By Kathryn Uggerholt, News Correspondent
After three straight losses and a win against the No. 7 Boston University Terriers last Wednesday turned the No. 10 Northeastern Huskies around. The team has earned points in their last five games in a 4-1 victory Wednesday night at Matthews arena. Freshman forward Kendall Coyne had a goal and two assists for her fifth consecutive multipoint game. Goalie Florence Schelling made 29 saves in the victory.
“BU is a very good team,” Schelling said after the game. “They show up every time we play them. They’re playing hard and playing physical. For us to have both wins so far against them this season is huge and shows that we can beat big teams as well.”
Going into the game, Northeastern had only beat BU twice in their last fourteen meetings.
“Every point in Hockey East is important but against one of the top teams, they were preseason number one and picked to finish first,” head coach Dave Flint said after the game. “Any time you can get a couple points from them here and there, it’s important and we have four so far. It’s a good confidence boost for us as a team.”
The opening period started out with both teams going back and forth for three minutes, but Northeastern had the edge in shots. The Huskies soon began to control the play a bit more and it paid off with a goal from freshman forward Lucie Povova. Junior forward Rachel Llanes worked the puck from behind the net and tried for a wrap around but when she could not she got the puck to Povova for her fifth goal of the season at 8:37.
That lead was quickly extended by an unassisted goal to Coyne, her 14th, which leads Hockey East. Coyne almost lost possession of the puck but regained it and found herself just to the right of goaltender Kerrin Sperry (26 saves). The bad angle wrist shot got past Sperry and the score read 2-0 with just over 10 minutes to go in the period.
Sperry appeared to gain her bearings following the second goal and stood tall against the Northeastern power play she stopped 44’s shot from the blue line when Northeastern. Both teams would go 0-for-1 on power play chances in the opening period.
The middle stanza jumped out to a scary start when Povova went down hard into the boards and was slow to get up. She skated to the bench on her own power and returned later in the period.
Senior defender Stephanie Gavronsky made it 3-0 when she had a breakaway and beat Sperry glove side at 3:37. Coyne and junior forward Brittany Esposito got the assists on the goal. The assist gives Coyne her fifth multipoint game in a row.
The Terriers started to pick up the pace from there and started racking up the shots on goal. BU’s captain Jenn Wakefield had a chance on a breakaway against Schelling but was denied and the Husky defense retrieved the puck after it bounced awkwardly almost over the goaltender. The visiting team had another opportunity when two skaters faced sophomore defender Maggie Brennolt on a 2-on-1 but could not get a shot off.
Northeastern’s penalty kill was tested in the last five minutes of play when the team took a penalty for too many men on the ice at 16:24, and then freshman defender Ann Doherty took a tripping penalty at 16:38 to give BU 1:46 minutes-worth of a 5-on-3 power play. The Huskies were perfect in their triangle set up to kill it off and then kill off the remaining time.
“That was very important,” Schelling said of killing off the penalties. “For me it was important to stay calm and not get nervous. I know when I get nervous, the team starts freaking out.”
Schelling was standing on her head, making a series of saves with about 14:14 to go in the third. The reigning Women’s Hockey East Association Defensive Player of the Week, who says the title does not intimidate her opponents, went into a full split to stop the Terriers from scoring on her.
Those flurry of chances gave Boston momentum and they would break the shut out when a puck got over Schelling’s shoulder at 6:36.
Boston had a shot at adding to the score a few minutes later when Gavronsky took a penalty to put Northeastern down a player. Schelling made a pad save early on then had to make a diving save as the penalty expired.
Both teams had chances as the time ticked down to down to five minutes. First, Povova went in on Sperry and was denied but picked up her rebound and was denied again. Shortly after Wakefield of Boston drove hard to the net and came across the crease but could not bury the puck.
Esposito would cap the scoring with just over three minutes to go when she was set up in front of the net and took a pass from behind the net and knocked it home. Junior forward Casey Pickett and Coyne would grab the helpers.
The Huskies split the home-and-home series against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats with a 3-3 tie Saturday and a 5-1 victory on Sunday.
“We had a tough skid there for a couple of games,” Esposito said. “I think it opened our eyes a lot and we’re starting to come together as a team more now, and working hard for a full 60 minutes.”
Sunday’s contest against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats saw 10 different skaters notch points and the only goal on them was on a 6-on-3 opportunity with a goalie pulled. Both teams had an even number of shots at 27 and Schelling made 26 saves for the victory.
