By Gayle Simone
The Northeastern women’s hockey team took one point out of a possible four in a pair of weekend matches against their Hockey East rival, Maine’s Black Bears, at Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine.
In Sunday’s tilt, Maine topped NU 2-1, while the teams skated to a 1-1 tie on Saturday.
After a scoreless first on Sunday, Maine tallied first 9:19 into the second.
Karen Droog beat Chanda Gunn on a rebound of teammate Meagan Aarts’ shot. Vicky Johnstone earned the second assist for the Black Bears.
Maine took the 2-1 lead early in the third when Sonia Corriveau scored just 1:09 into the final period. Andrea Steranko and Brigitte Laflamme assisted on the play.
Husky sophomore Cyndy Kenyon got NU on the board at the 10:32 mark from freshman Stephanie Wood.
Maine was whistled for a penalty with just 2:25 remaining in the game. NU pulled Gunn from the net and skated with a brief six-on-four advantage, but Maine goalie Lara Smart and the Black Bears held off the Huskies to secure the win.
Maine out shot NU 25-20, and both teams failed to connect on the power play; going 0-6 and 0-5 respectively.
“We had our chances,” said coach Joy Woog, “and they had theirs. Chanda played great, only allowing three goals the entire weekend.”
Senior co-captain Gunn made her return to the net this weekend after missing seven games due to injury. She faced a total of 51 shots making 48 saves.
“[Chanda] did great, she played very well,” Woog said. “If you didn’t know she was hurt, you wouldn’t have known she was hurt.”
In Saturday’s match-up, the Huskies had to rally from behind again and tied the Black Bears 1-1 to earn their fourth Hockey East point.
Again, the Huskies and the Black Bears skated to a scoreless first.
Maine broke the scoring drought when Corriveau broke in alone against Gunn and beat her for her first of two goals in the weekend match up.
NU tied the game with 12:58 in regulation. Wood tipped a Theresa Ella shot from the blue line. The goal is the first in a college game for Wood.
“We didn’t show up to play until the third period during this game,” Woog said. “We were fortunate to tie. I’m not disappointed with our effort or our play. We’re a young team; we work hard to create opportunities. We weren’t able to finish, and that’s a credit to their defense.”
The Huskies are now 1-3-2 in the Hockey East Conference, 7-4-3 overall. Maine extends its record to 4-1-1 in Hockey East, 5-7-3 overall.
The Huskies are back at home this weekend for non-conference action when they take on Ohio State Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. at Matthews Arena.
After this weekend’s match up, the Huskies look forward to a well-deserved two-week break.
“We designed the break on purpose,” Woog said. “A lot of our players have traveled a great distance to attend Northeastern. It will be good for them to spend the time with their families and give them a chance to miss hockey, get recharged and ready to play the second half of the season.”
After the break, the Huskies travel to Long Beach, Calif. to face Wisconsin Jan. 10 and 11. The next Hockey East match up isn’t until Jan. 18, when the Huskies face Boston College at BC. NU defeated the Eagles 5-0 in their first game of the season.
