Your Northeastern Huskies welcomed in the University of Maine Black Bears to Historic Matthews Arena last night, and thoroughly dominated their Hockey East rival from the opening draw to the final horn. Paced by Skylar Irving‘s 2G night and another stellar performance from Gwyneth Philips in net; the Huskies vaulted themselves into a 2nd place tie with Boston College in the Hockey East standings (with more wins, so I think NU has the tiebreaker?) perfectly setting the stage for next weekend’s series. But first, let’s get into it: what a day!
We were boots on the ground at Matthews yesterday as my podcast co-host Captain Ked made his first trip to the historic venue as a spectator, (he reminded everyone that he played a game here in college: so cue the “Glory Days” guitar intro) and Delaney let us run amok through the rink.
We even did a pre-game podcast with THE FREAKIN’ BEANPOT TROPHY
We had all kinds of plans for content in and around the rink, but true to form, we dashed all those plans and went to a bar pre-puck drop. I mean when you talk about the true Morning Skate Difference, that’s pretty much it. In a classic good news/bad news scenario: while we didn’t do all the nonsense we had planned, we did run into The GOAT and got her to come on the live post-game pod (and she said she’d be happy to come on the pod and talk about her PWHL experience) it’s friend of the podcast: Alina Müeller! The 3x Olympian, 5x Hockey East Champ and NU all time points leader is currently tied with NU alum Maureen Murphy (also friend of the pod) for most assists in the PWHL and leads PWHL BOS in points. The nicest person in hockey, she was gracious enough to hang out with us mortals for a little while.
But let’s talk about the current Huskies. What a game from the squad. The season series with Maine didn’t forecast such a thumping. The Black Bears beat NU in their first matchup this year and then in the Saturday game that same weekend; NU had to go all the way to the shootout to get the victory. So with that history, and the fact that NU dispatched UConn the night before, this one was setting up to be quite the tilt.
And it was, for about 4 and a half minutes. An early tripping call on Maine sent NU to the PP and The Premier Power Forward in Women’s Hockey Today got her 5th goal in her last 6GP (we’ve been warning everyone to not let her get hot). Megan Carter moved the puck over to Jules Costantinople at the top of the Maine zone and Constantinople put the puck on net with (what’s rapidly becoming) her signature one-timer. The puck leaked through to Peyton Anderson at the right post and The Matrix fed the puck cross-crease to Katy Knoll for the put away. I believe this puts Knoll in a tie for 3rd place all-time in GWG for the Huskies but I don’t want to bug Delaney on a Sunday to confirm.
Northeastern carried the play for the majority of the first period and ended the frame with a 17-7 SOG advantage. Maine was having trouble getting set up in the NU zone and on the occasions that they did, the standouts were Abbey Marohn, Kristina Allard and Constantinople. They were really tight on their gaps and would close on Maine puck carriers like sharks in shallow water. Really fun to watch them sag and then attack as the puck crossed into the NU zone.
With just about 2mins to play in the first, The Mayor of Kingston entered the chat. Irving walked off the half wall on the LW and dog-walked 3 Maine defenders before putting a wrister on net from the inside of the LW circle. The puck deflected up in the air and dropped in over Julia Bachetti’s shoulder. They don’t ask how, just how many. Stick taps to Anderson and Knoll with the apples and both meeting up at the blue paint. Good things happen when you go to the net.
The teams headed into the first intermission with the Huskies up by a pair, but it didn’t take long in the middle frame for NU to add another. Irving stole the puck clean on the LW wall and walked in laterally to the slot before putting a drag-snap over the blocker and into the back of the net. 3-0 and the Huskies have officially slipped the chain. This Geno drove Bachetti out of the game in favor of Jorden Mattison in relief for the Black Bears. 2 goals, 11-17 at the dot and a +3 all while snatching the soul out of a UMaine goalie? Not a bad night for Skirvs.
Once the goalie change happened, as it usually does for a team, Maine had a surge in their pace and their chances in the offensive zone. Everything would have worked out great for the Black Bears if it was a normal goalie back there. But haven’t you heard? This is Goaltender U. That’s the Great Wall of Gwyneth back there. Her best save of the night (in my opinion) was right after the Maine goalie change: a turnover deep in the NU zone left a Maine player alone in the high slot but Philips shut the door to keep Maine off the board. A goal right there might have let Maine climb back in to this one and restore some confidence. A timely save is what they call that one. The way Philips has been playing lately Maine could have been out there shooting BB’s at her and she’d still hang the shutout on them and then blow them a kiss.
That score held until the 3rd and the play opened up very choppy and neither team had consistent zone setups. The play went from top of the circles to the top of the circles, it was mostly entries with a one-shot possession and then back the other way for the same thing at the other end. It was fast and fun to watch, but you could feel the anxiety building from the Maine side. So what to do in those type of situations? Buckle down and contest every puck? Yeah, that’s what I’d do to, but Maine decided to start running around and put themselves on the PK. I guess everyone has different ideas on how to coach hockey.
With a late penalty on the Huskies, Maine pulled their goalie to go 6:4 and it worked as the puck was down the NU zone for most of the PK. But again…. The Great Wall of Gwyneth.
With less than 2mins to play with the Maine goalie still pulled, Carter got her first of the season with an ENG from her own end. A true long distance snipe which I would say was very Ray Bourque-esque, but I’ve heard that some of the squad needs video work on who Mr. Bourque actually is?? I’ve never felt so old.
Up next for the Huskies is a big weekend with a pair vs. Boston College. Friday night is at BC with Saturday back at Historic Matthews Arena.
Below is our postgame where we welcomed on Alina Müeller and Coach Carp, then we were joined by the entire Nailgun Line and then Katy Knoll and Megan Carter (with a cameo from Suzanne Knoll). We had a blast talking to all of these beauties and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it too.
Some thoughts from around the rink:
- Celly Lookout: Ked was upset that no one who scored (all have been on the podcast) pointed up at him in the press box. Just something to think about if he comes back this season.
- Enjoy The Honey Badger, Ella Blackmore chirping me immediately upon sitting down with us. It was so polite, but was delivered with such surgical precision that it was awesome. She was sticking up for her linemate, the OG Lily Brazis so all fair. Also, if you had Ms. No Nickname Mia Langlois to drop the first naughty word, you can cash that bet. They were awesome to have on and we’ll have to get them back on again. Complete beauticians.
- Speaking of the No Nickname Kid: I was thinking about this and figured we should leave it up to the people:
- The entire squad has apparently adopted the Abbey Marohn diet of eating pucks. The box score has 7 players listed, but it seemed as if the whole roster was in on it last night. Megan Carter led the way with 6 and Katy Knoll and Marohn both had a pair.
- Tory Mariano and Lily Yovetich were both playing very physical last night and played a big role in keeping Maine from getting set up in the zone. And Rylie Jones? Look out Carter, there’s another 1-woman break out person on the back end.
- Second game in a row that NU dominated at the dot. Love to see it.
- Skylar Irving kind of went for the Michigan late in the first: We would have gone tarps off in the press box if she hit that (Todd wasn’t there so he couldn’t yell at us). We were also hoping for a Gwyneth Philips attempt at the open net but no dice.
- Holly Abela and Lily Shannon are sooooooooo close to cashing in. Stick with what you’re doing and the goals will come.
Thanks to everyone for making the day at Matthews (and the surrounding area) a big success for The Morning Skate (and Ked and I personally). We had an absolute time and everyone is so nice and welcoming, it was great to be a part of it.
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