Esposito called the Wildcats a “really hardworking team” with full lines, not just star players. “They have talented players but they’re a hard working blue collar team and they’re coming at you every shift so you’ve always got to be ready, not just for a few players but for the whole team.”
While Esposito was impressed with every Wildcat players’ ability to score at any given moment, Flint believed that his own team is the one with the impressive roster.
“I think it shows our depth, for once in my four years here we have a lot of depth,” Flint said. “We have four lines that we can play, we have six defenders that we can play. It’s nice to have that, and just to have everyone contributing. You don’t want to get too many points from one line, you’d like to spread it out and get everyone contributing.”
Flint also said he thinks Sunday’s victory was the first time his team has put in a solid, complete-game effort.
“They can’t just play 20 minutes here, or 40 minutes, and expect to be successful consistently,” Flint said. “One thing I harped on on Sunday is a 60 minute effort and to take care of business and they did.”
The team had a 2-0 lead after the first period and never trailed in the game. Coyne opened the scoring at 9:39 when she deflected a puck into the net. Forwards Kelly Wallace and Povova got the helpers. Coyne was named Hockey East Player of the Month for November.
Graduate forward Dani Rylan extended the lead after she knocked a rebound into the net following a scrum in front of the goalie. Sophomore forwards Katie MacSorley and Claire Santostefano were both involved and got the assists on Rylan’s eventual gamewinner.
The second period was scoreless despite the Huskies outshooting the Wildcats by a tally of 8-6.
Northeastern kept battling in the final 20 minutes of play. Esposito’s shot from the slot hit the back of the net to put the home team up by three just 39 seconds into the period. Brennolt and Pickett tallied the assists.
“Its 2-0 and the next goal is big,” she said after practice Monday. “Coach [Flint] really hammered that into our mind, ‘This next goal, you’ve got to get it.’ We just came fired up.”
Junior forward Siena Falino scored at the 9:31 mark to put the game away. Esposito had the assist – she leads the team with 12.
Falino’s goal was only her second of the season and it impressed Flint, who said it was a big goal for the team.
“She’s had a little bit of a lesser role for us this year but she’s done well in the role that she’s had and I was happy to see her get a goal,” he said Monday.
Pickett and Sonia St. Martin took back-to-back penalties for tripping that would give New Hampshire 49 seconds worth of a 2-man advantage but it became a 3-man advantage when goaltender Lindsey Minton (22 saves) was momentarily pulled.
Pickett made up for her penalty with Northeastern’s fifth goal, her 11th on the season, at 13:18 that would cap the scoring. An assist to Coyne gave the senior her fourth multiple point game in a row.
Flint said he was impressed by all his players in the Sunday game and noted it as an important game especially after the tie a day prior.
“We didn’t play the way we were capable of for 60 minutes [Saturday] so it was important that we started quick and we got on the board first,” Flint said. “I think the momentum carried from there and we had some confidence and we just went with that.”
Esposito shared similar sentiments, adding the team was frustrated.
“We had a lot of chances the whole game so it was huge for us to come back and put them away,” she said. “We know we could have done that on Saturday.”
Northeastern tied with New Hampshire the day before at 3-3 in Durham and it was game they thought they should have won.
“It was a good wake up call,” Flint said. “New Hampshire is still a good team and their place is a tough place to play, but that was two points we should have had instead of one.”
Gavronsky got her team in the lead at 7:10 of the first. The senior took a pass from MacSorley after Santostefano started off the play with a faceoff win. Coyne extended the lead at 14:26 with the help of Esposito to make it 2-0.
New Hampshire would not let the score deter their effort as they cut the lead in half at 16:27. The teams would head to the dressing room with the score at 2-1 but when they returned to the ice, the Wildcats tied things up at 11:05.
A pair of power play goals were the deciding factors in the final period. A slashing penalty to Coyne gave the Wildcats an extra skater as they converted to get a lead at 5:08. That lead did not last long as the Huskies soon found themselves on the power play and Coyne redeemed herself by tying the game with a goal at 6:16 with assists to Gavronsky and Pickett.
Both teams kept at it and the game headed to overtime, the second time for the Huskies this season. Neither team scored and the game ended in a draw.
The Huskies will suit up again in 2012 on Jan. 5 against Clarkson College. The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena.
