Northeastern is headed back to the Hockey East Championship for the tenth consecutive year, as they clinched their spot with a 3-1 win over Vermont in Tuesday evening’s semifinal contest. Vermont came into this matchup as the six-seed in the Hockey East after upsetting the three-seed, Boston College.
The night started with a ceremonial puck drop by Aerin Frankel and Alina Mϋller, two program-record-holding Northeastern hockey alumni who won gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Northeastern got off to a strong start in front of these Olympians, as senior defender Jules Constantinople fired a slapshot off the faceoff to put the Huskies up 1-0 after just four minutes of play.
After her goal, neither side was able to generate many offensive chances, as both teams’ defenses worked hard to cut off any and all scoring opportunities.
Fortunately for Northeastern, they caught a lucky break when Vermont defender Anna Podein misread the ice in front of her and sent a pass straight in front of Vermont’s net, where Northeastern sophomore forward Morgan Jackson was in perfect position for the interception. Jackson seized the opportunity and fired a quick shot from the wide-open slot that went over the shoulder of Vermont goaltender Ellie Simmons to extend Northeastern’s lead to two. Simmons has been playing in relief for freshman goaltender Zoe Cliche, who has been out of action for Vermont since late January.
Vermont upped their intensity significantly in response to Jackson’s goal, running a much stronger forecheck, which Northeastern struggled with for the rest of the period. Six of Vermont’s seven first period shots on goal came after Northeastern scored their second goal. The frame ended with Vermont outshooting Northeastern 7-6.
When the second period kicked off, Northeastern reset and was able to navigate around the UVM forecheck as they only allowed Vermont to get three shots on goal in the frame.
“We tried to loosen things up a little bit,” said Northeastern head coach Dave Flint. “[Vermont] worked extremely hard on the forecheck; they didn’t give up.”
The Huskies spent a large portion of the middle frame on the power play, drawing three penalties within the first ten minutes of play. However, they were not able to capitalize on any of their opportunities in this period, as the score remained 2-0 heading into the third, despite Northeastern outshooting Vermont 14-3 during that time.
Three minutes into the third, sophomore forward Éloïse Caron put the Huskies on the board again. The opportunity came off of a forechecking effort by Northeastern senior captain Lily Shannon, as she stopped a rolling puck from exiting the offensive zone and redirected it to the stick of Caron. The sophomore was able to thread the needle in the top left corner of the net, putting Northeastern up 3-0.
The Huskies held onto a strong lead as the clock wound down. However, the Catamounts made one final push late in the game. Vermont defender Sophia Zarcone cut the lead down to two with a shot from the blue line.
Despite Vermont’s late-game fire, the Huskies held on to the 3-1 lead to punch their ticket to the Hockey East Championship.
“I’m proud of the team’s effort and how they played,” Flint said. “Vermont’s a good team, well-coached, and they gave us everything we could handle.”
In Saturday’s Championship game, Northeastern will face UConn for the fourth time this season. Northeastern has beaten the other Huskies in all three of their previous meetings this season, with two of those wins coming off of late game-winning goals. The last time these two faced off in the Championship game was 2024, when UConn came up with a 1-0 overtime victory to end Northeastern’s season.
Northeastern has won each of their last seven matchups against UConn since the 2024 Championship heartbreak. However, that does not mean that they should expect an easy victory. Five of those seven meetings have been decided by a one-point margin, including two that went to overtime. These teams are about as closely matched as two teams could be, with Northeastern ranked number five in the country, and first in the Hockey East, while UConn is ranked number six in the country, and finished second place in the Hockey East.
“The fact that we’ve beat them three times doesn’t mean anything,” Flint said. “We’re going to see their best, [and] hopefully we’ll see our best.”
Northeastern will travel to the Toscano Ice Family Forum on Saturday for their Hockey East Championship game against UConn. Puck drop is set for 3:30 pm, with Daisy Roberts, Amelia Ballingall, and Armaan Vij bringing you the call on WRBB Sports.
Kabir Singh is a second-year student at Northeastern University. He is a hockey writer and broadcaster for WRBB Sports. Read all his articles here.