Northeastern handles Merrimack

The Northeastern Huskies welcomed in the Merrimack Warriors for the first half of a home and home tonight at Historic Matthews Arena. This is the Warriors last trip to the old barn and history hasn’t been kind to them as they’ve compiled a (now) 1-15-0 record on St. Botolph Street.

In net for the Warriors was freshman Lauren Lyons making her 5th collegiate start for Merrimack. Opposing her roughly 185 feet away was freshman Renna Trembecky making the 3rd start of her campaign. There’s a lot of young net-minding talent in Hockey East as you can expect to see these 2 battling for the next 3+ years.

With these longtime rivals, the game typically gets chippy and tonight was no different as the parade to the penalty boxes began in the opening 3 minutes. NU was unable to cash in on the advantage, but it certainly helped tilt the ice towards Lyons’ net.

A few shifts after the penalty, Lily Shannon put on a clinic about puck possession. Sliding down the RW wall, Shannon eluded a number of MC defenders before finding Stryker Zablocki in front of the Merrimack net. The pair didn’t connect, but the puck was dug out of the corner (Shannon) and moved back to Zablocki. The freshman tried to feed back her captain in the slot, but the puck caromed off a MC defender for the early NU lead.

They don’t ask how, just how many.

Merrimack was wearing a groove in the ice on their way to the box, and the Huskies finally made them pay when Zablocki got her 2nd of the night just about midway through the opening frame. Zablocki drove out of the RW from the top of the face-off circle and unleashed a wicked wrister from the high slot that beat Lyons over the far-side shoulder.

A late power play for Merrimack got the Warriors on the board. Merrimack possessed in the NU zone and worked the puck up from behind the net along the RW wall. NU couldn’t clear and found themselves outnumbered down low and the Warriors pounced. Avery Anderson (names familiar somehow?) bunted the puck back down the wall to Stina Sandberg who threaded the puck across the zone to Emma Pfeffer for the put away at the left post. Great vision by Sandberg to outwait the sliding NU defender.

The teams combined for 4 power plays in the opening frame, but the score held for the intermission. In the 2nd it took about 5 minutes of game-time for Zablocki to notch the first hatty of her young career. During 4v4 play, Zablocki carried down the slot (I mean take the space they give you), and let go from between the circles beating Lyons up high again. Great screen in front from the Huskies but I missed the number – maybe Shannon? Zablocki becomes the first freshman to notch a hat trick since Kendall Coyne Schofield in 2011-2012 (I’d say that’s good company).

The game settled in after the Huskies opened up the 3-1 lead. A lot of stick work, a lot of chirping, but “only” 3 more penalties and a lot of neutral zone play was the flavor of the moment until the Huskies vaunted 4th line entered the chat.

A goal mouth scramble found the puck squirt loose in the blue paint and Ellie Mabardy chucked a 3 year gorilla off her back. The junior not only notched her first of the year, but the first of her career. Just under the buzzer for Mabardy with only 3 games left at Historic Matthews Arena. Great work by her linemates, Emy McDermid and Mia “Million Dollas Worth of Game” Langlois for the hard work to cue this up for Mabardy.

That score held through the final frame as neither side could solve the other’s young netminder. Even with another 4 combined penalties the play was choppy and uneven. Neither side had significant offensive set ups and the neutral zone was littered with dropped (and chopped) lumber.

A couple of notes:

• Good on Merrimack for not giving up on this one. A lot of teams would roll over down by 3 going into the 3rd. Well, either that or really start gooning it up. MC did neither of those and were still sacrificing the body late eating pucks trying to fight back.
• With all the hype surrounding the closing of Matthews it was cool to see the NU Pep Band have their alumni attend today and join in up in the corner. “Megapepband” had 154 members today and rocked “Stacy’s Mom” amongst others. Great to see as people forget that it’s not just the athletes on the ice or the court that have an attachment to the old barn.

The sides meet again tomorrow afternoon (1pm puck drop) up 495 in Andover to complete the home and home.

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