STORRS, Conn. — It felt like déjà vu: in Storrs, Connecticut, with the Hockey East Championship on the line, an overtime heartbreaker from UConn put a sudden-death finish to an electric competition, and Northeastern fell just short of a seventh conference tournament title, 2-1.
In 2024, it was Megan Woodworth with the deflection in the blue paint; in 2026, it was Kyla Josifovic, the UConn senior captain, with the one-timer on a three-on-two rush.
“I feel pretty comfortable saying I don’t want to see another overtime game in this building anymore,” said Northeastern head coach Dave Flint. “I’m just extremely proud of my team. They worked so hard all year, dealt with a lot of adversity, and to come up short, it stings a lot, but I’m proud of their effort and thought they played a great game.”
Three times this season, No. 5 Northeastern has walked into No. 6 UConn’s home territory and come out with wins on unfriendly ice, but in the highest-stakes game of the season, despite outlasting and outshooting the other Huskies, Northeastern fell just short.
Now, this was the fourth time Northeastern headed down to the Toscano Family Ice Forum this season, but it was also the second time that shouldn’t have happened. Without home ice, the Huskies’ fate has been determined by a combination of outsider decisions (scheduling, finances, weather, etc.). Back in January, a Sunday night Boston-based game got pushed back to a Friday night in Storrs due to an impending blizzard. Here in March, Northeastern should’ve had home-ice advantage after winning the regular season Hockey East title and first seed in the tournament by a decisive 12-point margin, but for one reason or another, they were forced back to the road grind — this time, in front of a record-breaking crowd, with 2,168 fans in attendance, the most the women’s Hockey East Championship has ever seen.
“It’s a challenge when you’re in another team’s building and the crowd is great, so you’ve got to manage your emotions,” Flint said. “I also want to shout out our fans, our DogHouse, they’ve been tremendous. We haven’t had a rink since December, and they’re showing up at all our games. Our band was here. I mean, that’s above and beyond.”
However, it was also the first time in weeks that Northeastern was back to a full roster. With Jaden Bogden, Holly Abela, Peyton Compton, and Eloise Caron missing stretches due to injury and Alessia Baechler away from the team for the Olympics, Northeastern skated multiple games without a full lineup, including their Feb. 20 overtime win against UConn, in which they were barely able to field three offensive lines.
Back to full strength, the visiting Huskies had plenty of grade-A opportunities, going 1-on-0, even, 2-on-0 towards their opponents’ net. What it came down to was an absolute goaltending clinic on both sides.
Both Lisa Jönnson (Northeastern) and Tia Chan (UConn) had career-high nights, with 54 and 56 saves, respectively. And many of those were high-danger opportunities, net-front from point-blank range, leading to highlight-reel saves on either end.
“[Jönnson] gives us a chance every night. She gave us a chance tonight, we just couldn’t find the back of the net,” Flint said. “That was a battle of the two best goalies in the league right there. But [Jönnson’s] been tremendous and she always steps up in big moments, and I just feel bad that we couldn’t get her a goal there in overtime.”
It was an active game from the get-go, a physical contest between two of the best teams in the country, and the officials were content to just let it play out. For the most part.
With 1:22 left in the opening frame, Caron was sent to the box on a tripping penalty, and it handed the momentum right to UConn.
The home team has had a strong power play at 22%, including going 5-for-10 in recent games, but it was outdone by Northeastern’s 89.5% penalty kill, which ranks second in the NCAA and hasn’t let up a goal since February 15.
However, UConn got plenty of shots in and was able to extend that offensive zone time deep into 5-on-5 play after the second period picked up with the waning seconds of the minor penalty still on the board.
Two and a half minutes into the second period, the home team broke open the scoring when a streaking Livvy Dewar down the left wing was able to connect with a crashing Sadie Hotles in front of the net. Batting away at the puck in the blue paint, Hotles found a gap, propelling UConn to a 1-0 lead.
