By Navaneeth Kalluru, news correspondent
After facing a professional Canadian team in its first exhibition game, the Northeastern women’s hockey team beat the Oakville Hornets, a high school Canadian team, 5-1 at Matthews Arena on Saturday.
The Huskies started their second exhibition game of the season with a bang by scoring the first goal in under 30 seconds. They followed up with another goal five minutes into the period. Junior forward Kendall Coyne, named to the Team USA roster for the upcoming Four Nations Cup, scored both of these early goals. Junior forward Paige Savage, also named to the US roster, assisted Coyne on the second goal.
“I bet they [the Hornets] were a little bit nervous about playing players that were a lot older than them, and I think we took advantage of that right away,” Coyne said.
The Huskies finished the period with a buzzer-beater goal by freshman forward Denisa Krizova, assisted by freshman defender Ainsley MacMillan. The team finished with 15 shots in the frame, while the Hornets only mustered five.
Northeastern started the second period right where it left off. Senior forward Chelsiea Goll scored the team’s fourth goal just two minutes into the half. Freshman forward Shelby Herrington was close to scoring four minutes into the period, but the puck hit the pipe. Northeastern’s lead remained 4-0.
The Hornets capitalized 15 minutes into the second period when Oakville defenseman Meaghan Hector pushed the puck past Northeastern senior goalie Chloe Desjardins, off a pass by forward teammate Madison Field. The Huskies responded with a series of shots, but Oakville goalie Daniela Paniccia was ready to deflect anything that came her way. The Huskies had 13 shots to Oakville’s eight in period.
“I thought we created some good offense, but we also broke down and we did give up some odd-man rushes the other way, and those are the things we need to work on,” Head Coach Dave Flint said.
Northeastern started the third period with strong attacks on offense, despite being charged with two penalties. Krizova scored her second goal of the game after a breakaway to put the Huskies on top 5-1. The Huskies attempted 15 shots in the third period while the Hornets shot seven times.
“I thought we got a little too passive the last 10 minutes of the second period,” Flint said. “Third period, we came back and played at the speed we’re supposed to play at.”
The team starts the regular season at Syracuse University on Friday.
Flint said he thought the Huskies played a good game, coming off a narrow loss to the Montreal Stars in the first exhibition game.
“We have to play game more consistently. That’s it,” Flint said.
He also emphasized the need to play at a high level throughout the entire game.
“We can’t pick and choose where we want to play hard,” Flint said. “I think it’s important that they figure out the game is 60 minutes long, not 45 or 50 minutes.”
The Huskies still have room for improvement in the upcoming games, according to Coyne.
“I think it’s go-time and you got the exhibitions out of the way. We’re looking forward to Syracuse and [the Rochester Institute of Technology] this weekend,” she said. “We have a lot of work to get through this week, and I think we just have to make sure we capitalize on the little things, and that’s what’s going to make a big difference at the end.”
Photo by Kariman Abuljadayel
