Your Northeastern Huskies welcomed in the Merrimack Warriors to Historic Matthews Arena last night in the back half of a home and home series. The Beanpot Champs were back home in front of The Doghouse on a Saturday night and all was right in the Hockey East world once again. I was stuck at pottery painting night out, and while it was def a fun time; while watching the game today (thank you ESPN+), I def made the wrong choice (but it’s not about me).
The Huskies rolled out the same lineup as their W on Friday night, and that included Paige Taborski making her 2nd consecutive and her 2nd NCAA career start. In the MC net was Callie Hogarth attempting to put the previous night’s L behind her.
With less than a minute played in this one, MC seemed to have figured out what ailed them on Friday night and put the Huskies back on their heels. A 2:1 break off a turnover in the neutral zone sent MC into the Huskies zone with a head of steam and Emily Oosterveld beat Taborski up and over the blocker. Were the Huskies in trouble?
That score held until nearly the midpoint of the first, when Molly Griffin knotted it back up. A great keep-in at the MC blue line by Peyton Compton kept the puck alive in the zone and she chopped the puck right to Griffin moving laterally into the slot from the right side. Griffin laid a backhand feed to Lily Shannon driving the net on the left and the unselfish Shannon dished right back to Griffin for the top shelf putaway. Tie ballgame.
The tie game lasted for 41 seconds before MC pulled back ahead. Some lost coverage in the NU zone left Solveig Gisler alone in the slot and her wrister beat Taborski over the glove. The Warriors had come out to play. For those to young to get that reference, here’s the clip:
(Editor’s Note: The Warriors are the heroes of this movie, but this clip really mocks them so we thought it was good for this part of the blog)
Just 31 seconds later, (Friend of the Pod) Taze Thompson tied it back up when she re-directed Megan Carter‘s point shot. Allie Lalonde carried the puck up out of the LW corner and dropped it to The Captain at the left point. Carter walked into this one her blast found its way through. Thompson had found a soft spot in the slot and her back-up re-direct knocked the puck down and under Hogarth’s blocker. Merrimack challenged the play, but the goal stood and the sides were tied again.
That score held for the remaining 8 minutes of the opening frame and good grief we still have 40 minutes to play. The 2nd opened up with a little less of the frenetic pace showcased at the end of the first and the squads traded chances but neither team had much setup time in the other’s end.
Merrimack kept it “clean” (at least for them) until roughly the midpoint of the 2nd when a slew foot trip on Katy Knoll put the Huskies on the power play. NU didn’t score on the advantage, but def grabbed the momentum back and you could feel the next goal coming. The Nailgun Line was imposing their will on MC all day and they finally cashed in. Mia (still no nickname) Langlois stole the puck along with LW wall and found Ella “Honey Badger” Blackmore with a perfect cross-seam feed walking in from the RW wall. Blackmore dusted it off with a quick drag and went short-side over the glove to give NU their first lead of the day. Notice the OG Lily Brazis on the net drive hunting for a rebound. These 3 beauticians are an absolute joy to watch play.
The third opened up with NU still maintaining their one-goal lead and with neither team having prolonged offensive zone time. It was a lot of one shot and back out the other way hockey with fast changes and a little bit of the ol’ stick work behind the play, That’s when The Premier Power Forward in Women’s Hockey Today entered the chat. Peyton “The Matrix” Anderson drove the LW and found Knoll (where else) driving the net. Anderson put it right onto Knoll’s tape and I believe this is called Katy Knoll doing Katy Knoll Things. Not to be overlooked was Lily Yovetich‘s sweet cross ice dish to Anderson from her own blue line to the other side of the red line.
Natalie Nemes got one back for MC with the goalie pulled, but the Huskies dialed up the team defense to secure Taborski her 2nd dub in as many games. The Huskies are off until a rare Thu night tilt at UNH this week. They will roll into the Whittemore Center 10-1-1 in their last 12GP.
Some observations from the couch:
- Knoll leads all forwards in Hockey East in blocks this season, but she’s a distant second to Jules Constantinople who should get named an honorary goaltender with the amount of blocks she has on the season.
- Speaking of blocking shots; Abbey Marohn played in her 100th game last night. Nice to do that in not only a win, but at Historic Matthews Arena too.
- I see you Brazis: the shift after Knoll’s goal, Brazis with a little snow shower for the MC goalie. Nailgun’s gonna Nailgun I guess. Speaking of these 3: They must love playing Merrimack since they combined for 2-2-4 as a line these last 2 games.
- Thompson has won 3 straight Beanpoles (last 2 with NU, before with Harvard) and per the ESPN feed she’s the first player to ever win 3 Beanpots with 2 diff teams as a player.
- Just my opinion, but Taborski’s biggest save of the game was with 3mins left in the first and the game still tied. Taborski came out on top of her blue paint to challenge the shooter and blockered the puck away to keep the game knotted. The shot was through traffic and at a crucial part of the game for momentum. Great save at a perfect time.
- Don’t mess with Skirvs. In the first period on a hard backcheck, Skylar Irving knocked a MC forward on her rear end right at Taborski’s crease. The Mayor of Kingston knows how to defend the house.
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