Terriers Take On New Hampshire in Hockey East Semifinals
March 5, 2010 | Women's Ice Hockey
March 5, 2010
Watch | Listen | Notes | Postseason Central
Boucher Wins Sportsmanship Award, Two Terriers Named All-Stars
The two top scoring offenses in Hockey East face off as the third-seeded Terriers (15-8-12, 10-6-5-3) carry a four-game winning streak into the Hockey East semifinals, facing second-seeded New Hampshire (19-7-5, 13-6-2-0) on Saturday (March 6) at 3 p.m. in Providence, R.I.
BU is playing in the Hockey East semifinals for the third straight season, while UNH has won the last four Hockey East championships.
The Terriers and Wildcats split the regular season series, 1-1-1, with BU winning the shootout after the tie. The two teams finished tied for second place in the Hockey East standings, with New Hampshire winning the tiebreaker by virtue of accumulating more conference wins.
BU IN THE PLAYOFFS
• The Terriers are in the Hockey East semifinals for the third straight season since making their postseason debut in 2008.
• BU is 2-2 all-time in the postseason after topping Boston College in the first round this year.
• BU has won first-round games each of the last two seasons, but has never advanced past the semifinals.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
• New Hampshire won four of its last five games to close out the regular season, topping Boston College, 4-1, on the final day of the regular season to earn a first-round bye.
• Senior forward Kelly Paton, Co-Player of the Year in Hockey East, leads the conference in scoring with 51 points (19g, 32a) and classmate Micaela Long is just behind with 50 points, including 38 assists to lead the nation.
• Sophomore Lindsey Minton and junior Kayley Herman have split netminding duties, posting nearly identical numbers. Minton has a 1.85 goals-against average and .912 save percentage, while Herman carries a 1.87 GAA and .913 save percentage.
• Brian McCloskey is in his eighth season as head coach of the Wildcats. He has posted a record of 208-48-29 and led UNH to four straight Hockey East titles.
SERIES HISTORY
• This will be the 17th meeting between the Terriers and the Wildcats, with UNH holding an 11-2-3 advantage in the all-time series.
• While New Hampshire won the first 10 meetings between the two sides, the teams have split the season series each of the past two seasons.
• This season, the Wildcats won the only regular-season meeting at Boston, 4-3, on Nov. 6 before BU won the shootout after a 4-4 tie the next day in Durham, N.H. In the last meeting on Feb. 6, the Terriers won, 5-2, in Durham despite being outshot by a 35-9 margin.
• UNH won the only previous postseason meeting between these two teams, an 8-0 game on March 8, 2008, in the Hockey East semifinals in Storrs, Conn.
HOCKEY EAST ALL-STARS
Senior forward Melissa Anderson and sophomore defenseman Tara Watchorn were each named to the Hockey East All-Star second team. Freshman forward Jill Cardella was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie team and sophomore defenseman Kasey Boucher earned All-Star honorable mention. Boucher also garnered the league's Sportsmanship Award and senior goaltender Ashley Leichliter received the Turfer Athletic Award.
LAST TIME OUT
A goal in each period lifted the Terriers to a 3-1 win over Boston College in the first round of the Hockey East tournament on Sunday afternoon at Walter Brown Arena. Junior Lauren Cherewyk and freshman Jill Cardella each tallied a goal and an assist for BU. Junior Jillian Kirchner also scored for the Terriers, while senior goaltender Melissa Haber stopped 17 shots to earn the win.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Junior forward Lauren Cherewyk was honored as the Hockey East Player of the Week after scoring the game-winning goal and adding an assist in the Terriers' first round win over Boston College last weekend.
• Cherewyk is the fourth Terrier to earn the conference's top weekly honor this season. Senior Melissa Anderson, junior Jillian Kirchner and sophomore Jenelle Kohanchuk have all previously won the award.
