Women's Hockey vs. #2 UNH Wildcats Preview

The Mystery of Empty Net

by Jeremy Binckes.

Erin Seman doesn’t like her. Nor do Melissa Haber, Holly Lorms, or any of the other Terriers. Even Boston University head coach, Brian Durocher, is hesitant to play her. But all hockey players have had to deal with this Least Valuable Player who shows up in every odd box score.

I speak, of course, of Empty Net.

Net appeared in 21 games last year, played 11 minutes (mostly towards the end of the game, but did have her moments mid-game), allowed a goal, and had a disappointing .000 save %.

“I really feel uncomfortable putting her in,” junior forward Erin Seman said. “Ever since I could remember, Empty Net has been a bad idea for us, in any team I’ve been on.”

But wait. Net, who is a former teammate of Seman, has also played with freshman forward Holly Lorms as recently as Lorms’ junior year.

“We used to be friends,” mourns Lorms. “She broke my heart.”

In the game in question, Lorms was horrified when Net skated out, and replaced the team’s goaltender, despite explicitly saying that she wouldn’t go out.

“She didn’t tell anyone she was coming out,” said Lorms. “She’s really not a nice person.”

“Unlike the rest of my teammates,” Lorms said, “she was stand-offish. She told me that I was a little freshman and I wouldn’t amount to anything. It made me sad.”

Unsurprisingly, Net hasn’t won any awards. Something that Lorms thinks is because Net “is not a nice person.”

According to Seman, Net just comes in and does what she has to do, “Which is nothing,” she said. “I wouldn’t mind if she quit.”

The Terriers will look to avoid playing Net in their game Thursday night against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats. This will be the only time that the Wildcats come to Walter Brown Arena this season. The last time these two teams faced off, October 21^st, the Wildcats secured a 3-1 victory with an Empty Net goal late in the third.

You can tune into WTBU radio for the game on the main stream. The game will begin at 7 p.m., but tune into the pre-game show for breaking news at 6:40.