With 12 seniors not returning to head coach Dave Flint’s squad in the fall, the Huskies have work to do in preparation for the start of the season. WRBB Sports looks into transfer portal movement, now-departed seniors’ plans, and roster updates. Check back in for edits as we continue to post updates about Husky-related happenings.
Aug. 26: Ani FitzGerald transferring to Boston University for the 2022-23 season
Forward Ani FitzGerald is set to spend her junior year just a few minutes away at Boston University, the Terriers announced on Friday. FitzGerald slipped off the Huskies’ roster after playing two games this past season for an undisclosed reason.
FitzGerald had a goal and an assist in nine games during her freshman year before missing the remainder of the season due to injury. Her lone collegiate goal came in the Huskies’ victory over Maine Jan. 3, 2021.
She is one of two transfers at BU this season, joining graduate student goaltender Andrea Braendli. The former Ohio State Buckeye played in the Beijing Olympics for Team Switzerland. The Terriers lost seven players off their 2021-22 roster to graduation along with two transfers — senior defender Grace Parker, who is transferring to Maine, and sophomore forward Madison Michals, who is transferring to Holy Cross.
Aug. 17 : Host of Huskies named to various international rosters
Six future, current, and former Northeastern Huskies have made the USA Hockey rosters for three separate tournaments.
Committed forwards Allie Lalonde, a native of Irvine, California, and Peyton Compton from Sanford, Florida both have made the 2022 Under-18 Series roster. This is Lalonde’s first appearance for an actual tournament, after she was invited to both the 2021 and 2022 U18 Select Player Development Camps. Compton received her second invitation to the National Festival this year after putting up five points in four games for the Bishop Kearney Selects team in Rochester, New York.
Lalonde and Compton are committed to start at Northeastern for the 2023-24 season. They will head to Calgary with the team to play a three game set against Canada from Aug. 17-19. Northeastern assistant coach Lindsay Berman will be behind the bench as an assistant.
Current assistant captain and graduate student forward Maureen Murphy will also be heading to Calgary after making the collegiate roster for the US. Murphy, who put up a 30-goal season for Northeastern last year, will take part in a three-game series this week against Team Canada.
One of the opponents on the other side of the ice will be a familiar face — assistant captain Megan Carter. The defender is the only player from Hockey East to make the collegiate squad for the Canadians. Carter, who will be a senior this fall, had two goals and 12 assists last season in 38 games.
Finally, the roster for the IIHF Women’s World Championships has three familiar names for Northeastern fans. Goaltender Aerin Frankel, who just graduated this past spring, made her second national team after she attended Worlds in 2021. Forwards Hayley Scamurra and Kendall Coyne Schofield will rejoin Team USA after winning the Olympic silver medal this past winter. The World Championship is set to start Aug. 25, in Denmark with a match between the U.S. and Japan.
Forward Alina Müller, the 2022-23 captain of the Huskies, will also be in attendance at the World Championships. It will mark her sixth appearance at a senior World Championships for the Swiss national team. Müller had 39 points in 21 games last year for Northeastern including 28 assists. She missed time at the beginning of the 2021-22 NCAA campaign due to a lower body injury suffered at last year’s tournament. Müller and the Swiss team will begin their 2022 championships also against Japan Aug. 26.
Former defender Skylar Fontaine and current senior forward Katy Knoll were also both invited to attend the USA Hockey Festival this summer, however neither were named to any of the rosters on Sunday. Graduate transfer Maude Poulin-Labelle was in attendance alongside Carter for the Canadian development camp however the defender was also left off the collegiate roster.
Aug. 8: Lauren MacInnis to continue hockey career in Austria
Northeastern women’s hockey announced today that former defender Lauren MacInnis will be beginning her professional hockey career in Austria. She agreed to terms with the DEC Salzburg Eagles in the European Women’s Hockey League, or EWHL.
MacInnis, a 2022 graduate from Northeastern, played 111 games for the Huskies over a five-year period starting in 2017. With five goals and 19 assists, MacInnis took more of a shutdown role for the Huskies than the offensive weaponry seen from the top pairing.
She ended her career at Northeastern with 67 blocks, including a high of 31 in her final season. The most well-known highlight from her time at Northeastern was her double overtime game-winner to lift the Huskies to their first Beanpot title win in seven years in the 2020 tournament.
MacInnis brings a more defensive style of play to the Eagles’ roster and will provide strong minutes on their blueline.
