Huskies Handle the Terriers

The #5 Northeastern Huskies traveled to Walter Brown Arena tonight for a tilt vs. the Boston University Terriers. Unless they meet in the Hockey East playoffs, this was the last time these squads will match up this season. Northeastern has the edge in conference play, while BU got the W that counted in the opening round of the Beanpot.

The Terriers had Mari Pietersen in net who’s gone 2-3-0 in her last 5 starts (but still with an excellent.924%SV) and was in net for the aforementioned Beanpot dub. At the other end of the sheet was Renna Trembecky for the Huskies with a better record (4-1) over her last 5GP and with a sparkling .930%SV.

The game opened up with pace and with the typical physicality that’s to be expected in Hockey East at this time of the season. Let’s be honest here, all of these teams are sick of each other by now and are just looking forward to the playoffs.

NU got on the board first when Allie Lalonde put one home. Coming with speed into the BU zone, Lalonde dragged a BU defender at the blue line and then seemed to pause in the middle of 4 Terriers in the high slot before ripping a drag snap far side under the bar for the early lead. Snipe City meet your new mayoral candidate. 1-0 Huskies.

NU had 2 power plays in the first but couldn’t get anything going thanks to BU’s impressive penalty kill. The Terriers were super aggressive all over the sheet and were pressuring the Huskies at every opportunity completely stymieing NU’s normally strong woman advantage.

Luckily for the Huskies, they still had Million Dollas Worth of Game.

With time winding down in the opening period, Mia Langlois doubled up the score for Northeastern. A drive from Rylie Jones on the right half wall was re-directed in the high slot by Ella Lloyd. Pietersen made the initial save, but Langlois was at the right post and punched it home. Let’s all say it together: Good things happen when you go to the net. 2-0 Huskies.

That score held until the intermission and it was early in the second that Clara Yuhn got BU on the board. The Michigan native picked off a D to D pass at her own blue line and was off to the races. With Huskies chasing her down, Yuhn let a wrister go from the RW dot and beat Trembecky near side up high. 2-1 Huskies and we got a game.

With about 4mins left to play the OG Nailgun put the Huskies back up by a pair. Emy McDermid carried into the BU zone (still haven’t seen her glide during game play, just saying) and dished to Lily Brazis driving the slot. The Pride of Saugus skated right and shot left, beating Pietersen over the blocker. Huskies 3-1.

In the third the play evened out as both teams were careful with the puck and limited their turnovers. The pace picked up as BU was trying to climb back into this one but Northeastern increased their lead, momentarily.

Stryker Zablocki had a “great fake” on a puck in front of the net and let it drift to Jules Constantinople in the high slot. The alternate captain made no mistake as she put a drag snap in the top corner over Pietersen’s glove. Just an absolute dot by Constantinople. Huskies 4-1.

But BU wasn’t finished. Just 22 seconds later the Terriers clawed back within a pair. Tessa Demain laid a textbook outlet pass to Sydney Healy breaking through the neutral zone. I mean that pass from Demain is a thing of beauty. Please appreciate it. Healy carried to the LW corner and laid the puck back to Neely Nicholson who went far-side post and in. Great shot by Nicholson as she smoked this one past Trembecky. Love seeing wingers shoot from in close on the off-wing, seems like a cheat code. Huskies 4-2.

Video quality isn’t great (Sorry Neely, I did what I could).

With just under 2mins to play BU played Pietersen in favor of an extra attacker but they couldn’t solve Trembecky. And then, someone hit the nitrous button on Zablocki and she put one home in the open cage with 0.7 to play. You can see her drop the hammer once Morgan Jackson (who put one off the post on the empty net herself earlier) gathers the puck. Huskies win 5-2.

The Huskies “host” the Boston College Eagles on Sunday at Bentley College in Waltham while the Terriers welcome in UConn tomorrow right back at Walter Brown.

Some observations from the couch:

• Both teams were missing some Olympians as Northeastern’s Alessia Baechler is in Italy playing for Team Switzerland and BU’s Luisa Welcke and Lilli Welcke are doing the same for Team Germany.
• BU’s Maeve Kelly is an absolute tower of power on defense. Kelly logs the most minutes and seems to be out there strictly against other team’s top 6 forwards. Just wonderful work on the back end from the Minnesota native.
• Stick Taps for NU’s Emy McDermid for notching her first career NCAA goal last game vs. UVM. Nice job – no gliding.

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