After a rough game for No. 12 Northeastern women’s hockey (18-9-1, 13-7-1 HE) against the University of Vermont the weekend prior, the Huskies played against the No. 15 University of Connecticut Huskies (17-9-2, 15-4-2 HE) Feb. 1 and put themselves right back on track for Hockey East success. In a back-and-forth 4-3 overtime win against UConn, the Huskies’ first line carried the team for its third season victory over the rival Huskies.
The game began with the usual Husky-on-Husky fury both teams have brought all season. At the end of the first period, UConn doubled Northeastern’s shot count, 8-4, both teams restless to find the net.
The competition to watch Feb. 1 was between goaltenders senior Tia Chan and freshman Lisa Jönsson, who hold the third- and first-highest save percentages in the country, respectively. As two of the nation’s most exceptional netminders battled it out, the first period came up empty for both teams.
Games feel predetermined when the Northeastern Huskies score first, so when senior forward Skylar Irving found the net with seven minutes into the second period, the team was on track for victory. Graduate student defender Lily Yovetich took a shot from the blue line that Irving tipped in by the net for a 1-0 scoreboard. Northeastern dominated shots in the period, taking 14 to UConn’s four, a sharp difference in offensive energy from the first period.
It took UConn a fast break from unstoppable graduate student forward Jada Habisch to tie the game, shooting past defender Kristina Allard from the right of the net and past Jönsson to bring the game to 1-1 with three minutes to go in the second period.
Going into the third period, the teams exchanged six shots before freshman forward Èloïse Caron was called for tripping. Caron holds the highest number of penalty minutes on the team at 30. The ensuing UConn power play gave senior defender Ava Rinker the opportunity to nail down her first goal of the season from the high slot, a straight shot that took UConn to 2-1 five minutes into the third period.
JADEN BOGDEN IS A NORTHEASTERN HUSKY.
📺 https://t.co/qRscjwrlvp pic.twitter.com/G0ItkCjNwF
— Northeastern Women’s Hockey (@GoNUwhockey) February 2, 2025
Caron wasn’t the only one who found the penalty box in the period. Junior forward Lily Shannon served two minutes for body-checking before she charged back on the ice for her 11th goal of the season, tying with Irving for the leading scorer. Shannon came in from the right off an assist from Irving, the puck sailing past Chan’s outstretched stick to tie the game 2-2 seven minutes into the period.
Two minutes later, graduate student forward Jaden Bogden came in with a first line trifecta after Shannon seized the puck on the face-off who raced down the ice to pass to Bogden, where Bogden finished the play with the puck in the net, 3-2.
Back on top for the second time, the Huskies were slowed down by the fourth UConn power play of the night after junior forward Holly Abela was assessed a five minute penalty after she appeared to push a UConn Husky in the head. The call was only Northeastern’s second major penalty all season. With only eight minutes left in the period, it put a depleting Northeastern defense to the test when two skaters served Abela’s penalty. Northeastern was playing 3-on-5 against UConn and Habisch took advantage, tying the game up once again, this time 3-3.
After the goal, Northeastern was allowed one more skater back on the ice for the remaining four and a half minutes. With UConn still on the power play for a 4-on-5 game, the period ticked by without further result, sending the game into Northeastern’s second overtime all season.
Northeastern got its redemption when junior forward Kyla Josifovic was called for the game’s second major, putting Northeastern on the power play for the last 30 seconds of regulation and the ensuing overtime.
TUVA MAKES IT COUNT!
HUSKIES FOREVER. pic.twitter.com/ZpY9iYL8xD
— Northeastern Women’s Hockey (@GoNUwhockey) February 2, 2025
On the power play for the 2-on-3 overtime, Northeastern needed one more goal to take home two conference points. It was freshman defender Tuva Kandell who finished the nearly 150-minute live game with a shot that rang straight to the back of Chan’s net from the faceoff circle, a powerful shot characteristic of the high-scoring defender. With Kandell’s shot the game ended with a final score board of 4-3 OT.
Northeastern took home the highest number of goals against Chan all season, a feat the team’s November 2024 matchups could not have foreseen.
The Huskies will take on the Boston University Terriers Feb. 4 for the first time since Northeastern’s 4-0 Beanpot victory. With the faceoff, the Huskies will need to come away with more points to stay competitive in Hockey East, given the team’s current third place standing, despite being the highest nationally ranked team in the conference.
