Huskies Over Crusaders

Tonight the Holy Cross Crusaders (ahem).. I’m sorry, the nationally ranked Holy Cross Crusaders (#13) welcomed in the #6 ranked Northeastern Huskies for the back half of a home and home series here at the Hart Center Rink. This was basically a continuation of Thursday’s game which took bonus hockey (and a shootout) to settle. Tonight’s tilt didn’t make it to OT, but it came pretty close as NU hung on to win 2-1 over Holy Cross.

The Huskies came into tonight’s matchup 5-2-1-1 since the calendar flipped while the Crusaders sit at 4-1-1 over that same time frame. This was also a great spot for Holy Cross to make up some ground in the conference standings, as this could be a preview of the Hockey East Championship.

In net it was dueling #31’s as NU saw Renna Trembecky (1.85GAA and .927%SV) get the start in her first game since beating UConn a week ago. At the other end of the sheet it was Abby Hornung (1.42GAA and .945%SV) making her 18^th start of the campaign and her first start since shutting out Providence last weekend. 

The game opened up with a decent pace but good grief Charlie Brown was it sloppy on both sides. Puck possession and puck control were foreign terms and it seemed as if both sides were entered into a contest for the most unforced turnovers. Neither team had long setups in the offensive zone and most of the play took place between the blue lines. 

Just before the midway point of the period, Holy Cross got whistled for successive minors and Northeastern made them pay. On the 2^nd power play, Ella Lloyd came off the bench and walked right into a feed from Stryker Zablocki at the right point. Lloyd walked down the slot before freezing a HC defender with an inside-out move before putting a wrister over Hornung’s blocker.

1-0 Huskies.

After the goal, Northeastern tilted the ice back towards the Holy Cross net and generated some looks, but Hornung was dialed on her angles and snuffed out every bid. The sides retired for the first intermission with the Huskies leading. In the middle frame the trend continued as NU provided the early pressure, but Hornung remained sharp as she was making highlight save after highlight save. There’s no video of the save that stands out to me as the ESPN feed was frozen and then focused on the Holy Cross bench? Get it together would you?

Lily Shannon and Zablocki had a clean 2:1 break at about the 15min mark and it looked as if Shannon was going to have a tap in off a centering feed from Zablocki but somehow Hornung got her left toe on the puck and kept it out of the net. Easily the save of the game in my opinion.

Holy Cross climbed back into this one with zone time and looks but were unable to solve Trembecky as the 2nd progressed. Both sides were getting chances but Hornung was tested a bit more rigorously. I mean…c’mon

Not to be outdone, Trembecky got her own highlights going as Holy Cross started the 3rd with some jump and pressure.

But it was the NU PP that paid off again. With just about 7mins played, Morgan Jackson got the game-winner. Zablocki broke into the HC zone with pace and split 2 defenders before laying the puck across to Jackson who was driving the net. Hornung did all she could coming across but Jackson put it upstairs over the glove.

2-0 Huskies

With 3mins to play in regulation, the Crusaders pulled Hornung for an extra attacker and put the full tilt press on the Huskies. That pressure caused a turnover deep in the NU zone and HC capitalized. Emily Crovo picked the puck deep and found Reghan Chadwick net front for the put away. Great play and hustle on this one by Holy Cross.

2-1 Huskies

Just before the Holy Cross goal I want to highlight a few plays. One was by Lulu Rourke coming off the bench with her hair on fire as the extra attacker and she dropped to one knee to keep the puck in the NU zone. The other is Hannah Deck who blocked a shot about 15 feet off the cage to keep Holy Cross’ chances alive with Hornung pulled. Neither play shows up on the scoresheet, but I see you both. Stick taps all around.

Here’s Deck’s eat.

Holy Cross never quit on this game and fought to the end but ran out of time. This keeps both teams in their respective spots in the Hockey East points race as the season winds down. Up next for Northeastern is a Thursday “home” game vs. Maine at Walter Brown before heading to Vermont for a Saturday tilt. As for Holy Cross, they host Boston College on Friday before taking on UNH on Saturday for their Senior Night.

Some observations from around the rink:

• HC’s Emily Crovo is as advertised. Tough, shifty, gritty and skilled she was involved all over the ice tonight and didn’t back down an inch. Consistently going up against bigger defenders she was a joy to watch play.
• HC’s Lulu Rourke was hunting the puck all over the ice and caused a number of turnovers with her attack angles and determination. Both she and Crovo are welcome on Team Brownie.
• NU’s Mia Langlois had an outstanding game in limited minutes. Million Dolla’s Worth of Game dented the pipe tonight in the first and then picked off an outlet and squeaked one under Hornung that juuuuust missed wide. Great game for 17
• NU’s Tristan Thompson stepped up to help replace Olympian Alessia Baechler’s minutes. Thompson was strong on the puck and used her length and size well tonight.

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