Your Northeastern Huskies welcomed in the University of New Hampshire Wildcats for a semifinal matchup in the Hockey East playoffs at Historic Matthews Arena. The Huskies are chasing down history as they look to add to their record 6 straight Hockey East titles. Standing in their way was the #3 seeded Wildcats, who haven’t played in the title game since 2018 (coincidentally the kickoff of the Huskies’ current run). After a great back and forth game, it was proved once again that Dawgs are better than Cats, as the Huskies get the dub 4-1 and move on to face the winner of BC vs UConn for the Hockey East Championship on Saturday.
NU took the ice in their “Beanpot Reds” and had the better opening frame in terms of possession and zone time. The first shift from the top line showed UNH what they were in for as Skylar Irving, Peyton Anderson and Katy Knoll were FLYING all over the sheet. The Mayor of Kingston had a tour of the UNH offensive zone at top speed with Anderson out front and Knoll wreaking havoc down low and at that point, I knew the Huskies were advancing. Any zone time that UNH got in the first was on the perimeter as NU was dedicated to clogging the shooting lanes and eating pucks. The play was wide open, up and down the ice as there was only 1 whistle for icing in the first 10mins of game play.
The best bid of the first was Lily Shannon‘s solo rush as she went 1:3 but was denied at the last minute by Sedona Blair in the UNH net. That proved to be false advertising as Shannon would not be denied as the game progressed, but we’ll get to that in due time.
Blair looked solid in the opening frame as she was tested a few times and was certainly up to the challenge. But it’s gotta be tough playing in the shadow of Godzilla. The Great Wall of Philips was SHARP for this one: she was consistently ahead of the puck, smooth with her lateral moves and tracking the puck with a laser-like intensity. Gwyneth Philips was tested with about 7mins to play when UNH broke through and she scooped the puck while moving left to right. A very tough save that the best goalie in the NCAA made look easy Keep the change.
The teams retired for the first intermission knotted at gooses, but NU opened the middle frame on the power play. Unfortunately the power play is not exactly “clicking” and the Huskies were denied even getting set up in the UNH zone. The Wildcats were aggressive on the elbows and behind the net and the Huskies had a tough time getting their cycle game going.
The best chance of the 2nd was when The Premier Power Forward in Women’s Hockey today batted the puck down at the UNH blue line and broke to the net. Knoll was denied on her bid, but drew a penalty on the play. During the ensuing PP, Anderson got called for a body check? Just once I’d love to see a ref call an embellishment as Anderson was giving up quite a bit of size to spin that UNH player to the ice like she did. As the 2nd wound down UNH scored what appeared to be the go-ahead goal but a quick review (I mean, Todd and I could easily see it was kicked in from our vantage point) by the officials deemed the puck was clearly kicked in by Nicole Kelly and the sides headed into the third still scoreless.
In the opening minutes of the 3rd, Anderson got her cookie. With the puck behind the UNH net, Anderson drew in the defender and then spun off her and tucked the puck in the short side with Blair looking the other way. Matrix gonna Matrix I guess. Funny enough, when interviewing the players, the consensus pick for who would hit a Michigan goal in a game? The answer is always Anderson.
UNH got one back when a flutterpuck bounced off Philips glove and into the net. A huge break for the ‘Cats and not one that happens often against her. As HC Dave Flint said in his post-game presser, “Gwyn came right to the bench and said that’s on me and the team picked her up”. Dawgs travel in packs for a reason.
As time was winding down, and anxiety was ratcheting up, Lily Shannon entered the chat. Jules Constantinople fed the puck to Peyton Compton at the LW circle and Compton put the puck on net. Shannon was crashing and the rebound popped right to her for the tuck. Say it with me people: Good things happen when you go to the net!
As time wound down, UNH pulled the goalie to try and climb back into this one and first Irving and then Shannon made them pay with a couple of ENG to seal the deal. No videos available , so enjoy the player promos.
The Huskies now play for the Championship on Saturday. If it’s vs. UConn it’s a long ride for your boy Brownie, but if BC somehow pulls off the upset, then the game will be here at Historic Matthews Arena. As much as it makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit, I guess we have to cheer for BC? Yikes.
Some thoughts from around the rink:
- Irving and Carter were absolutely FLYING tonight
- Constantinople and Lily Yovetich did HUGE PK work when Carter was in the box. Solid D, eating pucks and playing nasty.
- The Honey Badger, Ella Blackmore drew the penalty that Shannon scored the GWG on. Love to see that hustle from her.
- Shannon was all over the ice. Besides the 2G she had a huge backcheck in the first when a defensive pinch from the Huskies didn’t work as planned.
See you suckers on Saturday!
You can read more about Brownie in his bio down below or follow him on:
Twitter: @abrow28
IG/Threads: @a_brow28
The Morning Skate 