Your Northeastern Huskies headed up the long and winding road all the way to Alford Arena in Orono for a pair against the University of Maine. The Huskies came into this weekend on a mini roll as they won their last 5 games; on the other end of the spectrum were the Black Bears who dropped 2 of their last 3 before welcoming in NU. These 2 squads are separated by 6 points in the standings and this weekend turned into a staring contest as to which team blinked first.
Friday night the Black Bears got the edge when an ill-timed collision in the OT period sent in Mikayla Boarder and Ida Kuoppala with a 2:1 against Lily Yovetich. Yovo took the passing lane away but Kuoppala got her wrister past Gwyneth Philips. This game was an outstanding goalie duel as the two net minders (Jorden Mattison in net for Maine) faced a combined 51SOG with Philips facing the lion’s share (29 saves on 30 shots). I’d say that this was one of those games that you hate to see either team lose, but if you’ve read any of my previous NU posts you know I’d be lying. You think Jack Edwards is home-team biased?
Philips was outstanding in Friday night’s game (stop me if you’ve heard this before), as she kept the team in this game even when they were doing their best to give it away. Philips had to be sharp from the opening draw as she was tested multiple times early on in this one. No off days for The Great Wall of Gwyneth.
A boost to the squad had to be the return of Captain Megan Carter who wasted no time in re-introducing herself to the Black Bears. Almost immediately Carter was tested physically in the defensive zone and played her trademark brand of shutdown defense. I’m fairly certain she got tackled at the left post in the opening minutes, but we’ll just chalk that up to “renewing acquaintances”. Also Carter had a key save in the 2nd when a leaky puck trickled 5-hole on Philips and Carter was right there to tuck it back underneath.
By the way, in my head, this clip was Carter on the bench after that first shift.
The physical play was ramping up as the game progressed and Stripes let the ladies work it out. Gotta give props to the officiating crew as they stayed out of the way in this one. I mean if I kill them when they’re not up to par, then I have to praise them when they don’t mess it up. Fair is fair. My one and only complaint is when Ella Blackmore got whistled for being a honey badger on the backcheck. You have to reward that type of behavior, Blackmore fought through multiple Maine players and was relentlessly hunting that puck. Keep doing you Blackmore. No complaints. Oh yeah, Philips was dialed. Her lateral movements were fluid, and she was tracking the puck. When I say she was razor sharp, that’s not hyperbole.
The play opened waaaaaay up in the latter half of the 2nd and into the third. At times it looked like beer league out there as it was up and down with no offensive setups. The big difference between this and your local Tue night game? The goalies. Both were locked in as the teams skated to a 0-0 finish in regulation. We talked about what happened in OT already so let’s move on to Saturday’s game.
Both teams rolled back the same lineups, I mean how are you not going to after that game the night before? You could see the difference (at least on the Huskies side) from the opening face-off as there was a clear difference in their jump and puck pursuit, especially along the walls. With about 7 minutes played in the first, little sis Avery Anderson (Lil’ Matrix? Matrix Jr.? gonna have to work on that) put the Huskies on the board when Lily Shannon got the turnover deep in the Maine zone and Anderson finished off with a drag snap from the LW circle. Far side over the glove, keep the change.
The lead was short-lived as a bouncing puck got past Philips to even the score. This puck deflected and changed direction at least 3x before tumbling in the open side of the net. Talk about a fluky goal. That score held for the period as the teams tightened down a bit.
In the middle frame, the Huskies were questionable in some of the decision making departments. Shooting when they maybe should have passed? Passing when maybe they should have shot? It seemed as if they were bypassing the simple play looking for the highlight play. Def overcomplicating the simple aspects of the game. As the period progressed, the game started to open up more and was much more even in terms of zone time. Neither team could figure out the other’s goaltender however, and the teams went into the final frame knotted.
The Huskies did a bit of line juggling to open the 3rd and it translated on the ice as the sheet started to tilt towards the Maine end of the rink. That wasn’t to say that it was an easy go for Philips, not at all Chumley. Philips had to be sharp all the way through this one too.
In the OT period, it was hold-your-breath-and-hang-on-to-your-butt type action to open up as the Huskies were pinned deep in their own zone and Carter was without a stick for a good portion of it. Philips was diving all over the place doing her best Dominik Hasek imitation. I couldn’t find any highlights of Philips in OT, so just imagine Hasek in NU black and red with a pony tail and you get the idea of how she was to open the overtime period.
On to the shootout where the teams battled it out for the extra Hockey East point with NU going first.
NU Peyton Anderson – X
UM Ida Kuoppala – X
NU Allie Lalonde – G : Lalonde came down the slot with speed and hit the Pastrnak drag snap over the glove!
UM Rahel Enzler – X
NU Katy Knoll – X
UM Ann-Frederique Guay – X
Philips with the final save (very fitting) and the Huskies head out of town with the SOW and the extra point that could prove very important down the stretch. Up next for the Huskies is a tilt with Harvard in the first night of the Beanpot on Tuesday. Look for some discount ticket codes that we’ll be able to share from the nice people at WomenX and hope to see you at Harvard.
Some observations from the couch (both games):
- Tory Mariano was laying the boom out there tonight, especially early on during a NU PP
- Lily Shannon set the tone early on as she laid out at the top of the defensive zone to eat those pucks.
- All weekend The Nailgun Line of Lily Brazis (the OG Nailgun), Ella Blackmore (The Honey Badger) and Mia Langlois (gotta come up with something good for Mia) were one of, if not the best line for NU. More ice time for these 3 beauticians please. And yeah I saw you trading chops behind the play Langlois.
- I don’t know if I was hallucinating but I’m fairly certain I saw Katy Knoll drawing penalties this weekend. The Premier Power Forward in Women’s Hockey Today does whatever the team needs and is leading all NU forwards in blocked shots.
- Rylie Jones looks really good walking the line at the top of the zone on the PP
- Jules Constantinople was busting her butt all over the ice this weekend. Really stood out with her skating. Abbey Marohn was her usual efficient self on defense. Both of these 2 are one-woman outlets with their vision coming out of their own zone.
- Great to see Meg Carter back out there denying everything in her orbit to come near the net. Very Ray Bourque-esque lay out to deny a Maine 2:1 bid. Not to be outdone, her partner Lily Yovetich was physical in both games and was standing up UMaine players at both blue lines.
Keep warm on the ride home ladies.
The Morning Skate 