Your Northeastern Huskies traveled down Comm Ave to Walter Brown Arena to take on the Boston University Terriers. This was the kickoff of the Hockey East season and also BU’s home opener. As they’ve done earlier this season (Looking at you LIU), the Huskies love to come in and spoil their opponents home openers and they did so again tonight; hanging a 4-1 L on their crosstown rivals. For those keeping score at home: This season the Huskies are 2-0 and have a 10-1 goal differential when playing in an opponent’s home opener.
Again, before we go any further. Who do I need to get in touch with to improve the quality of the camera work at these games? I thought it would improve being a Hockey East game, but once again, Shakes the Clown was manning the camera and didn’t understand that the point is to keep the puck in the frame. Hello? Steve Metcalf? Have you viewed any of this game footage? Zooming in and zooming out for no apparent reason from the mid-ice camera and the end boards view? It looked like whoever had that camera fell over, got up and fell down a set of stairs. Get it together, these athletes have worked too hard to have their friends, families and fans get seasick trying to watch. Okay, in with the good air, out with the bad air (I learned this breathing exercise from Katy Knoll, this is how she stays calm on the ice).
The Huskies came out somewhat flat and it was readily apparent that the Terriers had more jump to open the game. BU kept the Huskies pinned in their own end a few different times in the early going and NU had a tough time working the puck up and out. Luckily, the Huskies have the best goaltender in the NCAA and Gwyneth Philips was up to the task per usual. At the 8 minute mark, Philips stoned a BU player sitting on the doorstep and was the best Husky on the ice for the first period.
About a minute after Philips’ robbery (sorry Gwyn, no highlights available, this must have been when the Cyclops running the camera had to clean his eye), Allie Lalonde hopped off the bench and put the Huskies ahead. Lalonde gathered the puck at the blue line and broke in on the left wing using her speed to go wide on the BU defender. Once she reached the dot, Lalonde let a wrister go that beat BU goalie Mari Pietersen 5-hole and the Huskies were on the board.
A late penalty put BU on the power play and they cashed in just as time expired. Catherine Foulem came out from behind the NU net and put a seeing-eye puck on Philips that just squeezed through the short side and the teams headed to intermission all knotted up.
To open the middle frame, Philips had to be sharp again as Lacey Martin forced a turnover deep and was all alone in front. Philips came off her line to shut down the angle and the bid, keeping this a tied game. As the commentators noted, that save was a huge momentum swing as the Huskies were starting to warm to the task even as BU was applying pressure.
A late power play in the period saw The Mayor of Kingston Skylar Irving win an offensive zone face-off at the LW dot and find Taze Thompson with a silky little backhand feed. Thompson broke across the goal mouth and tucked a backhand 5-hole to put the Huskies ahead for good. That’s 2 goals in 2 games for Taze, not a big deal.
In the third the play was more even as both teams had chances, but both goalies were up to the task. The physical play also picked up as it took about 30 minutes of game play for these rivals to renew their animosity. With less than a minute to go, and BU with their net empty, The Matrix herself, Peyton Anderson got the ENG to salt this one away. Anderson was working hard all game and it was great to see it rewarded with a heads up hustle play.
But the Huskies weren’t done just yet. With Petersen back in net and just a few seconds left on the clock, Jules Constantinople let a shot go from the left point that Lily Shannon re-directed to make it 4 on the night. Another example of hard work getting rewarded as Shannon had some key blocks and was skating hard all night. And the celly? The best of the season so far.
Some thoughts from the couch:
- Peyton Anderson had an all around great game. First of all, how do you get taken down with a stick stuck in your skate and no call?? On a PP in the 2nd Anderson came all the way back to break up a 2:1 and keep the score tied and then did it again in the 3rd with another strong backcheck as BU was trying to crawl back into this game. Add that to the eat at the top of the PK and I’d say she earned that empty netter for sure.
- Mia Langlois got whistled for matching roughs with BU captain Madison Cardaci late in the 2nd period. Great play in sticking up for yourself, but the part I liked even better was when the camera showed Langlois barking at Cardaci while they were in the box. Love that.
- Jules Constantinople set the tone early when she flat out leveled a BU forward in open ice at the top of the D-zone midway through the first. Quick question: Does Jules lead the D corp in the most beaver tail slaps for the puck?
- The Premier Power Forward in Women’s Hockey Today showed her calm, mature side in eating a few crosschecks late in the first. Lucky for Kristina Allard that she wasn’t in the neighborhood or she’d be eating some more Katy Knoll penalty minutes.
- Only Lily Yovetich can knock down about 6 BU players and then draw a penalty on a shoulder rub-out. You would drive me insane if I played against you Lily.
- Abbey Marohn notched 2 apples tonight and Skylar Irving now has 5A in 5GP.
- If you haven’t listened yet, we had some Husky representation on our live 300th podcast. Delaney O’Brien, Megan Carter and Katy Knoll all stopped by. You can find the episode here and on our YouTube channel. Thanks again to all of you for hopping on with us.
- And lastly today was National Coaches Day. I’d assume this was a Coach Carp made up holiday but since Coach Flint, Coach Berm and Coach Piacentini were in the pic it must be real. All kidding aside, congrats to the entire coaching, support and gameday staff.
Up next for the Huskies is another matchup with BU tomorrow afternoon at Historic Matthews Arena for Pride Game. It’s a 1:30PM puck drop and I’ll be in the house with the biggest Katy Knoll fan that’s not related to her. #HowlinHuskies
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