It Is What It Is: Women's Hockey Making the Grade

Lost in the shuffle of the men’s hockey team making a last-gasp push toward qualifying for the postseason, as well as the rather surprising success of the U.S. Olympic men’s team up in Vancouver, has been the progress of another team that laces up and takes to the ice: the Boston University women’s hockey team.

This is a team that perhaps understandably takes a perpetual backseat to the higher revenue-producing sports here at BU, moving them back in the collective consciousness of Terrier Nation for quite some time now. For many years, the BU women were nothing more than a club team and have only been competing on the varsity level since 2005, occupying the very Walter Brown Arena that was left behind by the men that same year.
Yes, the stage may be smaller, and the focus placed upon women’s hockey pales in comparison to the men’s game here on Commonwealth Avenue, but this year’s installment of Terrier women’s hockey has produced some resounding results that are hard to look past.

BU currently stands at 14-8-12 on the year and is poised to produce the best single season in the history of the program.

From where we’re sitting right now, a team with about as many ties as they have wins may not seem all that impressive to a casual observer (or just your average cynic), but understanding how far this program has come makes its current status as a national contender seem that much more remarkable.

The idea of women’s hockey wasn’t anything new to BU in 2005 when the program was officially added, seeing as the school had been fielding a club team as far back as 1973. For a little over three decades, BU competed at the club level and even faced off against the varsity squads from Boston College, Northeastern University and Harvard University in the annual Women’s Beanpot.

With the dawn of a new millennium came an emergence for the dormant program, as the club team became increasingly competitive, something that undoubtedly put the BU Athletic Department on notice and came to full fruition with the addition of women’s ice hockey to the list of varsity sports.
The move to Division I isn’t necessarily an entirely overwhelming proposition, but it’s never easy. Western Kentucky University football made the jump to DI this year and ended up 0-12. Bryant University men’s basketball is in its second year competing in DI hoops and is currently at 1-27 this season.

Now, if the obstacles are that staggering just from moving to Division I, imagine what it must be like to start up a Division I program in a conference as competitive as the Hockey East.

This is the moment where credit is due to those who have made the current success of the program possible to begin with.

BU coach Brian Durocher, a man who helped lead the men’s team to the national championship in 1978 as a goalie, can largely be credited as the architect of BU women’s hockey, having coached the Terriers in all five of their years as a varsity program.

Assistant coaches and great players from past teams also deserve any amount of praise they can get for helping to truly create something: a program that is now a presence in the national rankings, one that can be considered as a legitimate contender for a national title.

The success of the 2009-2010 edition of BU women’s hockey begins and ends with its own National Player of the Year candidate, senior Melissa Anderson. She’s the team leader in both goals and points, and the offense is seemingly predicated upon her, as well as a talented cast that includes Lauren Cherewyk, Jillian Kirchner, Jill Cardella and Jenelle Kohanchuk.
The defense is shored up by Tara Watchorn and Carly Warren, and senior goaltender Melissa Haber has firmly engrained herself as the best goaltender in the accomplished, albeit brief, history of the program.
A huge weekend sweep of Maine that has positioned the Terriers as the No. 3 seed heading into the Hockey East Tournament also included a major setback to the team as junior forward Holly Lorms was knocked to the ice where she lay motionless for about 10 minutes and was taken to the hospital. Most recent reports have her returning to campus this week, out for the season with a neck brace.

Almost needless to say, our thoughts and prayers are with Holly and her family as we all hope for a speedy recovery.

Without Lorms, the BU women will continue on with the hopes of postseason play still very well alive. The conference tournament will undoubtedly produce a major challenge to the Terriers, as they will have to square off against a very deep conference that includes top teams like Providence College, University of New Hampshire and Northeastern. Even their first-round opponent, BC, should be far from an easy out.

But for a program that has strikingly risen from club team status to national contender status in less than six years, I’m not sure if the chance to make history should be too daunting for BU women’s hockey.