Eagles Look To End Long Winless Drought

Motivation for a consolation game is usually hard to generate, especially when the team won the tournament the previous year. But for the Boston College women’s hockey team, tomorrow night’s Beanpot consolation game provides yet another opportunity to halt a seven-game losing streak and 12 games without a win.

While playing for third place against Boston University is not exactly ideal, the Eagles will take any win they can get. And finally starting a winning streak against a bitter rival would have an extra sweet taste.

“Any time you’re playing against BU, it’s going to fuel some fire for our kids, and I think that’s kind of what we’re  looking for,” said head coach Katie King. “It’s always tough to play in the consolation game, but especially with the rut we’re in, we want to get out of that and fight hard to get out of that. That’s what we’re looking for on Tuesday.”

Getting back on track starts with BC’s defense and goaltending, which, despite some lopsided losses, has been performing well, King said. Freshman goalie Corinne Boyles has turned in remarkable performances recently, registering 46 saves in the opening round loss to No. 6 Harvard, and stopping another 28 in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to No. 8 Connecticut.

Against the Crimson, the Eagles held Harvard’s potent offense to just one goal in the first two periods, yet crumbled in the final frame in the 5-0 loss. If the defense could hold firm for 60 minutes, BC could limit BU’s scoring opportunities.

“I think we need to carry over how we played against Harvard,” King said. “I thought we played pretty well considering the pressure they put on us, especially in the first two periods. If we can play consistent and work extremely hard, we should be fine.”
The Eagles are also attempting to absorb the absence of starting defender Blake Bolden, who has missed the last two games with mononucleosis, and will be out for another two weeks.

They will have a true test in containing three BU forwards with double-digit goal totals this season. Led by Melissa Anderson (15 goals, 15 assists) and Jill Cardella (11 goals, eight assists), the Terriers have scored a league-high 85 goals in 29 contests this season.

Although King doesn’t believe the Terriers are as fast from top to bottom as the Crimson, she recognizes that what BU lacks in speed, it makes up for in willpower.
“Harvard was really fast, and they have a lot of speedy, quick players,” King said. “You definitely see that with BU, but not as many of the fast players. BU is a team that plays on a lot of adrenaline. They go hard and compete, and that’s something we’re going to have to do as well. They are one of those scrappy teams, and they’re gonna scratch and claw to win, and we’re going to have to match that.”

In order to match BU’s adrenaline, BC will have to turn around what has become a sluggish offense, netting only nine goals in the last seven games. Most of those scores have come off the stick of Allie Thunstrom, who leads the team with 17 goals, 10 more than the next Eagle.

In order to increase the amount of goals scored, King has constantly reiterated to her players that they must be more aggressive and put more pucks on net. BC managed just 15 shots against Harvard, but rebounded nicely with 25 shots on goal against UConn.

“We are always looking for [more shots] and to put more pressure on the other team,” King said. “We need to put pressure on their goaltenders and gets pucks to the net and get people to the net. We’ve tried to focus on that all year.”

Receiving contributions from forwards Ashley Motherwell and Mary Restuccia will be especially important for the Eagles, as opponents have started to key on Thunstrom and force other players to score. Thus far, those other players have not proven to be able to consistently light the lamp.

Even though King understands it has been a difficult stretch, she expects her team to play with a competitive fire.

“I think being able to compete every shift is the focus for that game [against BU],” King said. “We need to be angry and have a little bit of emotion about it. In the consolation game, it can be difficult to have that, but it’s something we need to do.”

It has been over two months since BC has experienced the joy of a victory. Although a consolation prize is not the most sought-after accomplishment, the Eagles are plenty motivated to recapture the suddenly elusive feeling of satisfaction after a job well done.