Back to front — that’s how you build a hockey team. It’s what made Dave Flint, the head coach of Northeastern’s women’s hockey, the winningest coach in program history. 

When Flint started at Northeastern in 2008, he was told one thing: “G.A.G.G.,” or, “get a good goalie.” As a former collegiate goaltender himself, he took the advice seriously — and it changed the trajectory of his team. Goaltenders Aerin Frankel, Gwyneth Philips and now freshman Lisa Jönsson have become Northeastern legends over an outstanding eight-year run for the program.

“The big thing, especially with goalies, is try to find ways to make them better but don’t screw them up,” Flint said. “I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job at not screwing up some pretty good goalies.” 

Flint saw through the collegiate years of Frankel, the two-time Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association, or WHCA, Goalie of the Year Award and Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award recipient. Frankel, who graduated from Northeastern in 2021, has been the starting goaltender for the Boston Fleet since its inaugural season in 2023 and became the first Professional Women’s Hockey League, or PWHL, goaltender to reach 1,000 saves. After several national team stints, she will be the goaltender for Team USA at the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championships from April 9 to 20. 

After Frankel graduated Northeastern in 2021, the then-senior Philips stepped up to the plate, refusing to let more than three goals slide per game throughout  104 games. She graduated with the NCAA record for career save percentage (.958) and a WHCA National Goalie of the Year Award. She now plays on the PWHL’s Ottawa Charge after being 14th overall in the 2024 draft, and the first goaltender selected. She will also play on Team USA this spring with Frankel.

Northeastern had never won a women’s Hockey East Championship until Frankel’s first year, but the 2018 win started a six-year streak for the team.

“A lot of people didn’t realize the impact that they actually had on our program and the success that we had,” Flint said of Frankel and Philips.

When Philips left in 2024, the shoes to fill were giant — but that’s when Jönsson stepped in. 

A 20 year old from Stockholm, Sweden, Jönsson didn’t waste much time causing a stir. She led the NCAA in goals against average, or GAA, and save percentage in December and January and has earned seven shutouts since the beginning of her collegiate career in October 2024. Most recently, she was named a WHCA National Goaltender of the Year semifinalist, the only freshman in the running. Since the award’s founding in 2021, Northeastern has had a goaltender in the WHCA semifinals every year.

Flint is one of the few head coaches that specialize in goaltending, giving him a unique position to prioritize netminding in recruitment and coaching on the team. 

“I think goaltending is a misunderstood position, and then when you have a coach who’s never played goalie or never coached goalies, some of them don’t know how to interact with their goalies — don’t know how to coach them the right way, maybe the right things to say when they’re struggling,” Flint said. 

Having a former goaltender as your coach, he thinks, draws potential goaltenders to the program. Flint has used his experience as a goalie for North Adams State College (now the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts) to build a collaborative relationship with his players by trusting their word. 

“[After pitching something new] we’ll have another discussion of, like, ‘All right, what do you think?’ I want them to be comfortable when they’re in the goal,” Flint said. 

When his goalies trust him to look out for them, it shows in their work. 

“His character is honestly a big reason why we’ve been so successful. He’s very honest and very helpful. As a goalie, sometimes you’re put in weird positions, and it helps to know your coach has your back,” Philips said. 

Jönsson thinks Flint’s secret is successfully identifying goaltenders’ strengths. 

“Instead of just reforming us, he’s just working with what he has and trying to make us better at the things we’re already good at,” Jönsson said.

Flint has recruited exceptional goaltenders into the Huskies’ net for years — some of it is luck and some of it is recognizing skill over size. 

Frankel, who Flint recruited out of Shattuck-Saint Mary School’s hockey team in 2017, wasn’t a top pick going into college, given her 5 ‘5’ stature. Flint admits that he “hit the lottery.”

“I think my college recruitment process was a little bit different than probably a lot of people that are playing in this league. I wasn’t really highly recruited,” Frankel said.

