Your Northeastern Huskies welcomed in their crosstown rival Boston University Terriers for the first Hockey East tilt this year at Historic Matthews Arena. It got chippy, there were a bunch of goals, some sparkling saves, some celebrities and some pretty famous alums on hand. When it was all said and done, it was a 4-0 dub, just like smacking that terrier in the face with a rolled up newspaper. All in all just another night in the grand old barn.
The pace was furious to open the game as the Huskies pushed the tempo up and down the ice with long stretches in the BU defensive zone. The Terriers were able to keep most of the attack on the perimeter, but as the period progressed you got the feeling of not if, but when NU would get on the board.
That when came with less than 5mins to play when Éloïse Caron scored what is rapidly becoming her signature goal when she beat Callie Shanahan over the glove. What a sequence: Tory Mariano to Skylar Irving behind the net and then The Mayor of Kingston with a sweet outlet up and out and right onto Caron’s tape. A quick drag move around the BU defender and then far side top shelf keep the change.
That score held until the first intermission, but the nasty started ramping up before the horn. Post whistle scrums, lots of jawing, you gotta love it when these 2 squads get together. The Huskies seemed to take their foot off the gas a bit in the 2nd, but you remember this school’s nickname right? Yeah, they call it Goalie U for a reason. Paige Taborski was lights out when tested. Solid and fluid side to side movement, out on top of her blue paint, she made the tough save look easy.. again. Ta-Brick-ski.
It looked as if the sides were going to retire for the middle stanza at the 1-0 score and since I’ve made a resolution to lay off Stripes (at least for as long as I can) then all I will say is that the game started to get a little bumpy and the nasty ramped up as the period wound down. After a stretch of special teams play, Holly Abela jumped on an errant pass in the BU zone and buried her chance for the 2-0 lead. Abela works her tail off and is always hustling and in the right place. Good to see all that hard work get rewarded. The Hockey Gods approve.
Tough to give up a goal so late in the period. Never a good thing, and Abela’s tally was scored with less than 90 seconds to play. I wonder if BU will be able to bounce back and recover from that? Don’t think so, as Caron got her second of the night with 31.5 seconds left in the period. Jaden Bogden pushed one ahead of Caron in the neutral zone and the freshman gathered the puck at the red line and was off and running. She busted down the slot with her head up the whole way and snapped a wrister over the blocker to make it 3-0. Those are good ‘Dawgs.
To open the 3rd, BU spelled Shanahan (not sure you could blame her for any of these goals against honestly) with Mari Pietersen, but that was akin to shutting the barn door after the horses were gone. The damage was done and the teams decided to push the limit (don’t say anything) with the on-ice officials. A total of 7 penalties were called in the final frame, and easily could have been more. If only there was a way to control a game by being consistent and … nope, not gonna bash the officials. Gotta remember my resolution.
Ella Blackmore put one past Pietersen for her first of the year as The Honeybadger finished off a great pass from Morgan Jackson. Lily Yovetich worked the puck down low and Morgan, (Ms. Jackson if you’re nasty: and since I know every single player on this team is too young for the reference, here’s a link for the Janet Jackson song that I just referenced) laid the puck back to the slot with a no-look between-the-legs drop. It was.. nasty. Blackmore pounded it home and it was time for clock watching. More hard work getting rewarded as Blackmore has been all around the puck so far this year.
Some observations from around the rink:
- As good as Caron is offensively, she is a monster on the forecheck and has a good dose of grittiness to her game.
- Love to see Bogden and Caron, 2 new members to the program come to Irving’s defense when Skirvs got into a little back and forth in front of the BU net.
- Jules Constantinople is playing angry and I’m 1000% here for it. When they talk about the size of the fight in the dog and not the size of the dog in the fight, they’re talking about #41.
- The Nailgun Line was popping off today. Lots of looks and some great zone time in crucial minutes. It’s going to be great when the pucks start going in for this line. The OG Lily Brazis was hunting the puck all night, Mia (still no nickname) Langlois was sooo close late in the game and Molly (Peter – I’m sorry) Griffin was hard on the puck in all 3 zones.
- Rylie Jones made a huge backcheck late in the 2nd when she picked the pass off in the slot and turned into an outlet. Great game with a number of standups at the NU blue line too.
- This was a Yovetich type of game. Physical, lots of yapping and fast-paced. Her with Mariano is an almost unfair tandem. And speaking of unfair, have you seen the wheels on Kristina Allard? Just dropping into the offensive zone whenever she chooses must be nice. Just dangles for days on this one, great skating tonight for #9.
- And the youngsters on the back end that come equipped with their own personal radar sweeping sticks and healthy doses of nasty? Yeah I see you Tristan Thompson and Tuva Kandell. Both chipping in whenever and wherever they can, just a couple of ‘Dawgs.
Back it tomorrow for a 3pm puck drop. I’m sure all the nastiness will be forgotten overnight.
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