BU’s head coach knows this. That’s why Tara Watchorn was so angry in her postgame presser after her team’s stunning 2-1 overtime loss.
“For me personally, and the reaction I felt, probably the most frustrated [I’ve been]” she said in her midweek media call on Thursday. “Because it’s that 1 in 100 match.”
On the other hand, the Terriers put themselves in position to suffer an undeserved defeat. A costly overtime turnover, a 1-7 power play and a host of subtle regulatory errors led to the unthinkable. And BU is to blame for that.
Watchorn knows this too. She was uncharacteristically critical of her team’s performance after the match, but not because her frustration got the better of her. After two days to process everything, Watchorn stood his ground.
“Both are true. You can get frustrated with the way the game played out, knowing that in many ways you deserved it,” Watchorn said Thursday. “But you can also look internally and say that we could have done things to take much more control of the game.”
People rightly focused on the Terriers’ power play, who had a comical amount of chances but failed to win the match (after tying the game on the first outing). It doesn’t help that BU’s skater advantage has been so bad that the percentage has even improved after a 1-for-7 night. But when asked about the things the Terriers did wrong, it took Watchorn a while to get to special teams. Indeed, BU did not play as well as the shot count indicates. As dominant as Harvard goalie Ainsley Tuffy (.955 save percentage, second in the nation) was, the Terriers didn’t exactly force her to stand on her head.
Tuffy deservedly won Beanpot MVP. But to blame BU’s loss on the bad luck of facing a red-hot goalkeeper? Not for Watchorn.
“5-on-5 hockey? We weren’t that great,” she said. “We just weren’t keeping it up like we normally would. Taking a shot at the end of your shift and changing versus sticking with it and piling on that shift – there was a lot we could have done to upgrade [the shot] and avoid those moments.”
Sounds crazy that a team with a 47-15 SOG advantage didn’t retain possession. But Watchorn values possessions above all else. It’s what BU’s entire system is built on. If her team put it to good use, Watchorn would say it, as she did last season after the Beanpot halffinal against Harvard, in which the numbers were similar and BU almost lost. But this wasn’t that.
To wait hate shots on target with little danger, and BU shot a lot of them at Tuffy. That’s another layer: the Terriers can’t cry woe is me over the actions of the opposing goalkeeper because they demonstrably helped her. If BU hadn’t settled for so many saveable shots early, would Tuffy have been as hot as he was in the third period, which Watchorn said was BU’s best?
“It’s great to get that flow,” Tuffy said after the game. “You just have to capture the first pair and then continue each shot.”
It was actually BU junior Mari Pietersen, who saw only fifteen shots on goal, who had to make the tougher saves. She made them without the rhythm Tuffy got, to her credit, but was put in a brutal position during overtime and was asked to make a game-saving stop against a penalty shot after making just two saves in the third period. Crimson freshman Carla McSweeney buried the low side of the glove without a deke.
“I don’t think we created the Grade As,” Watchorn said. “I think we’ve warmed up [Tuffy] also, and for such a good goalkeeper, your first shots on the net don’t want to be warm-up shots, compared to what Mari faced as her first shot [a Grade A, which Harvard scored].”
This is why Watchorn preaches upgrading to dangerous looks as often as they do. It’s the system after all, and like it or not, BU hasn’t adhered to it as well as it could have.
And That, even though they should have won, that’s why the Terriers lost.
“We talk about that stuff a lot,” Watchorn said. “And it’s the opportunity to play into the game plan on the big stage.”
A closer look at BU’s overtime turnover
Ultimately, it was the same problem that BU had at even strength that doomed BU in 3-on-3 overtime. The Terriers settled for an inopportune look and paid the price.
For a team that values possession as much as it does, BU is skating on thin ice when it reaches the extra frame. 3-on-3 play often ends with a turnover and the odd skater rush. In many ways, Harvard was on the front foot playing on the back foot. All it took was a turnover or an unfortunate bounce to create an opportunity to win the game, and it was up to BU, who controlled possession throughout the frame, to prevent this.
Sydney Healey’s one-timer from low circle felt like a great opportunity. But should BU’s leading scorer have let it rip with no one back to catch the rebound (Keira Healey was below the goal line and Kaileigh Quigg crashed into the net)?
“You have to think about where you are on your shift when you get your shot,” Watchorn said of 3-on-3 OT. “And that every shot is a 50-50 puck.”
Quigg’s screen felt like a productive play. It would have been 5 vs. 5 for sure. But with only three players on the ice, should Quigg really have been there when she could have stayed high to collect a potential rebound?
“Something we haven’t really addressed yet: Do you really need a net presence? How often in 3v3 do you make a shot from so far that you need a screen? So I think your spacing can be even more intentional,” Watchorn said.
McSweeney easily skated in the rebound and got on a breakaway. Keira Healey caught her and took the penalty that led to the match winner. Sydney Healey and Quigg certainly made subtle mistakes, and BU has previously been undefeated in games that reached overtime (all three went to shootouts), but when it comes to the game-ending play, the Terriers may once again find ways to blame themselves.
“Our team from last year got there much earlier with our maturity and understanding,” Watchorn said. “But we’re talking about middle-aged players. We add a lot of maturity to their games, and you can only give them so much.”
Exploring Vermont
Suddenly, after a two-game losing streak, the Terriers host Vermont for a two-game series on Friday and Saturday.
BU knows UVM well. Last season, it faced the Catamounts four times after New Year’s, including in a 4-3 win in the Hockey East semifinals. The Terriers won 2-1 in the regular season.
The scout of those Cats was known. They played in haste. They gave you a lot of offensive zone time, but made you pay for mistakes. Jim Plumer’s team was just 9-25-2 last season and was terrible in most statistical categories, but it was also a tough stretch for almost every top Hockey East team.
This year? The Cats haven’t played as tough competition at the top level, but their record (10-12-4, 4-7-3) and numbers are much better.
“They are unpredictable over the years,” Watchorn said. “Last year we noticed some trends because we played against them a lot in the second half of the season. They play in a hurry, they are opportunistic. Although I feel like they had a lot more intention [this season] of strategies in the offensive zone to also persevere.”
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