BOSTON — Discombobulated.
If there was a word to describe the weekend for Northeastern, it would be that. Or maybe even disastrous. But whatever word you want to choose, what the weekend wasn’t, was productive. In the two-gameseries between Beanpot games, the Huskies couldn’t seem to get anything going against Providence, dropping back-to-back games 5-1 and 3-2, respectively.
“Obviously a very disappointing weekend,” head coach Dave Flint said following Saturday’s defeat. “Effort wasn’t there, execution wasn’t there. There’s a lot of things – not a lot of positives that I can pull out of it.”
Game One, Friday
Friday’s game saw the first career start for sophomore goaltender Mattie Robitzer, and after a rough first period, the goaltender slowly settled in throughout the start.
The first period though, was bad for the Huskies. As they mustered only six shots on goal, they allowed 10 from Providence – and three of those ended up behind Robitzer. The first of those three goals came 7:31 into the first period, as junior Mégane Quirion took advantage of an out-of-position netminder to pot the rebound for her third goal of the season.
Just 61 seconds later, Kiara Kraft made Northeastern pay again, with her fifth of the year. Providence in transition put a shot off from above the faceoff circles, then after the puck bounced off a skate in front Kraft swooped it up and into the net for the two goal lead.
Following the two quick goals, the teams were going back and forth on the ice without generating a lot of chances at either end. The three chances Northeastern was able to generate were all blocked in front by Providence. In fact, after going down 2-0, the Huskies had just one shot on goal for an ensuing 11:28 of play time.
The final goal of the period came courtesy of senior center Hannah Johnson. The Providence captain was positioned by the right side of Robitzer’s net, and was able to take advantage of the bouncing puck to put it up and over the goaltender. 3-0 Friars with 5:46 left in the frame.
For more images from Friday’s loss, be sure to check out the photo gallery linked here.
Throughout the period, the Huskies couldn’t clear the rebounds out from in front of the net, gave Providence more time and space than they should have, and weren’t able to stay out of their own zone. All of it cost them greatly.
“I told the team last night, ‘you let Mattie [Robitzer] down’,” Flint said Saturday.
Following the disastrous first period, the Huskies settled things down and rebounded offensively in the second period, though none of the 14 shots on goal beat senior goaltender Hope Walinski. On the opposite end, Robitzer also stood tall, stopping the 10 shots Providence had through the middle 20 minutes.
The third period is where things began to devolve.
It’s no secret these two teams generally play each other incredibly hard every time they meet, with chippiness wherever you look. The entire Friday game was an example of that, but the third period especially is where things really went off the rails. With missed calls galore, and with a Northeastern coach staff screaming at the officials for said no-calls, Providence found ways to dig into their game, clogging up the zone and taking advantage of every inch of space Northeastern gave them.
Six and a half minutes into the third, it was star Reichen Kirchmair who added another to the Friars tally. A shot from the blue line from Hannah Johnson was blocked down by Lily Shannon in front, however the puck bounced directly off the body of the Northeastern forward down to the ice and onto Kirchmair’s stick, and the junior wasted no time shoveling it into the net to extend the lead.
Following the fourth goal, Northeastern played with a little bit of fire, notching five shots on goal in five minutes of regulation. Then, with 4:29 to play in the third, sophomore Audrey Knapp took a five minute major and a game misconduct for interference after a review of a play in the neutral zone.
On the major, captain Taze Thompson took a feed from Lily Brazis and sniped it over the shoulder of Walinski to break the shutout. After, the Huskies continued to press, but an empty netter with Robitzer pulled sealed the win for Providence, and the night ended at 5-1 in favor of the Friars.
“Tuesday, we were up here [at Matthews], maybe one of our better games, if not our best game of the year, and we answer Friday with probably our worst game of the year,” Flint said.
The loss was the first time Northeastern has allowed five or more goals in a game since Feb. 17, 2019. Yes, it’s been nearly six years since the Huskies gave up more than four goals in a game. And the last time they did it?
A 5-2 loss to Providence. Because of course.
Game Two, Saturday
Saturday saw the return of Lisa Jönsson for the Huskies, and the freshman made 19 saves in the loss — matching the amount of saves from Walinski on the opposite end.
