They are not quite the best at everything, but the defending Hockey East champions from Boston University are well-rounded enough that they have no right to gripe.
Their offense, with a median of 3.79 goals per game and at least one goal in 42 out of 57 full-length periods played, is tops in the league and eclipsed by merely three other programs in the nation. The Terriers lead the WHEA on both sides of the special teams’ spectrum with a 22.2 percent power play conversion rate and 94.4 percent success on the penalty kill. They boast the highest scoring rookie in Marie-Philip Poulin and the most potent point-based puckslinger in Tara Watchorn.
In every other category, they are, at worst, within an effortless stride of the leading teams.
Freshman goaltender Kerrin Sperry barely took two weeks of game action to claim Melissa Haber’s old starting laurel and answer the Terriers’ only serious preseason question. Since then, her stats have cozily wedged her into the upper echelon of each league leaderboard with a cluster of juniors and seniors –Molly Schaus (Boston College), Genevieve Lacasse (Providence), Florence Schelling (Northeastern), and Lindsey Minton (New Hampshire).
On the national landscape, Sperry is No. 6 in terms of save percentage (.937), No. 4 in goals-against average (1.44), and is the last remaining stopper without a loss at 11-0-2.
Everywhere in front of their cage, things have gone according to plan for the Terriers. Celestial acquisitions Poulin, a freshman fresh off of scoring both goals in the Olympic goal medal game, and Jenn Wakefield, a junior who opted to transfer herself and 95 career points over from New Hampshire, top the team charts with 28 points apiece and have consistently constituted the top two centers.
Meanwhile, senior captain Holly Lorms is anchoring a decent third line, currently flanked by classmate Lauren Cherewyk and freshman Louise Warren. Although her wingers could stand to pick up a little more pace, Lorms is within tasting distance of a career year with six goals and nine points. Her aim is to surpass the 7-7-14 transcript from her injury-shortened junior campaign.
Other veterans on pace to set new standards: junior Jenelle Kohanchuck, the Terriers’ topmost playmaker with 16 assists at the half; senior Jillian Kirchner, who is two strikes away from her first 10-goal season; and junior defender Carly Warren, who logged 14 points last year and already has eight this season.
Warren’s classmate and starting defensive colleague Tara Watchorn has already bested herself on offense. After stamping 16 points in 36 games as a frosh, followed by 17 in 31 appearances last season –including the Hockey East championship OT clincher- she has 18 points in 14 outings so far this year.
And expectably led by Watchorn and Poulin’s Olympic teammate Catherine Ward, the BU blue line has combined for 13-43-56 scoring totals. The least productive of the six regular defenders is rookie Kaleigh Fratkin, who boasts a respectable five assists, more than what at least half of the league’s other blueliners can speak of. Ward, Carly Warren, and Watchorn have pitched in an aggregate four goals and 16 points on the power play.
The Terriers even seem to have kicked a habit of juggling first period torches before it became hazardous. Whereas at this time last season, head coach Brian Durocher grimaced over his team repeatedly “turning wins into ties,” BU has started many games comparatively slowly this season. In 11 of their first 15 games, they authorized the first goal.
And yet, in that situation, they are a sparkling 6-2-3. Only twice have they fallen behind by multiple goals, those two occasions being their lone pair of losses. And for a change, they struck first in each of their four most recent endeavors and won them all by an aggregate score of 14-4.
When they resume play with a visit to Brown Jan. 2, the Terriers will vie for a seventh consecutive victory, which would break a program-record already matched thrice this calendar year.
After that, they shall move on to an exclusive Hockey East itinerary (with two breaks for the Beanpot), vying to cement Terrier scarlet as the new Wildcat blue.
Al Daniel is the Hockey East correspondent to Beyond the Dashers
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