There have been so many storylines and narratives about the developments of the season for Northeastern’s women’s hockey, so much so that it can get hard to understand the standing of the team at the midway point. Luckily for you, I am here to run through what we have seen from the program and give an evaluation for the team’s play to the mid-season break.
Considering it’s the holiday season, I plan on beginning this article with the positive takeaways from the season so far. So, what better way to start than to begin with the encouraging play from Northeastern women’s hockey.
The Good
There is so much to be excited about with this squad. They have proven, once again, to be an outstanding goaltending program. Their lockdown defensive system has choked opponents scoring all season. They have had strong production from a few key players, and more.
Despite just falling out of the top-15 in the national polls, at the semester break Northeastern holds an overall record of 10-6-1, and a Hockey East record of 8-4-1 – their 26 conference points has them in fourth place in Hockey East and only four points away from BU in first.
1. Lisa Jönsson
Goaltending has long been a staple for this hockey program. Most recently, the Huskies have seen outstanding performances from Aerin Frankel, who dominated in net for the Huskies from 2017-2022, and Gwyneth Philips, who was one of the NCAA’s top goaltenders over her two years as the starter.
To begin this year, senior Paige Taborski started nine games and registered a record of 4-4-1, with a .926 save percentage, and a 1.79 goals against average. For Taborski, the numbers are outstanding – the netminder is in the top-20 in the NCAA for both statistics, and has over 500 minutes played.
Slowly but surely however, Huskies head coach Dave Flint started to work Lisa Jönsson into the starters position. The freshman got her first start against BU on Oct. 12, before she earned her first win the following weekend against Holy Cross. The biggest test came when she got the nod for the Nov. 8-9 series against then-No. 10 ranked UConn, the reigning Hockey East champions.
Jönsson excelled over that weekend, stopping all 61 shots she faced en route to logging shutouts in both games, which supplanted her as Northeastern’s primary starter going forward.
This year, Jönsson holds a record of 6-2-0, a 0.88 GAA, and a .967 SV%. Since taking full control of the pipes on Nov. 8 however, she has a record of 5-1 with four shutouts, a .982 SV%, and .50 GAA! She leads all Division I goaltenders in both in SV% and GAA, and has, without a doubt, been the shining star for the Huskies this year. Not to mention, she’s only a freshman.
2. Penalty Kill
With defense and goaltending as their calling card, the Huskies have consistently over the years dominated when a player down. This season, Northeastern has only let in four goals on the penalty kill – and that is not for lack of taking penalties, as they have taken 54 – which converts to a 7.4% opponent success rate on the power play. They’ve gone long stretches without allowing a goal on the PK; in fact, Jönsson did not allow one in her college hockey career until Nov. 30 against BC.
As long as that unit continues to function at such a high level, the Huskies will continue as a very difficult out going into the second semester.
3. Éloïse Caron and Skylar Irving
The top-six for Northeastern has generated almost all of the team’s offensive production, and it is guided by these two players.
Caron, with 14 points (five goals and nine assists), has been a freshman star for the Huskies. Her offensive talent has given the Huskies a huge boost. As just a rookie, it is very promising for the Huskies to have a player like Caron, who should be a first line staple for a long time.
Irving, also with 14 points (seven goals and seven assists), has continued her dominance in her senior season. Her goal scoring on the top line has been imperative for Northeastern’s success this year. Working with Caron, the two appear to be in complete lock step.
Both players will be key for Northeastern going into the second semester, and it will be exciting to see what Irving takes from her time spent competing on the U.S. Collegiate Women’s Select Team in the Six Nations Tournament this month. But what can be said so far is that these two have stood out all semester and will continue to be electric on the ice together going forward.
The Bad
Okay, that’s enough positivity for one day – Despite all the things that are promising for the Huskies, there are also some things that raise a level of concern and will need to be improved for the team to make a push for the Hockey East title.
1. Secondary Scoring
We have already discussed how the top-six has given the Huskies the necessary boost offensively that they have needed to this point, but, short of those top two lines, scoring has been largely non-existent.
