Any lingering hope that BU’s miserable start to the 2025-2026 season was due to the strength of its opponents has evaporated. The Terriers spent their first eight games (seven against ranked opponents) playing bad hockey that was a far cry from the brand that Tara Watchorn has built her program around. They then took to the ice at Alfond Arena on Friday against a 2-6-1 Maine team and didn’t play much better in a 3-1 loss.
BU, which is somehow still getting votes in the USCHO poll, is now 1-8, 1-3 in Hockey East and in third place in a conference it won a season ago.
These Terriers looked like a shell of that team through the first eight games, but considering they faced No. 2 Minnesota, No. 13 Colgate, No. 15 Brown and No. 9 Northeastern during that stretch, there was at least optimism that BU could finally start winning once the schedule loosened up. Even if that did indeed happen, it would have been a disappointing outcome given Watchorn’s goal of having BU compete on the national stage against top-tier opponents, but still, the arrival of the Terriers as a mid-tier Hockey East team would have provided a stable foundation.
They didn’t look like a mid-tier Hockey East team on Friday.
Maine, picked tied for seventh in the league’s preseason poll, scored less than 30 seconds after freshman forward Isabelle Michaud buried an open wrist in transition. BU didn’t put its first shot on net for another eight and a half minutes (although senior Clara Yuhn did hit the post) and closed the opening frame with just five. It had just 13 after two frames to Maine’s 27, the kind of discrepancy BU usually had at the other end last season.
Frankly, the Black Bears dominated the Terriers, and if it weren’t for graduate goalkeeper Michelle Pasiechnyk (32 saves), BU wouldn’t have had much of a chance.
As it were, Pasiechnyk could only save the Terriers for so long, with Maine senior Ava Stevenson converting a 2-on-1 midway through the third period to win it for the Black Bears.
Neely Nicholson’s shorthanded goal early in the second period to tie the game was about the only glimpse of the team BU wants to be, but even then it felt like it could be a turning point for a struggling penalty kill and a struggling team came and went quickly. The Terriers couldn’t build any momentum from Nicholson’s count and were outplayed for the remainder of the frame in arguably even worse fashion than the first.
BU was able to start the third period better, but still couldn’t generate many great looks on the net from sophomore Kiia Lahtinen. The Terriers’ power play, which was 1 of 29 entering the game, was put into a total clinic by Maine’s penalty on sixth, leaving it scoreless in five chances throughout the game.
And while the Terriers’ killing took a step forward, Watchorn’s team still faced discipline issues, most notably Greta Henderson and Riley Walsh’s penalties late in the third, which led to a brief 5-on-3 stretch with BU needing a goal. Maine proceeded to bury the Terriers with a jammy goal on the ensuing 5-on-4 power play from Walsh’s penalty.
Watchorn never chose to withdraw Pasiechnyk in the remaining minutes.
Maine finished with 35 shots on goal to BU’s 22.
This story will be updated.
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