Northeastern women’s hockey (22-14-1, 15-11-1 HE) had a dramatic showdown March 8 in an overtime thriller against the Boston University Terriers (24-11-2, 18-7-2 HE) in the Hockey East Championship at the University of Connecticut’s Toscano Family Ice Forum, ending in a 3-2 victory for the Terriers. The crosstown rivals played chippy with seven total penalties, each team taking its turn chasing.

The game started fast. After two blocked shots, Boston University took the first goal after junior forward Lilli Welcke bounced the puck to graduate student defender Tamara Giaquinto, who got a back-post tap five minutes into the game. Northeastern stepped up its efforts on the power play after junior forward Riley Walsh was called for hooking with 11 minutes to go, grabbing five shots. 

Junior forward Lily Shannon found the equalizer with seven minutes to go. She passed from the boards behind the net to junior defender Jules Constantinople, who took the shot. Shannon found the rebound from the left of the net and nailed it behind senior goaltender Callie Shanahan for a 1-1 game. 

Going into the second period, both teams were desperate for a lead; the Huskies launched 15 shots to the Terriers’ 11. 

Shannon got the tie-breaker off an assist from sophomore forward Allie Lalonde, passing back and forth until a straight shot by Shannon tipped the puck into the net. It was Shannon’s 16th goal of the season and tied her season high of goals in a game. 

With five minutes left in the period, the Huskies close to a clean win, junior forward Clara Yuhn got a shot off from the top of the right faceoff circle to the top of freshman goaltender Lisa Jönsson’s net, an equalizer that sent the dogs into overtime. 

The Terriers beat the Huskies to the net five minutes in, taking the title over Northeastern.

A shot by Welcke was saved by Jönsson, but Jönsson lost the rebound and junior forward Sydney Healey nailed the puck in from Jönsson’s right to the back of the net. 

A six-year streak of Hockey East Championships ended last season in the same arena against UConn, and this year, the Huskies’ dreams of avenging it were crushed. 

At the end of a largely successful season, the Huskies will go into the 2025-26 season without several valuable seniors, including captain and forward Taze Thompson, leading scorer forward Skylar Irving and defender Tory Mariano, who boasts Hockey East’s second-highest total blocks. 

But the team will get the chance to further grow the talents of highly-awarded freshmen, including National Goalie of the Year semifinalist goaltender Jönsson, the team’s second-highest scorer, forward Éloïse Caron, and defender Tuva Kandell, who holds the most points by a rookie Husky defender since the 2013-14 season.