Your Northeastern Huskies welcomed back in the Quinnipiac Bobcats to Historic Matthews Arena roughly 21 hours after their last matchup. This time the shoe was on the other foot as the Huskies couldn’t withstand their own miscues and ended up on the short end of a 3-0 game where Quinnipiac capitalized on every opportunity and salted this one away.
The lineups remained the same for both squads and we expected the pace to mirror the end of last night’s game. That held true for the opening 20, with Quinnipiac coming with an aggressive forecheck in the opening period. NU were getting pucks on net and the vibes were high, but they couldn’t get one past Kaley Doyle (now 4-0-0 on the season).
Paige Taborski was solid at the other end of the ice, out on top of the blue paint and challenging shooters throughout. QU had a long offensive pressure in the first period, but just like the Huskies, the Bobcats couldn’t get one past Ta-Brick-ski.
The sides remained knotted at gooses into the 2nd but a bad giveaway in the NU zone turned into a 3:1 odd man rush rolling right down the slot at Taborski. Maya Labad put the puck on net with her feet behind the GLE and the puck found home. Must be a geometry major to get that one home. 1-0 for Bobcats.
The Huskies got things going back in the right direction when the Re-vamped Nailgun Line seemed to turn the tide back their way after the goal. The OG Lily Brazis was a monster on the forecheck and Mia (still no nickname) Langlois and Molly Griffin (I so badly want to call her Peter) did some solid work along the walls, but the hometown team still couldn’t cash in. A great defensive play by Rylie Jones to pick off an outlet pass ignited another long stretch of offensive possession, but still they couldn’t get one past Doyle. Lily Shannon‘s line was dominant (stop me if you’ve heard that before) as she, Holly Abela and Ella “Honeybadger” Blackmore were working the puck down in the QU zone.
Unfortunately another turnover did the Huskies in, this time at their own blue line. Kathryn Stockdale followed up her own shot and tucked home the loose puck in a netmouth scramble. 2-0 Bobcats and it seemed as if every mistake was costing the Huskies.
A great PK late in the 2nd gave some life to the Huskies as Abela ate one high in her own zone and broke down ice with Taze Thompson driving the QU net. Thompson didn’t cash in, but she drew a penalty, negating the PK and putting the Huskies on an abbreviated power play. Quinnipiac was super aggressive on the PK even with the NU PP leaking over into the 3rd, but true to form for today’s storyline: the Huskies couldn’t cash in.
With under 3mins remaining in the final frame, NU pulled Taborski and attacked QU with freshman Tristan Thompson providing some net front presence (think Bruins circa 2011 with Chara manning the net front on the PP). Thompson was whistled for being too tall too strong roughing and with a PK and an empty net, Quinnipiac put home the dagger; an ENG for Maddy Samoskevich. Much like with the Quinnipiac staff last night, you have to applaud Coach Flint and company for doing all they could to win this one until the final horn.
Some observations from inside the rink
– Jules Constantinople looked back to form today. Quick outlets and even quicker feet.
– Éloïse Caron was drawing A LOT of attention today. I do have to admire her playing fully to the whistle even if Quinnipiac as a whole didn’t seem to be fans.
– Nailguns are gonna nailgun. Every shift they made an impact. Love to see it.
– Gotta love the leadership on this squad, down 0-2 with less than 6mins to play and Kristina Allard was down on one knee eating a Quinnipiac bid.
– Jaden Bogden is nasty. That’s it, that’s the observation.
– And lastly even though I’m the NU guy: I want to give a stick tap to Kahlen Lamarche for the Bobcats. She’s one of those players that you hate to play against but would love on your squad. From giving it back to the fans in the balcony last night to “accidentally” putting the puck into the net after an offsides whistle, that’s the type of thorn you need around roses. Marchey you can suit up for the Brownie squad any day.
The Huskies are back at it next weekend when they have a pair against their crosstown rivals Boston University. Great weekend at Historic Matthews Arena and hope to see you next week.
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