July 29: Katie Cipra Signs Professional Deal In Switzerland
A second member of the 2022 graduating class has signed a professional deal with the ZSC Lions Frauen in the Swiss Women’s League. This time it is forward Katie Cipra who will be heading overseas to further her hockey career, the team announced on Friday.
Cipra, a native of Western Springs, Illinois, spent five years at Northeastern where she played in 138 games. In that span she tallied 17 goals and five assists, including seven points in her graduate season. Her backhanded tally against UNH in January 2021 landed her on the SportsCenter top 10 that night.
Over her five years with the Huskies, she became a five time Bertagna trophy winner, a Beanpot Champion in 2020, and played in both Frozen Four appearances.
The Lions are also the new home of fellow 2022 graduate defender Skylar Fontaine, who signed with the team in early June. The team will begin their 25th season under the Lions name when the SWHL returns to play in the fall.
July 22: Taze Thompson Transferring to Northeastern for 2022-23
Former Harvard Crimson forward Taze Thompson is heading to the other side of the Charles, Northeastern announced Friday. The 20-year-old spent one season in Cambridge before entering the transfer portal earlier this spring.
Thompson, originally from Sherwood Park, Alberta, had eight goals and 20 points in all 33 games for the Crimson this season. She led Harvard freshmen players in both goals and points and was named to the ECAC Hockey All-Rookie team at the end of the year.
Before her time at Harvard, Thompson played club hockey with the Boston Junior Eagles while attending the New Hampton school. At New Hampton, she became the first player in school history to break 100 career points in two seasons (59 games). She comes from a hockey family, as her father Rocky spent 12 years playing professional hockey while her brother Tyr most recently played 25 games with the Huntsville Havoc in the SPHL.
Head coach Dave Flint had nothing but praise for Thompson.
“She is a gifted forward with a nose for the net, has a very high compete level and excels defensively,” Flint said in a news release. “Her experience in the competitive ECAC will allow her to step into a big role for us right away.”
July 13: Huskies Introduce the 2022-23 Freshman Class
On Wednesday, the Huskies revealed the eight young women who are set to join the squad this fall. Included in the freshman class are six forwards and two defenders.
Adding to the forward group is Holly Abela, who won gold in June with Hockey Canada at the IIHF Women’s World Championships. Alongside her are New England natives Lily Brazis, Lily Shannon and Mia Langlois, and California’s Alyssa Antonakis. Avery Anderson completes the freshman forward group, following in her elder sister Peyton’s footsteps to Matthews Arena.
The Huskies’ defense core is gaining Kristina Allard, captain of her high school team at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire, and Jules Constantinople, who was a member of the Williston Northampton Wildcats in Massachusetts. Allard is a right shot while Constantinople is a left. Both are vying for the lineup spots left open with the departure of five defenders this past spring.
June 23: Brooke Hobson is Heading to Sweden for 2022-23
By Kayla Shiao and Emma Sullivan
Now former Husky defender Brooke Hobson became the second player from the 2022 Northeastern women’s hockey graduates to sign a professional deal on Thursday. Hobson has agreed to terms with MoDo Hockey Dam of the Swedish Women’s Hockey League.
Hobson, who was named captain of the Northeastern squad before the 2020-21 season, played five years in the Husky uniform. In that span she recorded 21 goals and 66 assists in 168 games. She was a key member of the five straight Bertagna trophy winning teams and was captain of both Northeastern squads that made the Frozen Four. She is also a 2020 Beanpot champion.
MoDo, which plays their home games at Hägglunds Arena in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, is a part of a 10 team women’s league. They finished fifth in the regular season standings but lost to HV71 in the first round of the playoffs this past season. The SDHL is set to become the first women’s league in the world to allow body checking starting in 2022-23.
Hobson becomes the second defender out of Hockey East to join the team, following Taylor Wabick, a UConn graduate. Forward Morgan Wabick, another UConn graduate and Taylor’s twin sister, is also set to join the team.
Hobson will wear No. 19 when the season starts in Sweden. She has proven her leadership qualities over her five years on Huntington Ave. and has shown strong capabilities to captain a power play, making her a fantastic addition to the MoDo blue line. MoDo’s first game is scheduled for Sept. 16, against Göteborg Hockey Club.
