No. 5 Northeastern women’s hockey (22-6-1, 17-1-1 HE) took on the University of Maine Black Bears Feb. 5 (10-17-3, 6-11-3 HE) in a chippy but highly rewarding 5-1 blowout for the Huskies.
The Huskies’ offensive strength and penalty kill were on full display throughout the high-intensity 60-minute effort.
Less than three minutes into the game, held at Walter Brown Arena, junior forward Allie Lalonde took a shot from the high slot off an assist from freshman defender Ella Lloyd. It was her seventh goal of the season.
Seven minutes later, senior forward and captain Lily Shannon beat out two defenders with stick work that brought Maine’s sophomore goaltender Kiia Lahtinen nearly out of the crease, letting Shannon net the puck to Lahtinen’s left for a 2-0 scoreboard.
Northeastern’s first line took several good looks at the net, with the team leading in shots on goal 15-10 by the end of the first period. Each team took just one penalty in the first period, the beginning of what would become the chippiest game of the Huskies’ season.
Just 12 seconds into the second period, Shannon took her second of the night off a back door shot assisted by freshman forward Stryker Zablocki.
“We always talk about having a fast start. You score a goal like that, and definitely there’s people ready to go,” Shannon said of getting a goal early in the period.
At 11:35, Shannon drew a hooking penalty on Maine’s sophomore defender Kendall Sundby but was immediately called for embellishment, putting the teams on 4-on-4 play. Just 30 seconds later, senior defender Jules Constantinople took a penalty for cross-checking. In the following two minutes, freshman defender Paige Fong earned a minor for a hit after the whistle, finally putting the Huskies on the power play, although Maine managed to kill it off.
“It’s hard not playing [5-on-5] and having [penalty kill, or PK] out there the whole time, but we practice for that,” Shannon said. “We practice PK every day, so we’re definitely prepared for something to happen like that.”
With two minutes to go in the period, Maine’s freshman forward Isabelle Michaud was called for hooking. On the power play, Lalonde passed to senior defender Kristina Allard along the blue line. Allard took a shot that was deflected in by sophomore forward Morgan Jackson at the net for a 4-0 scoreboard on the power play.
A minute into the third period, Lahtinen shut down a potential Shannon hat trick with a starfish save after Maine went on the penalty kill.
Five minutes into the second period, Maine got some air, taking six consecutive shots before Northeastern cleared the zone. Lahtinen made a total of 36 saves throughout the night to keep the Black Bears in the game, and sophomore goaltender Lisa Jönsson made 31 saves to pull the Huskies through.
With 12 minutes to go, sophomore forward Éloïse Caron and Zablocki both went to the penalty box after seemingly inadvertent contact in the offensive zone — Caron for interference and Zablocki for spraying Lahtinen. The Huskies only let the Black Bears take two shots during the 5-on-3 before killing it off. Seconds after returning to even strength, Zablocki went on the breakaway, shooting past Lahtinen for a 5-0 game with 10 minutes remaining.
The Huskies might have been up by five, but obvious chirps and an unusually physical game kept the ice hot for the remainder of the game. Just a minute and a half before Jönsson secured her shutout, Maine’s Michaud netted the final goal of the game to bring it to 5-1.
“I think we got a little greedy trying to push a puck past one of the players, and they picked our pocket,” head coach Dave Flint said.
With a total of 13 penalties by the end of the night — eight for the Huskies —it was the chippiest games of the season.
Graduate student forward Jaden Bogden, who has been a big presence for the Huskies all season with 14 points (7-7) to her name, will be out of the lineup for the foreseeable future.
“Don’t know how long,” Flint said of her absence. He did not say why.
Going into the final stretch of the regular season, the Huskies aren’t slowing down. Northeastern will take on the University of Vermont Catamounts (13-14-4, 7-9-3 HE) Feb. 7 at 5 p.m.
