Your Northeastern Huskies welcomed the Providence Friars into Historic Matthews Arena for a rare Tuesday night (late afternoon?) tilt. This was the 3rd and final match of the regular season between these two Hockey East rivals and both teams came into this one with a win against the other. At the end of 60, the Huskies skated off with the decider in the rubber match handing PC a 4-2 loss.
The Huskies took the ice in their red sweaters and I have to say, I’m not a big jersey guy; but if one of those beautiful red joints finds its way to my grubby hands that would be pretty good for this guy. Coach Carp, hook a brother up.
The Huskies were dialed in from the opening draw. They were tough on the puck and they had their skating legs going. Skating without their top pair on the backend, the defensive responsibilities were going to be put upon the whole squad from top to bottom. Lily Brazis set the tone on her first shift with a big eat in the NU zone. The Nailgun and her linemates were skating hard all night especially behind both nets. Dogged work from Brazis, Mia Langlois and Holly Abela all 200 feet for all 60 minutes, love to see it ladies.
The top 6 got the best scoring chances early on but PC netminder Hope Walinski proved up to the task. At least for the for the first 7 minutes she was. Taze Thompson got the Huskies on the board when she converted a Skylar Irving rebound on her backhand past Walinski. The Mayor of Kingston gathered the puck in the LW corner and drove up from the goal line putting the puck on net, Thompson was on the doorstep for the rebound and the tuck. Not be overlooked on this goal was Katy Knoll driving the net. I mean when you have The Premier Power Forward in Women’s Hockey Today bearing down on you, most goalies pay attention.
That score held for the first intermission as NU doubled up on PC with the SOG and zone time. PC barely got set up in the NU zone and when they did it was all perimeter shooting and easy outlets for the Huskies.
The 2nd period opened up with PC tying the game less than 30 seconds into the frame. The Friars broke down ice in a 2:1 and Reichen Kirchmair beat Gwyneth Philips over the blocker. This was a rocket from about 12 feet out and was labeled for the top shelf. I mean, even Superman gets her caped tugged on sometimes.
Just about 3 minutes later Knoll put the Huskies back ahead. Abbey Marohn drove down the RW and threw the puck across to Irving on the left side. Irving had her head up the whole way, and saw Knoll driving the net and put it right on her blade for the tuck. 2-1 Huskies.
Later in the period during an NU power play, Allie Lalonde got the game-winner with her one-timer from the top of the RW circle. The Huskies were working the puck around with authority and Irving worked the puck up to the top of the umbrella to Tory Mariano at the top of the umbrella. Mariano made no mistake with a buttery dish to Lalonde and the freshman blasted it past Walinski.
The 3rd period opened up with NU being more aggressive on the backend with the D activated and pinching down the wall keeping the puck in the PC zone. With less than 4 mins gone, Thompson got her 2nd of the game (and 8th of the season) when Jules Constantinople drove the RW and put the puck across to Thompson driving the net. Off the skate and tucked in on the backhand: Taze makes plays.
The Friars got one back late as the defense on the backend disintegrated in front of Philips and Lily Martinson walked down Main Street to shoot from about 3 feet out. I don’t know what happened but it looked like one of my beer league games when someone opens the cooler in the locker room and everyone leaves the ice.
Up next for the Huskies is a trip to BU on Friday night before the holiday break.
Some observations from the couch:
- The D corp picked up big time for the players out of the lineup tonight. Besides the aforementioned Constantinople, Marohn and Mariano: Taylor Guarino, Rylie Jones and Kristina Allard were all over the ice making plays and skating for days. Love to see it.
- Great to hear 4x Olympian Angela Ruggiero on the call tonight for ESPN. Wished I knew that it was an ESPN game as I would have weaseled my way into meeting her and asking her to come on the podcast. I will say this to any of the players reading this, if you can, go back and watch this ESPN tape: It’s gotta be a thrill to hear what Ruggiero said about you all.
- Molly Griffin and Abela made some crucial defensive plays throughout the contest and did some strong work along the walls.
- Knoll def realized this was the last reg season meetup between the squads as she accidentally, clearly not on purpose, oh I’m so sorry about that
ransteamrolledbumped into the PC goalie knocking Walinski on her seat multiple times tonight. - Finally we have confirmation that the current points and assists leader, Skylar Irving is coming on the podcast tomorrow. Is that good timing or what? She notches 3A today (not a big deal) and tied her career high in points with half the season left to play.
- Does Lalonde have dangles or what? At one point she circled the PC zone and dogwalked the entire shift of players on the ice. Absolute filth.
- GOAT sighting at Matthews: Speaking of Olympians, old friend Alina Müeller (and friend of the podcast which you can still find here) was on the broadcast tonight and had some great advice for young hockey players out there.
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