The Huskies have gotten used to winning 1-0, 2-0, and 2-1 games, but it is rare that they score three, four, or five goals and win with a dominant offensive performance. That is because their scoring has largely only come from their first line. After Caron and Irving with 14 points each there is a drop off to third in points with Taze Thompson who has nine, and Lily Shannon who has eight. Outside of the top-five in points however, there is just not a lot of scoring.
The Huskies forwards as an entire unit has combined for 67 points, but their three top scorers mentioned above – Caron, Irving, and Thompson – have combined for 37 points which is 55% of all points among Husky forwards (39% of all Northeastern points this year). One may say that the best players should score the most, but 55% of the time among all forwards and 39% among all skaters is too much! They must find more balance within their line up going forward.
Most of their bottom-six forwards have only two or three goals and lack in total points as well. Moveover, the point production from their defenders is just as concerning. Only two Husky defenders, Tuva Kandell (one) and Jules Constantinople (two), have scored a goal this season. Yes, defense is not all about scoring, though it is very concerning that they largely have not gotten any production from the points this year.
From an overall point production perspective, the Husky defenders have also not contributed as much as one should expect. On the year, Northeastern defenders have combined for 26 points, but 14 of those points have come from Kandell (eight) and Constantinople (six). That means that two of the eight rostered Northeastern defenders combine for 55% of the point production for the entire unit.
My overall point is that for Northeastern to achieve success in Hockey East and at a national level, they are going to need to get more depth scoring within because relying on only Caron, Irving, Thompson, Kandell, and Constantinople is not a sustainable philosophy.
The Ugly
Now for my favorite part, – getting way too worked up over something that is legitimately concerning but probably does not warrant quite the level of concern that I express in my writings. Just refer to my latest recap article for the men’s team, as a prime example. However, there is one glaring issue with this Huskies team that should raise major concern.
1. The Powerplay
I swear something is in the air at Matthews Arena that limits Northeastern hockey teams from scoring on the player advantage. The women’s team deserves a D+ for their productivity on the powerplay through the first semester. In the first semester, the powerplay unit had only six goals on 64 opportunities (9.4%).
Though there are many reasons for the powerplay woes, the struggles starts with poor zone entries which leads to lack of shots. Combine this with passiveness and a lack of urgency to create shots and it leads to very few goals. Moveover, it goes back to what was discussed prior with secondary scoring production, which also hampers the powerplay since there are few viable options out there to actually score.
One reason for the lack of powerplay production could be related to the lack of an established ‘quarterback’ on the blueline to fill the large shoes that Megan Carter left behind. Jules Constantinople often slotted into the role on the second unit last year and was efficient in that role. However, to this point of the year Constantinople has not seen the same level of production – she only has one goal in 5-on-4 play, scored on Oct. 18 against Holy Cross.
To achieve a higher level of production from their powerplay unit, the Huskies are going to need to try to feed Constantinople more, giving her a chance to rip a thunderous one-time slap shot from the top of the circle that was effective for her last year.
It is unequivocally the largest concern for the Huskies going forward. Not even a lock down defense team like Northeastern can win at the highest level without some semblance of a powerplay, so it will be imperative that they fix this issue and get back to regularly potting skater advantage goals in the second semester.
Conclusion / Overall Analysis
Considering everything from above, there is a lot to be excited about with this Huskies team. Overall they have played very well, and yes, there are some things that must be cleaned up but for the most part this has been a great start to the season.
Their record, emergence of Jönsson, the success of the penalty kill, and the strong production from the first line, by far outweigh the negative takeaways. With that in mind, it is still fair to be concerned about the powerplay and secondary scoring, and fans should expect the Huskies to clean that up – they are going to have to as the schedule gets tougher and the games become more meaningful (i.e. Beanpot, Hockey East rankings/playoffs, and potentially the NCAA tournament) in the second semester.
All in all, a successful first semester with stuff to change but good things to build on has granted the Huskies an overall grade of a B+ at the halfway mark. As the young players continue to produce and the team chemistry continues to jive, fans can expect this team to achieve great things in the second semester and should be very excited about things to come for the Huskies.