Cyndy Kenyon has been named The Northeastern News Player of the Week after she tallied a goal and an assist, propelling the women’s hockey team to a 2-1 home victory against Providence on Sunday.
The win also slid the Huskies past the Friars in the Hockey East standings; NU moved into the third spot with a 3-3-2 record, Providence fell to fourth at 3-2-1.
“I think we all knew we could Providence,” said Kenyon. “But it was a big deal to actually come out with the win.”
The sophomore forward has provided the offensive spark all season, leading the team in goals (10), assists (11) and points (21). Kenyon is also second on the team with a + 10 plus/minus.
“She is opportunistic when she gets the puck,” said coach Joy Woog. “She’s the one putting the puck in the net right now. It’s getting to be an inside joke, asking ourselves ‘How did that puck go in?’ But that’s just Cyndy, when she shoots, it goes in. That’s something you need on a team.”
No one could ever accuse Kenyon of being trigger-shy. Her 72 shots on goal this season is tops on the team by a long shot. Theresa Ella holds down the second place spot with 47.
“She’ll shoot the puck whenever she gets the opportunity, she never passes up a shot,” said Woog.
“This is my third year on a line with Cyndy,” said freshman Amy Goodney, who also played alongside Kenyon on the Aspen Avalanche and the Wisconsin Wild, both 19-and-younger teams. “She’s always grinding it out, she has good hands, a great shot and she’s fast. She is also very competitive, you know she’s never going to give up on a puck, and she usually makes a play on it.”
Kenyon sustained a broken ankle in a game against Merrimack and missed eight games. She returned to action with the ankle still broken, and playing at 60 percent strength, managed to score six points (three goals, three assists) in the team’s final five games. She finished the season with three goals and seven assists.
As a high school sophomore, Kenyon was the only girl on the Sparta (Wisc.) boy’s varsity hockey team. She was named the 2002 Sparta Athlete of the year as a senior.
With only a two-game series with Connecticut left before the opening round of the Beanpot, Kenyon knows the team still has some work to do.
“We are coming out with wins, but only scoring when we need to; not playing complete games,” she said. “[The Beanpot] is a big deal to those [who] have been there before. You have to experience it to see just how big of a deal it is. [The team] is from all over, we don’t have a lot of local kids so they don’t know the tradition.”
– Peter Conroy, News Staff
