Despite notching a 4-1 win Nov. 1, the Northeastern women’s hockey team (5-5-1, 3-3-1 HE) fell to the New Hampshire Wildcats (5-4-1, 2-4-0 HE), 2-0, Oct. 9, continuing the Huskies’ inconsistent start to the season. 

Heading into the game, the team was battling against a near 50-50 record, with their first line graduate student forward, Jaden Bogden, out and junior forward Holly Abela moving up from the third line to take her place. Senior goaltender Paige Taborski was back in the net for a third straight game after having switched out with freshman goaltender Lisa Jönsson previous games. 

The Huskies brought the energy right from the first whistle, pressured to fend off another second night defeat, something the team’s been cursed with this season. Five shots launched into the Wildcat net in the first five minutes, the Husky’s consistent net-front presence working for them. But the crowd held their breath for a goal that wasn’t in the cards. The Huskies stayed in the offensive zone and created space for close shots, but they weren’t seeing results. The teams changed dominant possession midway through the period as UNH began to pick up its feet to match the Huskies. 

The first power play of the night was for the Wildcats after freshman defender Tuva Kandell received two minutes for tripping sophomore forward Julia Cabral. The Huskies started in the offensive zone, holding the puck close for the first minute of the penalty. When the Wildcats managed to get away, the arena tensed as UNH fired off five shots in the next minute, four of which were saved nicely by Taborski. 

Minutes later, with six minutes left in the period, the Huskies received their own two minute advantage after graduate student forward Sara Boucher was put in the box for boarding. The earlier spark from the Huskies was dissipating during the penalty, though, with Northeastern tripping up, maintaining a weak possession and not pursuing the net aggressively as they only got two shots off. 

The end of the first period had the puck changing rapidly between teams, both desperate to finish the period on top. With a minute to go, the game got more physical when graduate student Maddie Crowley-Cahill pushed graduate student forward Katie Davis into the boards.

With fewer penalties called than were delivered, both captains exchanged words with the refs. 

The second period started with nothing in the net and every skater on the ice working overtime to flip the script. Three minutes into the period, freshman forward Morgan Jackson received a two minute penalty for tripping after colliding with sophomore forward Sydney Leonard, starting the second Wildcat power play. 

As the power play began, Abela got a close shot off while UNH seemed slow on their feet in maintaining possession. Seventy seconds into the power play, UNH finally found themselves holding the puck steady in their offensive zone. The Huskies defense lightened the pressure for a second in time, enough for graduate student defender Andi Calderone to send a quick pass towards senior forward Shea Verrier, who found an opening from the top of the faceoff circle. Verrier launched the puck behind Taborski’s left shoulder, who had senior forward Kira Juodikis blocking her vision. With that, UNH scored the first goal of the night on the power play, five minutes into the second period.

Despite being up 1-0, the Wildcats weren’t settling down. The score was reminiscent of the previous night’s game, which ended with the Huskies taking the final win 4-1. The energy in Matthews Arena picked up quickly, both teams exchanging close shots on goal before sophomore forward Ella Blackmore skated in with a puck that bounced off the pipe. 

Eight minutes into the second period, Blackmore raised her hands in hesitant celebration before dropping them down as play continued — that is, until the lights in the arena turned red and it appeared for a moment that Blackmore’s ferocity on the ice all afternoon had been converted into the net. The team celebrated only for the call to be disappointingly reassessed and overturned. 

A minute later, Boucher tripped junior forward Lily Shannon in the corner, sending the UNH forward to the box for two minutes. The Husky power play that followed was disappointing, as Northeastern proved unable to tie the game up. One shot was fired in the time slot by junior defender Jules Constantinople but missed the net, the team unable to capitalize, adding to a low power play conversion rate of .103.

Ten seconds after her release from the box, Boucher intercepted senior defender Tory Mariano on the offensive blue line, taking off into an empty defensive zone with Mariano on her heels. Just when it appeared Mariano had successfully shrugged the Wildcat off, Boucher launched an upwards sailing puck towards Taborski’s right shoulder, creating the second goal of the night, and giving UNH a two-point differential with nine minutes left in the second period. 

The teams battled it out for the next five minutes, Northeastern dominating possession, sending off seven empty shots. The Huskies were whiffing on the last hit, creating opportunities and space they weren’t finishing.

In an effort to slide into the offensive zone with two minutes left in the period, freshman forward Éloïse Caron was tripped up by Crowley-Cahill, who was called for slashing, giving the Huskies their third power play of the afternoon. Abela took a close shot, barely caught by the end of sophomore goaltender Noemi Martinez’s stick right as the goaltender was trampled by at least five skaters from both teams. 

With that, the period was over, New Hampshire and Northeastern coming away with 16 and 15 shots on goal in the period, respectively.

Coming into the third period, the Wildcats slowed down with the goal differential in their favor, the Huskies unable to convert. It wasn’t for lack of trying, as Northeastern dominated offensively, firing off nine shots in the first four minutes. The Huskies weren’t laying off the aggression when Shannon went flying over two sticks in the crease, giving Calderone a two minute penalty for hooking, and beginning the fourth Husky power play of the night.

A minute into the advantage, Caron found herself tussling with Verrier in the Wildcat crease, ending with Caron on her hands and knees, apparently grabbing onto Verrier’s leg. In a bizarre moment, play stopped without a whistle and Caron was sent to the penalty box for holding. After putting five seconds on the clock, play started again with both Caron and Calderone in the box. 

Senior forward Taze Thompson got away with the puck for a close shot but missed, and moments later senior forward Skylar Irving tried the same move, but neither skater was able to find the back of the net. 

Every player on the ice was out for blood, successfully exhausting UNH defense, but the hard work was for naught. By the end of the third period, Northeastern had fired off a grand total of 32 shots in the period with no result. In the last second of the game Caron and Alvarez were called for a minor penalty on roughing after tensions escalated into a fight by the net. 

UNH won against Northeastern for the first time since December 2017, giving Martinez her first career shutout. 

“I think we could have had a 6-2 game if we could have capitalized. The post and the crossbar were not our friends tonight,” head coach Dave Flint said after the game. 

“I thought our execution was actually pretty good, with the exception of just putting the puck in the net. That happens sometimes,” Flint said. “The message [towards the team] has just been, ‘Focus on the process and what we need to do well to be successful.’ I thought we did a lot of those things well today. It just didn’t turn out in our favor.”

Northeastern take the ice again on Nov. 8 against the University of Connecticut Huskies (6-4-0, 5-0-0 HE).