Friday Night Smackdown

Your Northeastern Huskies trudged up 93N tonight to take on the Merrimack College Warriors. In the first of a home and home this weekend, NU rolled into Lawler Arena with a little bit of history on their side. Starting goalie Gwyneth Phillips has never lost to Merrimack in her career and that trend didn’t change tonight either, as NU got closer to playing the elusive “perfect game” that the coaching staff has been looking for. With a complete domination of MC, the Huskies stay perfect on the season with a resounding 5-0 win.

Friend of the podcast Katy Knoll (the most dominant power forward in women’s hockey today) got the game-winner just 5 minutes into the contest when her backhand beat Emma Gorski 5-hole. While on the penalty kill, Knoll drove down the LW wall and put a backhand on net from the bottom of the circle that leaked through Gorski. For all of you scoring at home that goes down as a SH-GWG. And what a sweet outlet pass from Megan Carter to initiate the play. For all the other Huskies that may be reading this, we call it “The Morning Skate Glow-Up”. Knoll was just on the podcast and scores in the game after the pod was released. Just saying… if you want to get on the score sheet, maybe come on the podcast?

Originally tweeted by Northeastern Women’s Hockey (@GoNUwhockey) on October 14, 2022.

NU outshot MC 17-0 in the first period. No, that’s not a typo. The Warriors first shot on net came with 7 minutes gone in the 2^nd period. I’ve never even seen that in beer league and I’ve played on some absolute trash teams. The Huskies puck possession was next level. This was another case where it would have made more sense to play 5 on 4. It looked like varsity vs. JV. Merrimack ended the night with 4 shots on net. Phillips saw more rubber in warmups.

Mia Brown got the Huskies on the board in the 2^nd as she finished off an Abbey Marohn play at the goalmouth. Marohn carried the puck out of the RW corner and went backhand/forehand at Gorski. The puck squirted free and Brown was on the doorstep to tuck it home. ESPN+ decided to take a commercial break during this play, but luckily the crack team at Northeastern Women’s Hockey’s twitter captured the replay.

Originally tweeted by Northeastern Women’s Hockey (@GoNUwhockey) on October 14, 2022.

About a minute later, Lily Shannon (playing in her own backyard) put the Huskies up by 3 when she converted Kristina Allard’s shot on net. Allard came down the LW wall and put a shot on net with purpose, absolutely textbook – low off the far pad. Either it beats the goalie or it turns into a rebound. This time it was the rebound and Shannon was there driving the net (more textbook hockey) and put it in on her forehand. Cut and paste that play for any hockey team’s video session. It looked like an instructional video.

Originally tweeted by Northeastern Women’s Hockey (@GoNUwhockey) on October 14, 2022.

That score held for the remainder of the period as the physicality ramped up. Knoll was out there making friends per usual, and got rocked with a hit along the boards. Don’t you know that stuff just makes her mad? Stick taps to Shannon for getting a little give-back while taking the draw with 0.1 seconds on the clock in the period. Sneaky little crosscheck you got in there. I see you Shannon, and I approve.

Oh you thought the Huskies were done? On the power play Maureen Murphy walked up the RW wall into the zone (off yet another beauty of an outlet from Carter) with possession. Murphy drove the net from the bottom of the RW circle and laid a perfect dish across to Chloé Aurard who was at the far post for the tuck in. Aurard was taken down on the play but still managed to get that cookie.

Originally tweeted by Northeastern Women’s Hockey (@GoNUwhockey) on October 14, 2022.

Back at full strength Alina Müeller hung the 5-spot on the Warriors. Another perfect textbook hockey play (do you all see a trend here?) as Murphy controlled the puck in the LW circle and curled back looking for support. Murphy drew the puck back on her backhand before finding Müeller at the top of the circle dropping into the play. The Captain took a few quick strides and then tucked a wrister up under the bar from the high slot. Absolute filth on this entire play.

Originally tweeted by Northeastern Women’s Hockey (@GoNUwhockey) on October 14, 2022.

That score held until the final horn as these two teams get set to go at it again tomorrow at historic Matthews Arena.

Some standouts from tonight’s game:

Lily Brazis is a nail gun. Physically involved and heavy on her stick, she’s shown improvement from game to game.
Skylar Irving (the Mayor of Kingston – sorry Knoll said it was okay) played a heck of a game off the puck. She was skating hard and denying outlets along the wall and helped stymie all of Merrimack’s clearing attempts when she was out there.
Jules Constantinople looks comfortable and cool as a cucumber on the back end. Dropping down the wall and timely pinches in the O-Zone, she’s not playing like a freshman.
Gwyneth Phillips had a sneaky hard game to manage. When you’re left alone as a goalie for that long of stretches during the game, the mental part of keeping dialed in takes it’s toll. Nice job to stay focused and make the saves when needed.
Tory Mariano and Kristina Allard were working great together tonight. Just really nice complimentary tandem D-work.
Maureen Murphy doesn’t get enough credit for her passing.
Megan Carter is an outlet machine. So smooth with her skating, she just looks effortless out there. Always with her head up looking for the play, awesome.
Maude Poulin-Labelle had what I believe to be her best game as a Husky so far. And I’d like to take this moment to apologize for butchering your name multiple times on the podcast.
I asked Coach Carp for a quote after the game “First complete game of the year. In all zones.” Can’t get much better than that.