BOSTON — Preseason is all about making improvements, and Northeastern did just that, scoring one goal in the first period, two in the second, and three in the third en route to a 6-0 demolition of the visiting Concordia Stingers.
While the scoreline suggested wire-to-wire domination, the reality wasn’t quite that. Concordia held their own for swaths of the game, including the first eight-plus minutes where they outshot and out-chanced the Huskies. However, star sophomore netminder Lisa Jönsson kept them level, making 12 saves while weathering a number of Stingers attacks with timely saves and stick work to deny the visitors an opener.
Moments later, it was sophomore defenseman Tuva Kandell who got the home side on the board, snapping home a wrister from between the dots that beat Concordia goalie Jordyn Verbeek. The goal seemed to lift Northeastern’s spirits, as the Huskies applied more and more pressure as the period went on. Despite the improvement, a few net-front chances went awry, and the Huskies couldn’t break through again in the frame.
The second period was veteran goaltender Paige Taborski’s turn in net, and she continued what Jönsson started, stopping all six shots she faced while her skaters turned in another strong performance in front of her. On the offensive side, senior defenseman Jules Constantinople doubled the lead with a goal from just inside the blue line before junior forward Ella Blackmore extended it even further with a net crash off of a superb feed from freshman forward Emy MacDermid just four minutes later. MacDermid was all over the place in the second period, earning some attention from coach Dave Flint after the game.
“MacDermid was great,” said Flint postgame. “She was all over the ice and doing a lot of little things… created scoring opportunities and had an assist, so I really liked the way she played.”
In the third period, freshman goaltender Renna Trembecky took over for Northeastern, registering her first collegiate action, even if it came unofficially. She was as impressive as the two goalies before her, turning aside all eight shots on net. For the Huskies’ skaters, the third period was as comprehensive as it got, as the home side dominated possession and chances while applying waves of pressure to a beleaguered Concordia defense corps as they bulged the net three times.
Junior forward Allie Lalonde tallied the first, recording her second point of the night on a snapshot from the left circle that beat Verbeek. From there, it was the Stryker Zablocki show, as the highly-touted freshman winger scored her first goal in Northeastern colors, tapping home from a net-front scrum. Thirteen minutes later, Zablocki struck again, firing home a snapper from above the left circle to put the finishing touches on a dominant Huskies victory.
Overall, it was an encouraging day for Northeastern, who turn from a veteran group that lost in the finals of last season’s Hockey East tournament to a youth infusion. The youth infusion showed up on Saturday, as freshmen combined to notch four points and turn in a shutout period in goal against a very solid foe in Concordia, who had just taken BU to overtime the previous night.
“I’m really impressed by the freshmen this year,” said junior forward Ella Blackmore postgame. “I think they all contribute to the team in a really great way… great group of girls.”
Taking too much away from preseason is rarely a wise choice, but if this tuneup is any indication, the Huskies could be in for another excellent season.
Northeastern will kick off their regular season on Friday, when RIT comes to town. Max Schwartzberg and Kabir Singh will be on your call, with puck drop set for 6 pm on Sports+.
Jacob Phillips is the Sports Director for WRBB Sports. He’s been covering Northeastern athletics for over two years, focusing primarily on men’s basketball.