PATTY KAZ NOMINEE
For the second year in a row, senior Melissa Anderson was among the 45 nominees for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given annually to the top player in women's college hockey. She is one of six repeat nominees from last season and one of eight from Hockey East.
FIT TO BE TIED
With 12 ties this season, the Terriers have set an all-time single-season NCAA record for any division, men's or women's. The Boston College women are just behind with 10 ties this season. The previous record at for either gender was 10 ties for the Colorado College men last season. The old women's record was eight ties, shared by Bemidji State (2001-02), Northeastern (2003-04) and Connecticut (2004-05).
OVERTIME IS THE RIGHT TIME
• With 14 overtime games already this season, the Terriers have broken the NCAA women's record for overtime games in a season. The record before this season was 10, which had been accomplished four times, most recently by Yale in 2007-08.
• This season, Boston College has played 12 overtime games and Providence has played 11.
• The all-time record for either gender is 16 overtime games in a season, set by the 2007-08 Minnesota men.
• Most of the overtime games over the past two seasons have ended in ties, with the Terriers going 1-1-18 in that stretch. BU won in overtime on Oct. 9 when Lauren Cherewyk scored against Robert Morris and lost in overtime on Jan. 22 at Vermont.
• One of the other previous women's teams to rack up 10 overtime games in a season was the 2005-06 Ohio State team, where current BU assistant coach Katie Lachapelle served as an assistant. Lachapelle also played for Providence in the longest game in college hockey history, a 3-2 loss to New Hampshire in the 1996 ECAC Championship that went five overtimes.
GOING STREAKING
• Senior forward Melissa Anderson has scored four goals and three assists in a five-game point streak. The last game in which she was held off the scoresheet was the Feb. 9 Beanpot matchup with Boston College.
• Junior forward Lauren Cherewyk has scored goals in each of the last three games, including the game-winning goals in each of the last two games. Cherewyk leads Hockey East with five game-winning goals this season.
• Senior goalie Melissa Haber is unbeaten in her last six appearances, going 4-0-1 with a no decision in that span.
• Freshman goalie Alissa Fromkin is unbeaten in her last four appearances, going 2-0-2 in that stretch.
• The Terriers have scored a power-play goal in each of the last four games, going 5-for-22 (22.7 percent) with an extra man in that stretch.
• BU has been perfect on the penalty kill in the last three games, successfully killing off 15 straight penalties.
THE NEED FOR A LEAD
• The Terriers have the art of protecting a lead down to a science. Since the start of the 2008-09 season, the Terriers are 23-1-6 when they have a lead after the first period and 26-0-9 when they have a lead after two.
• The last time BU dropped a game in which they had a lead after one was Dec. 4 when Connecticut erased a one-goal first period deficit to record a 4-3 win in Storrs.
• BU's last loss when leading after two periods was on Dec. 1, 2007, when New Hampshire came back from a 2-1 deficit to win, 3-2, in overtime.
• BU's first 11 wins this season all came when the Terriers are the first team to score, but in two of BU's last four games (all wins), the Terriers conceded the first goal. After notching two comeback wins in 2008-09, BU is now 2-5-7 when giving up the first goal in 2009-10.
CAREER RECORD SETTERS
• Senior forward Melissa Anderson has become the Terriers' all-time leader in points (130), goals (55), assists (75) and power-play goals (18).
• With 10 career game-winning goals, Anderson and junior Lauren Cherewyk are each one shy of Gina Kearns (2005-09) and Erin Seman (2005-09) for the all-time record.
• Senior goaltender Melissa Haber has set the BU record with eight career shutouts.
SINGLE-SEASON RECORD SETTERS
• Senior forward Melissa Anderson has broken her own BU record for points in a season with 37 points this year.
• Anderson has also tied the single-season goal mark of 19 set by Erin Seman in 2006-07.
• With six power-play goals this season, Anderson ranks third all-time and is two shy of the program record set by Erin Seman in 2006-07.
