By Madeline Sattler, News Correspondent
The women’s hockey team clinched the Women’s Hockey East Association (WHEA) Regular Season Championship for the first time in program history after its final game against the Providence College Friars Sunday, winning 2-1.
Following the game, the commissioner of Hockey East, Joe Bertanga awarded the Huskies with the regular season title.
“Each year we’ve gradually gotten closer to that number one seed,” Gavronsky said. “It’s such a huge accomplishment to finally notch first in Hockey East.”
Senior goalkeeper Florence Schelling came up big in the final regular season game, recording 28 saves in the season finale.
“It was a rough battle,” said Schelling. “Providence is a hard team to play against.”
Schelling finished the regular season with a .950 save percentage and 1.43 goals against average. She also broke the record for most career minutes, 5,818, which was previously held by goalie Shannon Myers, class of 1999.
“She wants to end a winner,” head coach David Flint said. “And I feel pretty good with her in net right now.”
Before the game, Schelling was honored along with senior defender Stephanie Gavronsky and graduate forward Dani Rylan as part of the Senior Day celebrations. All are scheduled to graduate in May.
Junior forward Brittany Esposito started the scoring started early for the Huskies. At 4:50 in the opening period, junior forward Casey Pickett sent the puck out wide to the left where Esposito was waiting. She rocketed a shot that flew over the shoulder of Friars’ senior goalkeeper Genevieve Lacasse. The goal marked Esposito’s ninth of the season and her first in eight games.
“I think it took a little pressure off of us and then we hung on,” Flint said.
Later in the first period, Gavronsky was sent to the penalty box for body checking, putting the nation’s No. 2 penalty kill unit to the test. Providence’s power play was short lived as sophomore defender Rebecca Morse was given a two-minute minor for hitting after the whistle just 65 seconds later.
The second period began quickly for the Huskies. A mere 29 seconds into the game, sophomore defender Maggie Brennolt sent the puck towards the goal. Pickett notched her 18th goal of the season by flicking the pass behind Lacasse to give Northeastern the 2-0 lead.
“I think the biggest thing for us was getting people in front of the net,” Pickett said.
Providence had 11 shots on goal in the second period. Senior forward Ashley Cottrell broke away from the defense and had a one-on-one chance against Schelling. The puck bounced off of her pads and no one was positioned to get the rebound.
Gavronsky revisited the penalty box for tripping and freshman defender Ann Doherty was given a two-minute minor soon after, putting the Huskies in a two-(cut hyphen)man down situation. Just as Gavronsky’s penalty expired, the Friars cut the Huskies’ lead in half.
Friars’ sophomore defender Maggie Pendleton sent a shot towards the upper left corner of the goal. Cottell deflected it and the puck slipped past Schelling.
Both teams came out in the third shooting. Lacasse and Schelling combined for 19 saves in the period. Freshman forward Haley Frade snuck past the defenders and took a shot, but Schelling came up with the save, catching the puck between her legs.
“Providence had some really good chances,” Gavronsky said.
In the final two minutes, Providence pulled Lacasse for an extra attacker. But a late tripping penalty on senior defender Christie Jenson negated the extra pressure.
Sunday’s game was the second time the teams met up over the weekend. Friday night the Huskies traveled to Providence. The game proved to be a battle and ended in a scoreless 0-0 tie. Schelling and Lacasse combined for 80 saves in the game.
Because they notched the number one seed, the Huskies now have a bye week, skipping the quarterfinals Feb. 25-26. Northeastern will play the lowest seed in the semi-finals March 3 at 12:30 p.m.
“We just have to stay focused,” said Gavronsky. “No break, that’s for sure.”
