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
Northeastern’s own celestial stopper Florence Schelling has kicked more than enough ice chips over her shoddy October transcript, retaining a shutout streak of 203:38 until after the halfway mark of Friday’s third period in Maine. The Black Bears, who salvaged a scoreless tie in Thursday’s Part I of the series courtesy of Brittany Ott, finally clicked 16 seconds apart with 8:52 and 8:36 to spare, drawing a 2-2 knot with Huskies and gaining their second point in four Hockey East games.
Forecheck
The long-awaited first two chapters of the enhanced Green Line Rivalry are primed for the coming weekend, BU hosting BC at Walter Brown Arena Saturday afternoon, then returning the visit to Conte Forum on Sunday evening.
Adding to the timeliness of this first-time intercollegiate get-together, Schaus was defending the Team USA cage when her mates relinquished the Four Nations Cup in overtime against the likes of Canadian Terriers Marie-Philip Poulin, Jenn Wakefield, and Tara Watchorn.
Al Daniel is the Hockey East correspondent to Beyond the Dashers
Weekly scoreboard
Thursday, November 11
Northeastern 0, Maine 0
Friday, November 12
Northeastern 2, Maine 2
Vermont 1, Boston University 1
St. Lawrence 7, Boston College 3
Saturday, November 13
Boston College 1, St. Lawrence 1
Connecticut 1, New Hampshire 0
Vermont 2, Boston University 2
Sunday, November 14
Connecticut 2, New Hampshire 1
Upcoming schedule
Tuesday, November 16
Providence at Dartmouth, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 20
Connecticut at Vermont, 2:00 p.m.
Northeastern at Providence, 2:00 pm
Boston College at Boston University, 3:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 21
Providence at Northeastern, 2:00 p.m.
Boston University at Boston College, 7:00 p.m.
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