Your Northeastern Huskies rolled North across the border for a rare Thursday night tilt at the Whittemore Center in Durham, NH. The Huskies were taking on the University of New Hampshire Wildcats for the first half of a home and home series this weekend. The ‘Cats came into this one 2-2-1 over their last 5GP, while the ‘Dawgs boasted a much more impressive 5-0-0 over their last 5GP (including a 2-1 W over UNH back on 1/19). The sides needed a bit of extra hockey to get this one done, but at the end of 61:02 it was the Huskies that secured the comeback win by a 3-2 decision in OT.
In net for UNH was freshman Sedona Blair while it was Gwyneth Philips manning the pipes for the Huskies. Nice of the Great Wall of Gwyneth to give Paige Taborski a night off and help carry the load on the back end. The Huskies hit the ice in their Beanpot Reds (can we call them that? I think that sounds better than alternate jerseys or 3rd jerseys), but it was UNH with the early press to open this one up. Once NU settled down a bit, the sides skated more evenly with the Irving Line and the Nailgun Line tilting the ice back in the Huskies favor.
Despite UNH spotting the Huskies 2PP in the first, the ‘Cats hung 2 on the Huskies. The first one past Philips was a triple doink off a number of sticks and skates that she had no chance on. Then with NU on the PK (5:3 thanks Stripes, but more on them later), UNH snuck one 5-hole after a long setup in the NU zone. With the 2 goal lead, UNH was content to chip the puck out of their zone and dump into the NU end. Last night was “Dress Like a Seat” night at the Whittemore Center and the student body took this promotion to heart because the rink felt and sounded completely empty. At one point Delaney and I had a convo across the ice at the red line. Could hear each other perfectly. I guess ‘Cats are quieter than ‘Dawgs?
With time ticking down in the opening frame and the Huskies looking up at a 2-goal deficit against UNH and the refs (more on them later), it wasn’t looking good for our heroes. And that’s when Katy Knoll entered the chat. The Premier Power Forward in Women’s Hockey Today doesn’t just block shots, she buries those puppies too. Megan Carter dragged 2 UNH forecheckers deep in the NU zone and found Skylar Irving at the top of the NU zone. The Mayor of Kingston carried the puck through the neutral before hitting Peyton Anderson in stride. The Matrix broke into the UNH zone 2:1 with Knoll driving the net. Anderson laid it over to Knoll who beat Blair over the glove top shelf to put the Huskies on the board. Keep the change. Carter won’t get an apple on this play, but per usual, her skating and deceptiveness in her own end triggered this play from jump.
In the middle frame both teams hit another gear as they traded chances and the clutching and grabbing ramped up. I mean at one point Lily Shannon skated through all 5 UNH skaters and the goalie twice with each and every single one of them laying the body on her. Hook, Interference, Body Check and Embellishment could all have been called during Shannon’s tour of the UNH zone but instead Stripes called 2 of the softest calls these eyes have ever seen. First Anderson got called for a hold when the UNH defender had her in the Heimlich Maneuver and then Taze Thompson got called for a crosscheck when she was defending herself from a green light hit from a UNH defender. I mean those calls were worthy of a 10pm Tue night beer league game in Wilmington, not at a D1 Hockey East game. I’d say I don’t know how the refs would be able to look themselves in the mirror, but they’d need their service dogs to help find it.
After killing off both of those “calls”, NU ramped up the forecheck and the D was definitely activated in the offensive zone. Carter especially wanted this one as she drove numerous times into the UNH zone 1:3 and 1:4 and generated scoring chances every time she did. The Captain wanted this one and her physicality set the tone for the entire squad. Philips was dialed in and challenging shooters and completely snuffed out any UNH bids. Diving for pucks and seeing shooting lanes through traffic, the defending goalie of the year showed the doubters what’s up by finishing the night with 26 saves and a .923% save percentage.
In the third, NU went to an early power play (checks notes) yes, that is correct. Kristina Allard was tripped deep in the Huskies zone and actually slid into the ref so I guess they had to make the call? On the ensuing PP Knoll from the LW dot fed Carter at the top of the umbrella. Maple Leaf Meg slid the puck across to Jules Constantinople at the top of the RW circle and she put the puck on net with a one-timer. Blair coughed up the rebound and Anderson was sitting there waiting for it and tucked it home at the right post to tie this one up.
With a face-off in the UNH zone and 19 seconds left to play, the NU bench called a time-out. Would they pull Philips? Throw Abbey Marohn back there to wire shots and eat pucks? How about the Irving Line up front with Thompson working her net-front magic and Constantinople and Carter bombing away from the point? No, nothing that exciting, just a set face-off play. This shows yet again that I’m best suited for the stands or in the press box as opposed to behind the bench.
In the extra time it was all Huskies. The “Beanpot 4” were out there to start the OT for the Huskies (Philips, Carter, Knoll, Irving) and they had a good bid, but Blair shut the door. The Huskies had good possession and pace but lost the puck to UNH breaking out of their zone. That’s when Thompson cleanly stole the puck and broke back into the UNH end of the ice with Constantinople trailing. With a defender draped all over her, Thompson got the puck to Constantinople driving the slot and with a nifty gather and backhand, the sophomore sealed the dub for the Huskies beating Blair glove-side. ‘Dawg pile on the ice.
The Huskies host UNH tomorrow at Historic Matthews Arena and we were able to talk about this game in real time last night on the podcast as Ked was kind enough to wait for me to get home to record. Speaking of podcasts, keep your head on a swivel as we are working on something special for next weekend as (fingers crossed weather permitting) we will be recording from the Maine game at Historic Matthews Arena! Very excited!
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