Just a few minutes later, Northeastern got their first — and only — power play of the afternoon, and they made it count. The opposite of the previous special teams, these were a pair of units that had been struggling. Coming into Saturday, Northeastern only had one power play goal in the last 20 opportunities, but UConn had let in three of their last seven.
So with the tables flipped, junior Rylie Jones was able to find a seam, scoring in nearly an exact replica of how she potted one against UConn on Feb. 20. Helped out by a great screen from the senior captain Lily Shannon, Jones collected the pass from freshman Stryker Zablocki and ripped in a dagger from the high slot to even the score 1-1.
And 1-1 is where it would stay.
The second period continued to be a hard-fought, penalty-ridden affair as the two teams exchanged chances. One of the best on either side came in this frame as Shannon and Zablocki caught UConn on a 2-on-0 breakaway chance. Chan turned aside Zablocki’s initial shot while Shannon was stuffed by a backchecking Meghane Duschene-Chalifoux at the back post to help keep the puck out of the net.
It wasn’t the first time Zablocki was stood up in this game, and it wouldn’t be the last. The freshman phenom, named both Hockey East Rookie and Player of the Year, had plenty of opportunities to earn Northeastern the win, but time and time again, her efforts were thwarted by Chan.
As the game wore on, it became clear that this one wouldn’t be decided in 60 minutes.
Or in 80 minutes.
In fact, it took over 95 minutes for both sets of Huskies to decide a winner in the longest Women’s Hockey East Championship in history.
UConn outshot Northeastern through regulation 39-24, but when it turned to a sudden-death overtime showdown, it was clear the home team was tired. Northeastern dominated the extra frames, leading the shot tally 33-15, and on the ice, it showed. Northeastern was all over the attack zone, steering chances net-front and hemming UConn into their own zone for long stretches without any fresh legs.
To their benefit, Northeastern had had plenty of practice in this kind of situation after winning in double overtime against BU in the quarterfinals. And for a team that had dug deep to win games without a full roster, they were used to pulling out the stamina of the ages.
But while Chan was rocking and rolling between the pipes for UConn, she was also getting bailed out by a steadfast group of defenders willing to put their bodies on the line in the hope of a title. As a team, UConn put up a whopping 40 blocked shots to help divert Northeastern’s cumulative 114 shot attempts.
Despite playing on the back foot throughout overtime, UConn gained the advantage on a neutral zone turnover turned odd-man rush. On a second line that’s been leading the way through playoffs, Ashley Allard, Claire Murdoch, and Josifovic connected with a tic-tac-toe play to feed Murdoch in the low slot. Jonnson slid across her crease for the kick save, but it fell to the open stick of Josifovic at the open back door, and she buried the puck to claim UConn’s second Hockey East Tournament title.
“Before we scored, there was a TV timeout, and I basically told the team, ‘I don’t think our goalie’s going to let us lose, I don’t think she’s going to let us lose, so somebody needs to make a play, get this thing done, we’ll go from there,’” said UConn head coach Chris Mackenzie.
If you’re counting, that’s three times in a row now that Northeastern’s had the championship door shut on them in overtime, in Storrs, nonetheless. It’s heartbreak for a group that’s played a dominant season all year long, especially for a senior group that’s tasted that victory before and has been hunting to get it back.
But the season isn’t over yet. With that top-caliber run this season, Northeastern secures fifth place overall in the NPI and receives a bye in the first round of the national tournament.
“You’re not defined by wins and losses,” Flint said. “I think this leadership group has been tremendous… so there’s nothing they should be hanging their heads about. I don’t know if we could’ve put in a better performance. So they just need to reset, refocus, … but we’re back to business on Monday and we’re gonna have a really tough opponent in the NCAA so we’re gonna have to play like we did tonight or even a little better.”
The Huskies still have plenty to play for with a national title on the line. WRBB will have live coverage when Northeastern takes on No. 4 Minnesota in the regional final Friday, March 13 at 3 p.m.
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+. You can read more of her work here.