Tara Watchorn

Biography

Former Terrier standout and Olympic gold medalist Tara Watchorn ’12 was named the second head coach of the Boston University women’s ice hockey program on April 3, 2023. The 2025 New England Hockey Writer’s Association Coach of the Year, Watchorn piloted BU to its sixth Hockey East title and first in ten years with a 3-2 overtime win against Northeastern. The Terriers finished with a 24-12-2, 18-7-2 HE record and made their seventh appearance in the NCAA tournament. The season marked BU’s ninth with 20 or more wins as the Terriers were the first to reach 50 points in the Hockey East standings. BU finished the regular season at second in the Hockey East standings, with at least one win against eight league foes including 3-0-0 sweeps of Holy Cross, Providence and Merrimack. BU returned to the rankings for the first time since 2021 and ended the year as the No. 11 team in the country in both the USCHO and USA Hockey polls. Her success saw the 2024-25 Hockey East Defender of the Year in graduate student Tamara Giaquinto, who is the third in program history to receive the honor. Giaquinto and junior Sydney Healey were named both Hockey East and New England Hockey Writers Association All-Stars. Watchorn oversaw the Terrier penalty kill, which was ranked second in the nation for most of the season, which finished with a value of 0.893. Watchorn spent time with Team Canada as an assistant coach for the Six Nations Tournament in December of 2024. She helped coach Canada to the title