Your Northeastern Huskies traveled down to Providence College to take on the Friars at Schneider Arena for a solo Friday night tilt this weekend. At the end of 60, I’m guessing the Huskies (as a group), would want to suit up for another go tomorrow as they found themselves on the short end of the scoreboard falling 2-1 to their Hockey East rivals.
The game opened up with good tempo and pace from both teams. The zone time was fairly even as neither side had long set-ups in the other’s zones. It was a lot of one-shot and out for both squads. Just past midway of the first, Lily Shannon had a big block in the high slot and broke the puck out and into the PC zone. This led to the first sustained attack by either team in the opening frame as NU tilted the ice back towards the PC net.
Both Paige Taborski and Hope Walinski stood tall in their respective nets as both were solid in their rebound control and were squared up to every shooter. The teams retired for the first intermission knotted at gooses and I mean, what else would you expect from a Hockey East matchup this year?
In the 2nd, PC had their longest offensive possession of the game and it paid off. A turnover high in the NU zone led to PC attacking a tired NU defense at the end of a long shift. A heavy shot off the back wall bounded back out to Taborski’s left post and then it was a scramble drill. Hannah Johnson’s one-timer from 5ft found home and put PC on the board first.
Taborski was battling all night and had a huge save with 5mins left in the middle stanza when she exploded right to left to deny a one-timer from the RW dot. Say it with me: Ta-Brick-Ski. You could see the intensity building in this one as both teams were eating pucks all night and the game started to take on the feel of a playoff game.
A late challenge put by the NU bench to the on-ice officials resulted in a major penalty called on PC when Ella Blackmore was slew-footed/tripped/high sticked all at once in front of the PC net. There was some discussion on the broadcast that Blackmore may have sold this call, but c’mon man, that’s the Honeybadger and HB’s don’t dive (and don’t care): everyone knows that.
Once the review was settled, the Huskies rolled onto the PP with 2:29 left in the period. And that’s when Tuva Kandell entered the chat. A high cycle saw Éloïse Caron work the puck to Skylar Irving coming up the LW towards the blue line. The Mayor of Kingston found Kandell across the zone and the Swedish first year player let go a high wrister over the glove and under the bar for her first NCAA goal. Great net front presence by Shannon to cause some chaos.
And of course, since NU was on a major and just scored; you knew Stripes was itching to even things up. And they did with one of the softest calls for interference that I’ve seen so far this season. So the sides were going 4:4 and now we have a new baseline for infractions yeah? Not so much as a high elbow/crosscheck on (I believe) Caron on the far side was immediately ignored. Stay hot Stripes. So the sides skated 4 aside for the remainder of the period with no additional tallies.
In the final frame, there was another :51 seconds of 4:4 and then an abbreviated power play for NU. Unfortunately, the PP wasn’t able to get set up in the PC end and the man-advantage slid by with only the one goal notched. With just under 5mins left to play, Sarah Davies finished off a 3:2 into the NU zone when she re-directed Ashley Clark’s feed up and over Taborski’s elbow and blocker to put PC ahead. A lapse in defensive coverage sent PC away and the finish was filthy.
NU got Taborski out of the cage with just over 2mins to play and maybe we’d have a Holy Cross comeback part 2? And the refs even made a call in the closing minutes (I mean they had no choice but to call the high stick/hook on Caron) of a tight game! An almost unheard of phenomenon in college hockey! The Huskies rolled 6:4 but couldn’t solve Walinski and head back home with a free Saturday to chew on this one.
Some observations from the couch:
- Ellie Mabardy made her season debut tonight and was noticeable on the ice with her puck pursuit and speed.
- Coach Carp was playing the role of mixologist tonight as he put his lines in a blender looking for a spark
- Shannon’s play stood out tonight. All zones, driving the play and great awareness. The goals for #2 are only a matter of time.
- Katie Davis showed another gear tonight, she looked like she was given a head start on a number of footraces
- Taze Thompson shows she’s willing to take hits and eat boards to make plays. Way to set the example
- The Nailgun didn’t look lost without her lineys tonight. Lily Brazis was noticeable on every single shift, just missed on that one-timer from the slot. The OG Is hot right now.
- Lily Yovetich was a guest on the podcast this past week. We had a great conversation about her career and overcoming some challenges she’s faced (not just her nickname) and how she’s risen to the challenge each time. You can find the episode here. Or watch the video below. And I don’t want to put any of her teammates on blast, but one of you STILL owes me some comments.
Up next for the Huskies is pair vs. UNH next weekend
Before I go, I’d like to get up on my soapbox and let out a little frustration with the inequalities facing these D1 athletes that their male counterparts never have to worry about. Blame Providence College, blame ESPN, blame Hockey East, but that garbage tonight was bush league. For the opening 5ish minutes of the game, the feed was from the corner camera and it looked like it was being held at shoulder height by someone my height. You couldn’t see the far corner, there were no announcers and the way the camera kept taking tight shots, you couldn’t get a feel for where the puck was. I actually taped it off my television to show some of the guys I skate with how bad it was to watch. Do you really think this happens at the men’s games? Is there no one in the facility looking at the feed for quality control? Have these people ever watched hockey before? And when you get to the players, do these athletes not work as hard as the guys to get where they are at? Do they not deserve to be treated as equals? I mean this clip below is downright embarrassing.
Now let me address the game feed once they realized they were broadcasting from the wrong camera and got it back to center ice. That little black disc on the ice that everyone is chasing? That’s called a puck and the goal of the camera person is to keep that in the middle of the frame. Maybe watch the game with one eye on the puck and one eye looking through the camera? Consistently the camera lost the puck and then had to move WAAAAAAAY to fast to find it again. I’m sure there were many people watching that needed motion sickness bags due to this camera work. My 8 year old even commented how bad it was.
These athletes and their families that are trying to watch/support them deserve better.
Ok, that’s it. I’m done with the rant. And hey for those counting at home I made it 9 games before talking about the on-ice officials. That’s a personal best.
You can read more about Brownie down below or follow him on:
Twitter: @abrow28
IG/Threads: @a_brow28
The Morning Skate 