Your Northeastern Huskies traveled to beautiful Worcester, MA tonight to take on the Holy Cross Crusaders in the back half of a home and home series. At the end of 60 the Huskies got the W with a 5-2 victory, but it wasn’t as close as the final score would lead you to believe.
The Huskies came out with their skating game and dominated the first from the opening draw. The Mayor of Kingston herself, Skylar Irving got it going for NU less than 2 minutes into the game when she beat Madison Beck on her backhand. Kate Holmes sent Irving into the Holy Cross zone with a nifty pass in the neutral zone and Irving dropped down the RW with the puck on her backhand and drove the net before punching it past Beck.
That score would hold for the period, but the only reason Holy Cross was in this one was because of their goalie. The Huskies outshot the Crusaders 14-5 in the opening period and Beck was clearly their MVP tonight. Of course as it usually does when teams play on successive nights, the game got a little testy as the teams traded power plays in the opening frame. While the Huskies didn’t score on their man-advantage, the looks they were getting were significantly better than last night’s game as they were skating and creating scoring chances.
To open the 2nd, Taze Thompson doubled up the score just over a minute into the period. Maude Poulin-Labelle threw one on net from the blue line and the rebound popped to Lily Shannon at the left post. Shannon’s bid was blocked by Beck but the puck squirted to Thompson who swept it in on the backhand. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Good things happen when you go to the net.
Just over 5 minutes later Peyton Anderson got her cookie on the PP. Holly Abela dug the puck out in the NU zone and dished it over (as she was being hauled down, with no call of course) to Alina Mueller in the neutral zone. The Captain snuck a pretty little backhand right to Anderson who was driving down the LW with a full head of steam. Looking up the whole way, Anderson let one go from the LW dot that beat Beck 5-hole and Anderson gets the game winner. See what happens when you shoot Peyton?
Holy Cross got two past Gwyneth Phillips in the 2nd period, but she didn’t have a chance on either. The first HC goal came on a rising shot from the LW circle and it looked as if Phillips didn’t see it until it was on her. That one came during a 5min power play for Holy Cross that was called on Katy Knoll (more on this “major” later). The 2nd goal came at the end of the period while on a delayed penalty as the puck was re-directed from the top of the paint, no chance for Phillips. The NU netminder came into tonight’s game with an absurd 0.81GAA and and even more ridiculous .959% save percentage. Phillips was (per usual) awesome tonight. She was out on top of her crease, sharp on her angles and very fluid side to side.
Just before midpoint of the third, Mueller decided to remind Hockey East that she can shoot the puck too. On yet another PP, Mueller let a snap drag go from just inside the blue line that beat Beck under the glove. Listen, I’m going to pause a moment here to talk about Mueller. Look at the way she skates the puck and her edge work with puck possession, I mean it’s just so filthy. She’s one of those rare players that actually speeds up when she has the puck. She’s just so good. Maybe it’s the skates?
Chloe Aurard closed out the scoring as she swiped the puck in her own end (typical) and drove the net down the LW with Irving driving the net. Aurard looked to lay the puck to Irving, but the defender’s stick re-directed it into her own net. You know what that is? That’s The Hockey Gods doing right by Aurard. She (and Mueller) have been getting hacked non-stop behind the play the last few weeks and it’s good to see the universe balance it out.
Some other thought’s on tonight’s game
- Per usual, whomever the Huskies play gets down by a goal or 2 and the parade to the penalty box begins. Don’t other coaches watch game film in Hockey East? You’d think you would come up with a better idea than playing against NU shorthanded.
- I feel like a broken record, but another great play by Lily Yovetich that won’t show up on the score sheet tonight. With about 15mins left in the game the puck went down the NU end and Yovetich was back on it with some decent pressure. As she got to the puck she A-framed to get separation from the fore-checker and initiated a quick turnaround and outlet. Just a good smart defensive hockey play.
- While I’m talking about defense, let’s give some love to Jules Constantinople. The freshman is playing big minutes and becoming a leader in front of our eyes. Vocal when she’s out there and directing traffic, she’s just playing great. And yes JC? Conny? Opie? (we’ll work on the nickname) I saw you grab Mueller in last night’s game so cooler heads would prevail.
- Peyton Anderson, Taze Thompson and Skylar Irving all scored, and Anderson really had 2 if not for a quick whistle. I’ve said the last few weeks that Thompson and Irving are so close, so it was great to see them cash in and Anderson has been playing great hockey as of late.
- Abbey Marohn can do whatever she wants when the puck is on her stick. What a weapon.
- Mia Langlois is like a Labrador chasing a tennis ball out there. Just continue to hunt the puck Mia and good things will happen. Likewise Holly Abela, just a honey badger.
- Mia Brown is a warrior and plays like a champion. That’s it, that’s the headline.
- The Premier Power Forward in Women’s Hockey Today got whistled for a major for what should have been (at best) a 2min interference. The Holy Cross player tried to run Knoll into the end boards and lost her edge as she made contact. Yes Knoll extended her arms, but it looked as if she was just looking to push off, the player was already going down. Even with a huddle of stripes I think they got this one wrong.
- Lastly, I’d like to talk about the “coverage” of this game. I know it’s students typically manning the cameras, but could we please try to keep the puck in frame? And I don’t know who the donkey is that set up the camera, but it was with obstructed view in both near corners. And while we’re talking about donkeys, whoever the color guy was on this broadcast, he needs to take a couple of laps. Maybe he’s getting paid by the word? It was like the donkey from Shrek was placed in front of a mic and they recorded all the word salad that fell out of his mouth. The best thing I can say about his “expert analysis” was that most of the time he sat too far from the mic and you could only hear some of his nonsense.
- And please vote for Alina Mueller
Up next for the Huskies is a tourney in Nashville with Princeton and Cornell. Should be a fun trip and hopefully some bonding for the ladies. Have fun and be safe and here’s hoping the games are televised. Hope everyone reading this has a great Thanksgiving! #HowlinHuskies
And for those of you that are looking for some help holiday shopping: The team at The Morning Skate reached out to a bunch of hockey related companies and secured promo codes to help out for holiday shopping for the hockey player or fan on your list. You can view the blog here.
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