By Gayle Simon
Two late third period goals from Amy Goodney and Cyndy Kenyon lifted the Northeastern women’s hockey team to a 2-1 victory over Hockey East rival Providence on Sunday at Matthews Arena.
Down 1-0, 13:22 in the third, freshman Amy Goodney rocketed a one-timer past Friar goalie Jana Bugden to tie the game 1-1.
Then, with 2:51 left in regulation, Cyndy Kenyon gave the Huskies the lead.
Rachel Bertram sent a slap-shot at Budgen, who got a pad on the puck, but it popped out in front of the net. Goodney then passed over to Kenyon who slid the puck along the ice past Budgen for the winner and her tenth goal of the season.
Kenyon and Goodney earned two points in the game, scoring a goal and an assist apiece.
“Our line is an offensive line,” Goodney said. “Cyndy and I feed off each other. I always try to get her the puck.”
Providence pulled Budgen with 53 seconds remaining in the game, but Husky net minder Chanda Gunn stifled the Friars to hold on for the win. Gunn made 35 saves in the game.
“We did a really good job in the defensive end,” Gunn said. “They out shot us but it really wasn’t that bad. We worked hard and we earned the win.”
The Friars struck first with a second period goal. Sonny Watrous nailed a rebound past Gunn for her fourth goal of the season.
“The original shot was a wrap around from behind the net, that I made the save on,” Gunn said. “Then the puck got loose in front of the net and they made a good play. [Watrous] was in position and got it past me.”
The goal came at the end of a Providence power-play. Lori DiGiacomo was called for a two-minute minor hitting from behind penalty. DiGiacomo was just stepping out of the box when the Friars took the 1-0 lead.
“The goal was scored when we still were not at full strength,” Gunn said. “The penalty had expired, but Lori wasn’t back on defense.”
The teams skated to a scoreless first period with the Friars out shooting the Huskies 15-2. The Huskies were out shot in the game 36-19.
“Chanda and the team defense kept us in position,” said NU coach Joy Woog. “Our philosophy is to take away time and space. Get the puck out of our zone, be aggressive and play our strengths.”
The Huskies improved to 3-3-2 in Hockey East and 9-5-6 overall. The win also puts NU in third place in the conference with eight points.
Both squads had ample opportunities on the power-play, but neither could capitalize on the man advantage. The Huskies were 0-5 on the man advantage, but successfully killed off eight power-play attempts by Providence. Next up for the Huskies is a home-and-home series with Hockey East foe University of Connecticut.
NU travels to UConn for a Friday night match-up and returns home to Matthews Arena for a 7 p.m. start on Saturday.
“UConn is scary. They play hard and gritty,” Woog said. “They play our style of game so it will kind of be like playing ourselves. We have to create offensive opportunities.”
NU went 1-2-0 against UConn last season.
“To be honest with you, I won’t think about Connecticut until maybe Thursday night,” Gunn said. “I don’t just take it game-by-game; I literally take it day-by-day. I just want to have a good week of practice and go in and have a good series.”
DiGiacomo agreed with her teammate’s philosophy.
“We have to stress how important this is to the team,” she said. “We have to have a strong practice and go into the series focused. This is a very important series for us.”
If the Huskies can successfully beat UConn in the two game series they will pick up four points and distance themselves in the Hockey East standings. UConn is 8-3-4 in Hockey East with seven points and 7-12-3 overall.