June 8: Skylar Fontaine Signs Professional Deal
Former Northeastern defender Skylar Fontaine became the first member of the 2022 graduating class to sign a professional deal on Wednesday. Fontaine, who spent five years with the Huskies, has agreed to a contract with the ZSC Lions Frauen in Zurich, Switzerland.
In 178 games played, Fontaine finished her NCAA career with 55 goals and 115 assists. Her 170 total points are the most for a defender in Northeastern history, and this past season her 41 assists were the most in the nation. She was named a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier award for both the 2020-21 and the 2021-22 seasons. Fontaine was the Hockey East Best Defenseman three times in her career, most recently this past year when she shared the honor with Northeastern transfer Maude Poulin-Labelle.
Fontaine, who turned 24 on Wednesday, has had a wide spread of highlights from her Northeastern career. She won five-straight Hockey East championships, the 2020 Beanpot title, and made two Frozen Four appearances. Most notably, her overtime goal in 2021 against Minnesota-Duluth sent the Huskies to their first national title game.
Forward Alina Müller, Fontaine’s former teammate, played for the Lions in the Swiss Women’s League before transitioning to the NCAA. Fontaine will look to make the lineup for the Lions first game when they take the ice in September.
May 16: Frankel, Philips to attend USA Hockey Goaltender Camp
Netminders Aerin Frankel and Gwyneth Philips are set to attend the 2022 National Goaltending Camp for USA Hockey Northeastern announced Monday.
Frankel, a native of Briarcliff, New York holds the records at Northeastern in wins (103), career save percentage (.949), and shutouts (39), among other accolades in her five year career. She was named National Goaltender of the Year both times it has been awarded, first for the 2020-21 season in which she was also the recipient of the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award. She finished her Northeastern career this past spring with a Frozen Four appearance and a fifth-straight Bertagna trophy win for the Huskies. She was previously named to the USA Hockey roster for the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championships.
Philips has played 19 games in her three seasons at Northeastern, in which she posted a 13-1-0 record and .969 save percentage. She already has six shutouts during that stretch for Northeastern. Originally from Athens, Ohio, Philips is vying to take over the starting job for Northeastern during the upcoming 2022-23 season. She previously attended the Women’s High Performance Goaltending camp run by USA Hockey in 2021.
Both players will report to the camp in Plymouth, Michigan from May 19-22 alongside nine other female goaltenders, including fellow Hockey East products Abbey Levy (BC) and Callie Shanahan (BU).
May 16: Vermont’s Maude Poulin-Labelle to play fifth year at Northeastern
By Kayla Shiao
Northeastern announced its signing of former Vermont defender Maude Poulin-Labelle on Monday. The 5’6” blue-liner from Sherbrooke, Quebec will use her fifth and final year of eligibility as a graduate transfer.
“We are very excited Maude has chosen to use her fifth year of eligibility with us,” said Dave Flint in a press release. “She is a very dynamic defenseman who is a strong defender but also creates a lot offensively. Maude will add veteran leadership to our D-corp after graduating five defensemen this year.”
This season was nothing short of historic for Poulin-Labelle. With 13 goals and 22 assists, totaling 35 points, she broke multiple Vermont season records as a defender. The previous marks for goals and assists were both set by her in the 2019-20 season, where she had 12 goals and 29 points. She also broke the team’s season assist record for a defender (formerly 18, set by Sini Karjalainen also in 2019-20). During Vermont’s 9-0 win over Holy Cross Jan. 18, Poulin-Labelle set the single-game points record (formerly 4) with four goals and two assists for six points, also tying the school’s record for goals in a game and setting it for defenders. She also holds UVM’s record for career points by a defender, with 84.
Poulin-Labelle was named a Hockey East 2021-22 First Team All-Star, along with former teammate, forward Theresa Schafzahl, the first skaters at UVM to be honored. She was also named Hockey East Best Defenseman alongside now-graduated Skylar Fontaine, tallying the second-most points as a defender in the conference behind the aforementioned Fontaine. Poulin-Labelle was later also named a 2021-22 Second Team All-American.
A potential place for Poulin-Labelle in the Husky lineup will be a first defensive pairing role alongside rising senior Megan Carter. Carter, named an assistant captain May 5, played second pairing minutes alongside the now-departed Lauren MacInnis and provided strong shutdown play for the second Northeastern unit. Pairing Carter and Poulin-Labelle will provide Northeastern with not only a strong defensive unit to fill a gap formed by the departing graduates, but an offensive weapon as well with the former’s defense and the latter’s scoring ability.