Your Northeastern Huskies traveled to the home of the UConn “other” Huskies today for the Women’s Hockey East Championship. The season series favored UConn as they beat NU 2x back in early November, but then lost a shootout to our heroes at Historic Matthews Arena in February. This was the match that everyone had wanted to see. Nothing better than seeing the top 2 seeds in Hockey East square off against each other with the title on the line. UConn was looking for their first ever Championship and Northeastern was hoping to add a 7th consecutive title to their record setting run. This time around, the former team got their wish as the UConn “other” Huskies got the W with less than a minute left to play in OT.
In net for UConn was Tia Chan, who would go on to win Hockey East MVP with 14 less saves then Gwyneth Philips in the title game. Chan was excellent in net today and had the benefit of 9mins of power play to work with (including 2min of 5:3). In any other conference, Chan would be the big dog, the pace-setter, the goalie everyone is chasing. But even after winning the ‘ship, the story is the netminder for the “real” ‘Dawgs.
You all have heard me talk at length about The Great Wall of Gwyneth (and she came on the podcast too: so check that out immediately if you haven’t yet) and I don’t know if you heard, but Philips is not only the defending goalie of the year, but she’s been named to the Patty Kazmaier top-10 list (again: the only goalie on that list) as well as being named the Hockey East Goalie of the Year (again), the Bretagna Award winner (again) and the NU netminder was also named the 3-Stars Award Winner. I’m not sure: but is that good Nicole? Philips was other worldly today and almost single-handedly dragged NU across the finish line. An ignored OBVIOUS boarding and some questionable interpretation of what it means to be “in the blue paint” were the deciding factors in this one.
The game opened up at full tilt with the Huskies rocking their iconic “Beanpot Reds” and both teams were flying off of the opening draw. Love to see the tone set in the opening minutes as Jules Constantinople laid the boom on a UConn forward with less than 3mins played. As much as the fans were crying, the refs were letting the two sides play and what do we always ask? Keep it consistent Stripes.
The first sustained offensive zone time was initiated by the Irving Line. The Mayor of Kingston Skylar Irving, Peyton “The Matrix” Anderson and The Premier Power Forward in Women’s Hockey Today Katy Knoll were exerting their will down low on the UConn defenders with about 12 mins to play in the opening frame. Coach Carp followed them up with the Shannon Line and the Huskies were running the tempo and game play. Lily Shannon was a dynamo all game, she was hunting the puck like a rabid Labrador all over the sheet.
There were some bids early on by UConn that were foiled by some excellent defensive play of the Huskies. Tory Mariano was a one-women outlet all day today as she had her wheels on full display. Not to be outdone, Kristina Allard made a great play late in the first as she broke up a 2:1 bid by UConn when she got her stick down to break up the pass ahead of Philips. Allard was jumping into the offensive zone and showing off her edge work the entire contest. UConn had a number of looks late in the first, but…. you know… Philips. And when the Huskies top line cowboyed over the boards, they were able to consistently tilt the ice back towards Chan.
Philips was tested again early in the 2nd when UConn had a sustained offensive setup, but they couldn’t get one past her. Molly Griffin (do we make her an honorary member of The Nailgun Line?) drew an early power play and you could feel the anticipation in the crowd that came to support the Huskies. On the ensuing PP, Taze Thompson had the best bid when she was stoned from 4ft out with Chan flashing the leather on the one-timer. In the “vulnerable minute” after the PP expired, Lily Yovetich and Abbey Marohn combined to negate a 3:2 bid in the NU zone and the sides were still scoreless heading into the 2nd intermission.
Just when you thought it was going to be a hard fought, physical, balanced game: Stripes entered the chat. First Mariano got called for a crosscheck, even though plays like that were being allowed all day. Then, during the delayed penalty, Allard got whistled for a trip. Just like that, it’s a 5:3 for UConn with less than 2mins played in the 3rd period.
