Your Northeastern Huskies squandered not one, but two opportunities (and a potential 6 points in the Hockey East standings) when they dropped both ends of a home and home series with the Providence College Friars this weekend. The vibes had reached immaculate status after the opening round of the Beanpot, so if you want to say that the squad may have been overlooking PC just a bit? Yeah, based on the aggregate score of 8-3 in the pair of L’s, I’d say that tracks.
Sophomore media darling Mattie Robitzer got the nod in net on Friday night for the Huskies and this game had all the makings of a feel good story for NU. It was the first career start for Robo, the whole squad would rally around her to get the W and The Saboteur ends up first star and gets her own talk show on Husky TV.
Unfortunately that was not the case. What’s the expression? Hockey coaches plan and The Hockey Gods laugh? Or something like that. PC came out flying and the NU defense decided to leave the front of the net clear and unguarded. Over a span of about 6:30 in the first period, PC salted this one away. First Mégane Quirion and then Kiara Kraft tucked home rebounds from the doorstep as the Huskies employed a “leave them alone” defense in front of Robitzer’s net. Then it was friendly fire as Hannah Johnson put one past Robitzer off of a NU defenseman. 20 minutes in and down 3-0, I’m not entirely sure this was the way it was drawn up in the coaches’ room.
Robitzer shut the door for the middle frame. She was tracking the puck well and looked fluid side to side and didn’t let the opening period define her. She was out on top of her angles and challenging shooters the rest of the contest, but it was going to be an uphill battle. PC potted another before The Captain entered the chat. With Robo pulled for an extra attacker, Lily Brazis kept the puck in at the PC blue line and found Jaden Bogden below the RW circle. Bogden waited and put the puck onto Taze Thompson‘s tape as she drove the net. A quick one-timer from the slot over the blocker and the Huskies finally got on the board. The OG to Bogs to Taze.
PC added another with the net empty for the Huskies and NU heads home on the wrong end of this one. But hey, tomorrow’s another day and another chance for the Huskies to get it going back in the right direction. This should shake the Huskies back to the here and now, and have them compartmentalize the Beanpot game coming up on Tuesday. I’d bet the house that the Huskies come out and dominate PC for the Taylor Swift game at Historic Matthews Arena. Right?
And that ladies and gents, is why I don’t gamble. The Huskies put forth a significantly better effort, but at the end of 60 they still found themselves on the short end of the scoreboard. For this game it was Lisa Jönsson in net for NU but at the other end of the sheet, for the 2nd game in a row it was Hope Walinski: who’s rapidly developing into a bit of a ‘Dawg-walker as she’s beaten NU 3x this season. And yes, she’s accomplished the rare feat of beating the entire goalie room for NU. Funny, she doesn’t look like the big bad wolf.
Kraft got the Friars on the board first as she finished off a 2:1 with Ashley Clark getting the primary apple. The Huskies were carrying the pace for the majority of the first, but it was the Friars who cashed in early.
Allie Lalonde pulled NU back to even early in the 2nd as she put one far side from the top of the RW circle on a NU power play. Morgan Jackson gets an uncredited assist as she took away Walinski’s sightline with her net front presence. This was Lalonde’s first goal of the year and it’s great to see her back out there putting an impact on the game.
The Friars added 2 more in the middle frame as the Huskies were a bit careless with puck management and PC could smell blood in the water. NU had a hard time working the puck out of the zone and when they did get setup in the PC end, the PC forwards would fly the zone pulling the Husky defenders with them and not having anyone available at the point for possession. Bottom line: the Huskies had 20mins to climb back into this one.
Jules Constantinople brought the Huskies back within a goal when she dropped down the LW and tucked a rebound home at the left post. Brazis put a shot on net from the slot and Constantinople was there for the rebound. Keep the change ya filthy animal.
The Huskies pulled Jönsson but couldn’t get the equalizer and fell to the Friars 3-2. This marks the first time that PC has swept NU in a season since 2017-2018. Guess the Huskies will hope that they get another crack at the Friars in the Hockey East playoffs.
Some ‘tendy love….
As my daughter said after the game, at least we got some pizza. Leave it to an 8-year old to find the bright side on a rainy night at Matthews. And someone please let Eric know that there was no pineapple in the vicinity.
So PC goes home and keeps their 6-game win streak intact while the Huskies lick their wounds after suffering their first (and second) loss of the calendar year. Ouch.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, the Beanpot finals are this coming Tuesday. I was lucky enough to have Mary Ciampa from WomenX and Linda Lundrigan from Northeastern (player, coach and Beanpot Hall of Famer – not a big deal) on a special Beanpot podcast which you can find below.
So now there’s no looking past anyone. The next game for the Huskies is the Championship Game at the TD Garden vs. Boston University. PC can consider themselves lucky they caught the Huskies while NU was looking ahead to the Beanpot Final. No such luck for BU as I predict this score to go NU’s way 5-2, but again, I’m not a gambler.
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