When she visited Northeastern, Frankel was told she would get a fair shot at the net. It was the first time she believed it.

“People looked past Frankel a lot because of her size, where coach Flint didn’t and was willing to take this unorthodox style goalie and bring her in,” Philips said, who stands at 5 ‘7″. “And I’m not the biggest goalie either, but he was willing to take a chance on me, bringing me in.” 

Frankel and Philips took home a long list of accolades despite their height, with five Hockey East Goaltender of the Year awards between them. 

“I think the more talented goalies are going to continue to go to Northeastern because they’re seeing Lisa, Gwyn [and] myself having success,” Frankel said. 

No one proves this more than Jönsson herself. 

“[My mom and I] started looking into [Northeastern] and then we saw Aerin Frankel and Gwyneth Philips and we were like ‘Oh my god this is such a great school’ so I reached out to coach Flint,” Jönsson said. 

When Flint saw Jönsson competing for Sweden at the U18 World Championships – beating Finland and nearly Canada — he knew she was something special. 

“I saw the same thing [as Frankel and Philips], you know, a compete level that was really high. And handling pressure really well,” he said.

At 6 ‘0’, “she takes up a lot of net,” Flint said, in contrast to Frankel.

“She doesn’t get too high, she doesn’t get too low and that’s what you need out of a goalie — you just need that consistency night in and night out and then that gives your team confidence too,” Flint said. “She’s picked up where Gwyn and Aerin left things.”

Jönsson didn’t think she would get to play as a freshman, but after her first game Oct. 12, 2024, she quickly became the Huskies’ starting netminder. And Jönsson might not have known what the Beanpot tournament was before arriving at Northeastern, but after a shutout in the final game, she became the first freshman to take home all of the tournament’s prizes, including the Bertagna Award and MVP — along with the championship trophy. 

“I think I’ve only played for a maximum of 3,000 people before. Suddenly you have 10,000 more and it’s just insane,” Jönsson said, referring to the record 13,279 fans in attendance at the 2025 Women’s Beanpot.

Women’s hockey has never gotten the crowds that men’s teams have, but that’s changing. The 2025 Beanpot final brought in the largest women’s hockey crowd in New England history — and everyone knew Jönsson’s name. 

“It’s just amazing to hear them scream my name. … I hear them and I’m like ‘Yes!’ and I get so excited and it’s so fun to play when you know you have the support,” Jönsson said.

Just last year, Philips took home a 2-1 victory at the 45th Women’s Beanpot Championship game, the first women’s Beanpot championship and consolation games played at TD Garden. The win was especially important after she’d borne witness to the growth of the sport over her five years at Northeastern. 

“To see what that crowd was versus the same exact scenario four years later, … it’s just so exciting to see,” Philips said. 

Women’s hockey has been part of a wave of rising popularity in women’s athletics. As professional goaltenders in the PWHL, Frankel and Philips are at the front of the revolution of women’s hockey and have opportunities women hockey players have never had before. 

“I didn’t really have much time to dream about it,” Frankel said. She spent a year playing for the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association’s team Adidas after college when rumors of a new league began circulating. “We were all kind of just trying to not get ahead of ourselves.”

“I was thinking, all right, four years of college and then I’ll get my degree and maybe play a beer league,” Philips said, referring to the casual, social hockey leagues across the country. She entered college playing behind Frankel for her first three years before starting in her fourth and fifth year; she didn’t see playing professionally as an option before the PWHL. 

Flint still tunes in for their games to see the two women dominate in Boston and Ottawa. 

“Even now in my career, I turn to him frequently with questions and just to bounce ideas off him, and he watches a lot of our games and comes to games as well,” Frankel said.

When Philips’ Ottawa Charge and Frankel’s Boston Fleet faced off against each other earlier this season, Flint was hoping for a double shutout. 

“I texted them after and said, ‘I was hoping for a 0-0 tie, but I’m super proud of you guys,’” Flint said. “To see the two of them as two of the best goalies in the world is really a proud moment for me.”