One last win from Historic Matthews Arena.
Three Patty Kazmaier winners. More than a dozen Olympians. Countless memories. It’s hard to encapsulate 45 years of Northeastern women’s hockey at Matthews Arena, but there’s no better way to send off the historic rink than with a huge win against a conference rival on Senior Night, and the game-winner scored by the captain, Lily Shannon.
Emotions were high coming into the Saturday matinee. Fans, family, and alumni flooded the building for one last chance to see women’s hockey at Matthews, and the No. 6 Huskies surely gave them a show.
After a 3-1 Northeastern win at Conte Forum the night before — with all three goals attributed to Allie Lalonde in her first career hat trick — the Boston College Eagles came into Matthews Arena seeking revenge. The Eagles are second to the Huskies in the Hockey East standings, and they certainly showed why, forcing Northeastern to fight for a gritty, come-from-behind win in a tense contest.
Despite being outshot through the first two periods, the Eagles got on top not once, but twice in the first period. Just four minutes into the game, BC redshirt senior Emma Conner’s centering feed careened off a skate and into the slot towards a crashing Madelyn Murphy. Dropping to a knee, the rookie defender roofed the puck over Huskies sophomore goaltender Lisa Jönsson, making the most of BC’s first shot of the game to put the visitors up 1-0.
The Huskies didn’t give the Eagles much time to breathe with the lead, as they began an onslaught on November Goaltender of the Month Grace Campbell. After a team effort peppering the senior netminder, freshman defender Ella Lloyd ripped one in from the blue line to even the score 1-1.
With a minute remaining in the opening frame, graduate student forward Jaden Bogden was called for slashing, and BC headed to the power play. It’s been a difficult week for Northeastern’s penalty kill. As of December 1, they were the top-ranked unit in the country, boasting a .957 penalty kill percentage with just two goals allowed through 47 five-on-fours. However, UNH rattled them on Tuesday. The Wildcats put two past the Huskies on the power play, and Northeastern just didn’t have its groove back yet against BC. Granted, the Eagles put out an electric power play unit, composed of all their top scorers: Ava Thomas, Sammy Taber, Maxim Tremblay, Emma Conner, and the aforementioned Murphy.
With so much firepower, it’s no wonder Taber found a way past Jönsson on the power play. Conner’s pass may have been deflected high, but it still found its way to the junior on the back door, who batted in a home run on the airborne puck to reclaim the lead for the Eagles.
But the back door was where the Huskies would find their way back into this contest as well. Freshman Stryker Zablocki spearheaded the effort, cruising toward the net with the puck on her stick and offering a great cross-crease feed to find Bogden. That assist was the first of a three-point night for Zablocki.
“The emotions were definitely high, just having it be senior game and also the last game at Matthews, so I think that first period allowed us to settle in,” Shannon said. “And then after the first period, we got the nerves to settle and obviously we were still super excited, but it was honestly a great effort all around.”
Knotted up at 2-2, tensions flared between the Huskies and Eagles. The game saw eight total penalties, seven of which came in the second period, and four of which developed from matching roughing minors. With BC having already proven its prowess on the 5-on-4, and the Huskies holding onto the top power play in the conference at 26.1%, both sides had to tamper things down if they wanted to gain the advantage and get on top.
The Huskies had outshot the Eagles all game, 41-30 overall, but in the final frame, BC gained the upper hand, with shots 13-10 in their favor. It was a battle for Northeastern to get past Campbell, who’s had 30+ save performances in 14 of 18 games this season, and with just over two minutes left, it looked like things were headed towards overtime.
But there are some moments that are written about in storybooks, some that are just so magical and memorable you can’t believe they aren’t scripted. This was one of them. Shannon, the senior captain, on Senior Night, in the Matthews Arena finale, notched the game-winning goal. A feed from Zablocki into the dirty area was all she needed to tip the puck past Campbell and electrify the crowd.
“When that goal was scored, you could hear it in the area, and I think it makes it so special,” Shannon said. “Everyone being here, it was such a special moment.”
A four-year Husky, Shannon is 10th in the NCAA in points per game with 1.53. She leads Hockey East in points with a career-high 29 points, including 14 goals and 15 assists.
“To see her progress over four years is amazing,” said Northeastern head coach Dave Flint. “She’s transformed herself as a hockey player and she’s one of the best players in the country right now, and it was fitting for her to step up and score the game-winner.”
The Huskies finally held their first lead of the afternoon, and when the Eagles pulled Campbell for the extra skater, Northeastern sealed the deal. For one final women’s hockey goal at the Historic Matthews Arena, Stryker Zablocki found the back of the empty net from the neutral zone.
“We faced some adversity during the game,” Flint said. “We went down early, then we went down again. Beginning of the third, I thought we were kind of out of gas and we weren’t gonna have it, and [we] stepped up and we had a beautiful goal late in the period.”
Northeastern honored its seven seniors in their final home game of the season: forwards Shannon, Bogden, Holly Abela, Mia Langlois, Lily Brazis, defender Jules Constantinople, and goaltender Paige Taborski. They honored their alumni with a ceremonial puck drop by former D-I All-American goaltender Florence Schelling and 2002 Patty Kazmaier Award Winner Brooke Whitney, and a flood of former players on the ice after the final whistle. And they honored their 115-year-old rink, the only home they’ve ever known, with a hard-fought, heartfelt win, 4-2. A fitting tribute.
“I remember one of the first games I said, ‘We have these [farewell season] patches on our jersey, and now we’re not only playing for Northeastern itself and the team that’s in this locker room, but we’re playing for all the people that have come before us.’” Shannon said. “I think it just shows that the team really came out and did whatever they could to not only represent the school but also represent those who came before us because they set the program up for success.”
Northeastern women’s hockey will be back in action Jan. 6 at Yale after a long winter break. Without Matthews Arena, the Huskies will have a heavy spring road slate, but will get the home nod at a handful of local neutral site venues.
“It’s not really the end of the road, we’ve got a lot of hockey left,” Flint said.
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 on ESPN+. She has done extensive work regarding the legacy of Matthews Arena and is proud to have been a small part of its incredible history. You can read more of her work here.