Let me give some props for some plays during the 2-woman advantage before we go any further, cause I’m going to get worked up talking about the impact that the on-ice officials had on this game:
* Yovetich had a great poke to get the puck out of the zone early in the PK
* Knoll had a huge eat and block to clear the zone with about a minute gone
* Marohn was huge down low on the PK: eating pucks and giving no ducks per usual
Ok, back to the donkeys the blind mice the on-ice officials. As bad as it got in OT, the foreshadowing was there when Megan Carter got 5 and the gate. In a scrum during a net front play, Carter put her hands up to defend herself and a UConn player took her stick to the cage, threw her head back and had her helmet pop off. That’s 2 players already in the box (both D) and now 5PIM and a game misconduct? GTFOH.
The Huskies killed off the 9mins of penalty kill (and 2mins of 5:3) and you could feel the tide shift. Even with their best defender and captain sent to the showers, these Huskies weren’t going to roll over and show their bellies. Everyone on the roster was asked to step up and they all did, including Philips who actually seemed to unlock new cheat codes as the game progressed. Jada Habisch broke in alone at the 9min mark and Philips ate her bid up like Ms. Pac-Man. Must be cold for mere mortals when they’re standing in the shadow of the Great Wall of Philips. With the way these goalies were playing, the last 5mins of regulation were feeling like OT already.
In the overtime frame, NU got on the PP due to goaltender interference by UConn (something that was happening all day) but NU was unable to get one past Chan. In the minutes after the PP, Philips was tested again, but she was dominant and had to look 10ft tall to the UConn shooters. A deep turnover in the NU zone almost ended the day but Marohn and Holly Abela both made great individual plays to keep the sides knotted at gooses.
Until Stripes got involved, again. With less than a minute to play, Rylie Jones went behind the net to get the puck to Philips left. With her numbers clearly showing, Jones was absolutely boarded into the end wall and…. crickets from Stripes. I’m not being a homer here, this play would have been called a board in any NHL rink in North America: This play could be a training video on what boarding is. The fact that it wasn’t called in this instance is laughable. In the ensuing moments, the puck was worked out to UConn at the top of the zone and Ainsley Svetek walked down the slot and put the puck on net. Megan Woodworth came from the back side, skated through the crease and got a stick on the puck for the re-direct past Philips. On some of the angles, it looked as if her stick may have touched Philips paddle as well. Either way, the whole play should have been whistled dead and they may still have been playing. But once UConn hit eject on their gloves and started celebrating, you knew this wasn’t being called back. I literally had a UConn employee say to me: “How is that not boarding?” I don’t know brother, but it certainly looked that way to me.
So, UConn celebrates their first championship, the Huskies take the bus home and plan for next year and somewhere, Stripes cashes in that winning bet. I hope it’s with a local bookie because if it’s with an online gambling site they’ll be receipts. I’ll have an apprecition write up later this week for this graduating class, but I’ll leave you with the following:
Some thoughts from around the rink:
– UConn has a nice facility and they had it filled for Women’s hockey today. Love that.
– The entire D corp: Carter, Yovetich, Constantinople, Mariano, Marohn, Allard and Jones played today as if they were shot out of a cannon. Great work and skating by the back end.
– Great to see the Jumbotron with a zoomed in shot on Coach Carp multiple times. Yikes.
– The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree: Mr. Carter gave the UConn mascot a stiff-arm when that homeless looking dog came over to us looking for treats
– Abela is always always always in the right place at the right time. Those little strides get her there on time.
– I saw Irving switch hands on face-offs a few times today. I can’t take face-offs either handed, and Skirvs can do it either hand?
– Thompson was doing some heavy lifting along the wall and in front of the net all game.
– Pro tip: If you’re heading back from UConn towards Boston: BT’s Smokehouse is only about a 10min detour.
– Keep your head on a swivel for a special Huskies wrap up podcast sometime next week.
Thank you to all the people I’ve met along the way covering this team. I look forward to seeing you all at a rink soon, and I am really looking forward to shaving off this beard.
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