By Gayle Simone
The Huskies had been slumping in their last five games, but not just in terms of wins and losses — also in their work ethic on the ice. One of those was rectified on Saturday when they hosted New Hampshire in the final game of the regular season.
NU fell to the Wildcats, 2-0, but they showed they can play against the top seed in the Hockey East playoffs by holding UNH scoreless through two periods at Matthews Arena. Chanda Gunn made 37 saves through two periods before NU allowed the first goal at 13:45 of the final period.
Wildcat freshman Sadie Wright-Ward finished off a pass from Stephanie Jones on a 2-on-1 breakaway for the game winner. Gunn was focused on Jones as she skated in on the near side. Jones slid the puck to Wright-Ward on the far post; Gunn couldn’t recover in time to stop the freshman from tucking the puck inside the post.
UNH senior Carolyn Gordon scored a breakaway goal with 4:41 left to secure the victory.
Gunn finished with 43 saves.
“Unfortunately we weren’t successful,” Gunn said. “But wins and losses are not always the marker of success.”
Gunn explained the team had fun on the ice, but needs to score to beat UNH, who they face in the Hockey East Semifinals Saturday at 4 p.m. at Matthews Arena.
“We haven’t scored a goal in three games,” Gunn said. “It’s going to be tough to beat UNH if we don’t score a goal. But hopefully we can pull off the upset that is what we are all hoping for.”
Freshman Amy Goodney, who leads the team in goals (12), echoed her goalie with the lack of shots taken by the Huskies.
“Their goalie lets out a lot of rebounds,” Goodney said. “The bounces just weren’t going our way. Hopefully luck can change that.”
Coach Joy Woog, who had been concerned with her team’s lack of effort the past five games, was pleased with the team’s turnaround despite the loss, especially in her goaltender.
“It was great to have her back,” Woog said. “I mean there was a period of time where she had lost some confidence, we didn’t lose any confidence in her. But she had lost some confidence in herself. For me it was like, ‘Why? Why don’t you have confidence? I don’t understand.'”
Junior co-captain Lori DiGiacomo said the team was more relaxed coming into the game against the Wildcats.
“It was basically about having fun,” DiGiacomo said. “We had nothing to lose, nothing to gain. We already have our playoff spot, so we just went out and had fun.”
Woog said the Huskies can beat any team in the country if they play their game.
“We haven’t really played as a team recently,” Woog said. “That’s what we did today, and that’s what we are going to have to do next week. I think we can beat UNH.
“Everyone is going to have to have a good game; Chanda is going to have to have a great game. We are definitely going to have to create more scoring opportunities if we want to win. If we get a little bit of luck and a hot goaltender, I think we can win.”
Woog is confident because they have played UNH four times this season that the Huskies can give them a “run for their money.”
“We know UNH, we know what they have,” Woog said. “We know what to prepare for. At this point we don’t know if we’ll play Maine or Providence, but you got to win that first one. We are going to specifically prepare for UNH and we’re going to be ready for them.”
UNH leads the all-time series against the Huskies 55-28-7 and won the Hockey East regular-season title for the first time since 1998, when they were in the ECAC.
