By Jared Sugerman
After a 1-9-1 start, including a 1-2 record in Hockey East action, the women’s hockey team had something extra to be thankful for this past holiday weekend: on Nov. 20, the Huskies defeated the Quinnipiac Bobcats 3-2 at Matthews Arena.
Senior forward and captain Nikki Petrich scored her seventh and eighth goals of the season against the Bobcats, including the game-winner with 47 seconds left in regulation. Petrich also added her sixth assist against Quinnipiac, giving her a total of 14 points so far this season.
“I think it’s going to be a great way to go into Thanksgiving break and just have peace of mind for a couple of days,” Petrich said last Tuesday. “No hockey, no school and come back because after this we really do start more conference play, which is what we play for here.”
Petrich was named Hockey East Player of the Week Monday for her performance against the Bobcats.
Aside from back-to-back contests with Yale and Brown, Northeastern will face Hockey East rivals in all of its remaining 20 games. The team will also take part in the annual women’s Beanpot Tournament, which will be played this year at BU’s Walter Brown Arena. The Huskies will take on Harvard in opening round action Feb. 5.
“The team that we played with tonight was a much better team than we were when we played against them at the beginning of the season,” said head coach Laura Schuler after the team’s victory over Quinnipiac. “We’re a much different team. There have been so many things that we’ve worked on and improved.”
After failing to win any of their first seven games, the Huskies have come out on top in two of their last five match-ups.
Whether or not Northeastern’s record continues to improve this season, the Huskies have a core of young players who are already producing at the collegiate level.
With six goals and six assists for a total of 12 points this season, freshman forward Kristi Kehoe leads Hockey East in freshman scoring, and is tied for the seventh most points by a freshman in Division I.
Sophomore defenders Lindsay Berman and Katy Applin have registered seven assists each so far, adding punch to the Huskies’ attack from the blue line. Berman has also added three goals for a total of 10 points.
Between the pipes, freshman goaltender Leah Sulyma has done her share of work for Northeastern. Through the Huskies’ first 12 games of the 2007-08 campaign, Sulyma is the team leader in starts (9), goals against average (3.91) and saves percentage (.860).
Senior goaltender Sarah Belliveau, who started in 14 games as a junior, has played in four games this season, starting in three of them. Junior goaltender Stacey Scott and sophomore goalie Sydney Arbelbide, who played in 11 and 12 games respectively in 2006-07, have not been on the ice for Northeastern yet this season.
At no point this season has Schuler designated any of the four net-minders on her roster as the team’s starting goaltender.
The Huskies continue their home stand at Matthews Arena when they take on Vermont Saturday at 7 p.m.
