After six straight Hockey East titles from 2018-2023, the Northeastern women’s hockey team has faced back-to-back rocky roads ending the year with overtime losses in the conference final, just short of glory. However, the Huskies are investing in their youth, and “Goalie U” is alive and well, which is a promising sign for the 2025-26 season.
Northeastern enters the year with a 15th-place ranking in the USCHO preseason poll. That isn’t too shabby, but for a program that came within inches of a national championship just a few seasons ago, there’s more to strive for. To help set the foundation for the new era of Husky hockey, Northeastern welcomes eight freshmen to the program this season, including four forwards, three defenders, and one goalie.
But an investment into the next generation of women’s hockey can’t be done without strong leaders who already have buy-in to the program, especially when the Huskies are set to lose their home rink in the near future. Senior Lily Shannon will captain the Northeastern squad, assisted by graduate student Jaden Bogden and seniors Holly Abela and Kristina Allard.
The Huskies historically operate by a defense-first mentality, and while that’s helped them churn out gold-star goaltenders like nobody’s business and maintain high rankings in scoring defense, it’s left a bit of a hole on the offensive end. In each of the last two seasons, Northeastern averaged 2.4 goals per game, a steep drop-off from 3.8 the previous year in 2022-23. Furthermore, they just lost their points leader from the past two seasons in Skylar Irving, who graduated this past spring and was picked up by the Montreal Victoire in the third round of the 2025 PWHL Draft.
To bolster their numbers, the Huskies are stuffing their offense full of new talent, and at the forefront of that push is highly-anticipated Canadian star Stryker Zablocki.
With a name like that, the forward was born to play hockey, and her accolades show it. In 2023-24, Zablocki blew everyone else in Saskatchewan out of the water, with 65 points, including 25 assists and 40 goals (more than twice as many as anyone else in the league). That same year, she was named the Top Forward at the National Women’s U18 Championship and MVP at the Esso Cup Championship, the Canadian national tournament for club teams. Then, she moved to the U.S., continuing her dominance in a new location as she joined the renowned Bishop Kearney Selects for their record-breaking (56-3-0) season. At the same time, Zablocki led Team Canada to the gold medal in the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championships this past year, with a tournament-high 12 points (eight goals, four assists) across six games.
Alongside Zablocki, returners Éloïse Caron and Shannon are expected to remain in top offensive roles. Caron and Shannon ranked second and third on the team in points, respectively, behind Irving. After a steady course of development through her three seasons at Northeastern, bursting open on the scoring front as a junior, Shannon has established herself as a dependable presence on and off the ice and an all-around leader. Meanwhile, Caron came out flaming early in her freshman campaign, but that fire landed her in the penalty box a few too many times. Her speed and physicality are an asset to the Huskies, and the reason she was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team, but she’ll need to keep her energy in check to maximize her potential on the ice.
This kind of scoring mentality will also hopefully improve the Northeastern power play. The Huskies struggled on the player-advantage last season with just a 15.5% success rate at five-on-four. On the other side of the ice, however, the Huskies stayed strong on the penalty kill. At 87.4%, they ranked sixth in the nation in four-on-five time. That mark is still a drop down from the 90+ percentiles the Huskies put up in previous seasons, but it stands out as a strong point both on the team and nationally.
This season, the defensive efforts will be headed by Jules Constantinople, the team’s “enforcer” who also has a sharp shot from the blue line. However, the youth will once again play a major role with Tuva Kandell, Tristan Thompson, and Alissa Baechler. Kandell, a Sweden native, returns to Northeastern for her second season this year, boasting nods of Hockey East Third Team, Hockey East All-Rookie Team, and All-USCHO Rookie Team as a freshman last year. Thompson is practically a rookie on collegiate ice, as the 6’1” sophomore only skated in 10 games before injury cut her freshman season short. But a true rookie expected to break onto Northeastern’s blue line is Baechler, a four-time member of the Swiss National Team at the IIHF Women’s World Championships, starting when she was just 16 years old. Additionally, she’s a four-time champion in the club hockey scene — thrice with the women and once with the men. At the end of the 2024-25 season, she tied for the Best Defender in the Swiss National League with Northeastern alum Skylar Fontaine.
In between the pipes, one can only assume it’ll be none other than Lisa Jönsson, who had a .938 save percentage and 1.71 GAA (8th in the NCAA) as a freshman last year, and was named to the USCHO All-Rookie Team. On top of that, the Swede is a fan favorite and carried the Huskies to their 20th Beanpot title in February 2025. She was named Beanpot MVP and awarded the Bertagna Award for her performance in the tournament of 65 saves on 67 shots across two games.
In addition, yet another talented youth will be available for the Huskies with Canada’s Renna Trembecky. Not only did Trembecky post a .922 save percentage last year, but she did it as the only girl on an all-male roster.
Although Northeastern’s performance has dipped from its peak years of Frozen Four appearance and Hockey East titles, it’s important to note that this all comes within the context of a stronger Hockey East and the growth of women’s hockey. Northeastern was once the only team in the conference in the national rankings. This year, BU and UConn were also ranked preseason, at 11th and 12th respectively.
Additionally, Hockey East has been seeking out opportunities to strengthen its teams to national competition caliber. This season, they dropped the matchup requirements from 27 to 24 in-conference games, allowing more space for teams to schedule matches with out-of-conference opponents. Historically, conferences like the WCHA and ECAC have dominated women’s college hockey, and Hockey East teams don’t see much of them until the national tournament. With such different styles, it’s hard to compete against them, so having a more open schedule will hopefully start to give the league a chance on the national stage.
Across the country, women’s hockey is growing. So is Hockey East. So is Northeastern. With talented freshman and sophomore classes, the Huskies have set the stage not only for success in the 2025-26 season, but also for a promising future.
Amelia Ballingall is the Editor-in-Chief for WRBB Sports. She has been a writer and broadcaster with the organization since 2022, and is a color analyst for UConn women’s hockey. Read more of her work here.