Your Northeastern Huskies traveled West down the MA Pike tonight to take on the Holy Cross Crusaders at the Hart Center Rink in the first leg of a home and home series this weekend. The spirits of Woo-Town were out in full force against our heroes tonight; fluky goals, bad bounces, internet issues (more on that later), as all that and more conspired to keep the Huskies down. It took some extra time and even a shootout (or part of one anyways), but the Huskies came out on top and secured the extra point in the Hockey East standings with a 5-4 shootout win (I’m not calling it a tie).
Holy Cross jumped on the Huskies from the opening draw and were relentless in puck pursuit in the games’ first minutes. Once the Huskies caught their breath, the play evened out with both squads getting set up time in each other’s offensive zones. Fresh off a PK, in the “vulnerable minute” as Homeboy Jack Edwards used to say, HC got on the board first when a goalmouth scramble ended with Lane Lewis shoveling the puck past Paige Taborski. 1-0 bad guys.
That score held until the first intermission and the big takeaway for me was that HC had 12 blocked shots in the opening 20. Makes it tough to score when the puck doesn’t get through. But fear not, as these ‘Dawgs will not roll over! An early PP put the Huskies comfortably in the HC zone and Taze Thompson got the equalizer. The Honeybadger, Ella Blackmore dug the puck out from behind the net and fed Skylar Irving up the LW wall. The Mayor of Kingston gathered the puck at the blue line and put one on net that Thompson re-directed 5-hole past Brooke Loranger to get this back to even.
Once the game was tied up, the conga lines to the penalty boxes ensued as the teams combined for 6 calls in the middle frame (3 per side, so fair play by Stripes). Recent Hockey East Freshman of the Week: Éloïse Caron found herself in the middle of all the calls as she was whistled for a trip (saving a breakaway, I’d call that a good penalty) and then when on the ice next (during a PK fresh out of the box) she drew a trip as she drove the net 1:3. If you’re looking for Elo on the ice, you can probably find her near the puck and in the middle of everything.
In an abbreviated power play, Jules Constantinople remembered that she possesses a cannon and decided to break it out. Sweater weather, pumpkin spice lattes and Jules dusting off her lethal 1-T: Must be October here in the Hub of Hockey! Thompson laid the short backhand to Tory Mariano at the top of the umbrella and Mariano served it up on a platter to 4-1. Far side off the post and in, total snipe.
Here’s another look. What a goal for your first of the year Jules.
Now here’s where I have to come clean and give full transparency. I was putting my daughter to bed and paused the game on ESPN+ (I had fully planned on driving over to HC for this one, but if you all had seen the look in my wife’s face when I mentioned it… you’d know why I stayed home). I came back downstairs and hit the “play” button and I got the black-screen-of-death saying my program was unavailable. After some (quietly as possible) cursing and re-booting the Roku and getting back on the ESPN app, I re-joined the game in progress after missing the opening 6 minutes of the third. I apparently missed Emily Crovo putting HC back on top, but I was able to see the highlight. I may be completely biased in my coverage, but I will be transparent about my technical issues.
The Crusaders took the lead in what I can only describe as the flukiest goal these eyes have ever seen. I’ve never seen that in a game at any level: NHL, pickup skates, college games, beer league, knee hockey or even roller… never. Mackenzie King flipped the puck on net from the neutral zone and Taborski mis-judged it with the puck banking off her glove and into the net behind her. I take full responsibility for that one Ta-Brick-Ski, The Hockey Gods punished the Huskies for my TV failures. My bad.
At this point, it was all over. The Crusaders had all the juice, the momentum and the lead. Maybe the Huskies could battle back and make it closer and give themselves something to build on for tomorrow’s rematch. That’s when Crovo entered the chat. Breaking down the LW she split the Husky defenders and beat Taborski to put HC up 4-2. Oh boy, is this really happening?
All the history between these 2 programs. The big sister, little sister vibes. The broadcast was reflecting on what this win would mean for Holy Cross. They talked about the lifetime records vs. each other. They talked about how this could be a defining moment for The Crusaders. You know what they didn’t talk about? They didn’t talk about how the Huskies have been in the big moments. They didn’t talk about the resiliency of this squad from top to bottom. And they certainly didn’t talk about how Skirvy loves the bright lights and pressure situations.
Did you all forget?
With around 3 mins left, Coach Flint and Co. pulled Taborski for the extra attacker and it paid off. Tuva Kandell fed Irving at the top of the zone and from a few feet inside the blue line, Irving let a heavy wrister go that beat Loranger over the blocker. The Huskies were within a goal.
What now? Win the draw and get Taborski out of there again and go tie it up. Sounds good Coach. This time it was Morgan Jackson from the RW dot and she went upstairs over the shoulder for her first career NCAA cookie. Have a night Ms. Jackson, that’s one you’ll remember.
That one was so nice, I gotta blog it twice.
They did it. They came all the way back. Here we go overtime, we get extra hockey! The best bid of the OT period was Mariano and Irving on a 2:1 into the HC zone and Mariano laid it across perfectly for Irving but Bolanger went left to right and smothered Irving’s bid. The teams were headed for the shootout.
First up, Crovo for Holy Cross. Crovo came wide into the zone and dragged the puck across the goalmouth and after a slight hesitation move, outwaited Taborski to tuck the puck in far side.
Next was Caron for Northeastern. Caron opened up in the slot and ripped a shot over the blocker from the face-off dot. Looked like Pastrnak on that bid. The shootout was tied.
Lulu Rourke was next up for Holy Cross and they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and Rourke tried the exact move that Crovo did but she came from the opposite side. Unfortunately for her, Taborski was wise to it at this point and moved with her all the way denying the bid.
Then it was Irving. As I referenced above, some players thrive in these moments and I think you can confidently say that Irving is one of them. I’ll just post the video showing Irving’s attempt and then Madison Michals bid.
The Huskies get the shootout win and head back for a rematch tomorrow night at Historic Matthews Arena. This post ended up being way longer than I anticipated, so just some quick observations before I leave you.
- Tonight was Mariano’s 100th Northeastern game, and she went out and had an apple while playing monster minutes. Quite an accomplishment and milestone for #4.
- If Crovo got 2G in the game and then 1G in the shootout: Is that some type of hat trick?
- In the OT, both Irving (glove save) and Constantinople (face first dive into a shot? unorthodox, but you do you) had some great defensive plays to get this to overtime.
- I seriously said out loud once the score was tied, “should they pull Taborski again and try to win this with another goal with the goalie pulled?” And as Coach Carp always tells me, that’s why I do this and I’m not behind the bench (but if you ever need me Coach Flint, I’m there)
- Kristina Allard had her legs tonight. In the first, she jumped into the offensive rush on a broken play, carried the puck behind the Holy Cross net, fed the puck into the slot and then caught the HC player on the backcheck. Holy shnikes.
- Great play by Kandell as the HC player in the penalty box came out behind her and gathered the puck breaking in on what could have been a breakaway in the first. Kandell put her head down and caught her with the backcheck. Might have been the 10ft stick, but who cares.
- Katie Davis, I see you blocking shots as the seconds were winding down in the 2nd.
- The face-offs were noticeably better as the team as a whole combined to be over 50%
- Thompson has been playing her best hockey since she’s come to Northeastern. El Capitan!
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