As for the team in front of her, they were missing passes, miscommunicating on plays, and were kept away from the net by a rock-solid system from Providence. Every time they set up in the offensive zone, Northeastern was immediately turned the other way.
Unlike Friday, neither side really found their footing in the first period, although another Kraft goal was the difference maker heading into the second. After a bad turnover at the blue line right in front of the Northeastern bench, Kraft skated in and neatly put the puck behind Jönsson for her second goal of the weekend.
The Huskies were on the receiving end of some early power plays in Saturday’s game, a switch after no infractions were called until the third period the night before. First was against Jessie Pellerin, who went off for a cross check while the Friars were in the offensive end 5:14 into the game. The Huskies mustered just one shot on the power play, but their second attempt on the advantage went far better.
Later in the period, defender Brooke Becker hooked sophomore Allie Lalonde while the forward was trying to get a shot off directly in front of Walinski. While the Huskies were unable to convert before the buzzer, they took the 33 seconds of power play time and made it worth their while to start the second.
Twenty eight seconds in, Lalonde put a rising slap shot on goal and in from above the faceoff dot to Walinski’s left. The puck found its way behind the netminder for Lalonde’s first goal since returning from injury to start the spring semester, which tied the game back at 1-1. It was also yet another power play goal for Northeastern, and came with six seconds remaining on the advantage.
The power play has been the achilles heel for Northeastern throughout much of the year. They’ve consistently been in the bottom 10 (if not bottom five) of NCAA teams on the power play in 2024-25. However, since coming back from the semester break, the Huskies have five power play goals in six games, including in four games in a row dating back to the Jan. 7 game against Yale. They’re also five for their last 12 attempts (41.6% clip).
“Down the stretch here, we need our power play producing and it has been,” Flint said. “I think the personnel we have, they’ve been doing a good job.”
From there, Providence settled back into their game, forcing Jönsson to make two saves in quick succession followed by a Thompson block to negate the chances. The Huskies had their looks too, including an Ellie Mabardy howitzer that just banked off the pipe and wide. That missed chance started an eight minute stretch where NU had just one shot on goal on six overall attempts.
What ended the stretch was another goal for Lily Martinson, who had the shorthanded empty netter the night before and now has three goals in her last four games. The defender kept the puck in along the blue line, and then skated through the open ice in the offensive end to rifle the shot past Jönsson to restore the Providence lead with 6:05 to play in the middle period.
Five minutes after the goal, Kirchmair deflected a shot off the stick of Lily Hendrickson and in for her conference-leading 12th goal of the season – and for the eventual game-winner.
After conceding the third goal, NU had no response in the last 90 seconds of the period, especially following a Éloïse Caron goaltender interference penalty with 67 seconds left. In the time remaining before intermission, Jönsson made four saves and a further three shots were blocked away in front, as Providence was threatening once again.
The third period is where Northeastern finally began to look more like the team that played against BC on Tuesday. Jules Constantinople’s fifth tally of the season put them within one 4:20 into the period, and after the goal the Huskies continued to pressure. All told, they had nine shots on goal and limited Providence to five. For long stretches of time, especially the last five minutes of regulation, the team seemed primed to tie things up.
It wasn’t meant to be however, as some perfectly timed blocks and clears from the Friars pushed the puck back to neutral ice or even further, and kept the Huskies from getting even close to the back of the cage. Final score stood, 3-2 Providence.
Credit where credit is due, Providence had a solid game plan and even while playing down a forward to start the games – and finishing both of them down another with the Knapp penalty Friday and an injury to Ashley Clark on Saturday– they never let up. They blocked a combined 27 Northeastern attempts to make Walinski’s job a little bit easier, and they capitalized when the Huskies continued to struggle across the ice.
“Last night there was very minimal effort,” Flint said. “We were all over the place, not doing what we normally do when we’re playing well and I don’t have an answer on why we play like that… Today was better, but still wasn’t great, and we’re going to need to be a lot better on Tuesday.”
Well, speaking of Tuesday, there isn’t a nice week off between games waiting for Northeastern. They’re right back in action – and this time it’s the Beanpot final against a BU team that handedly beat them back in October.
After how the team performed against BC last Tuesday, and adding in the poor weekend they’re coming off of, how Northeastern hits the ice in the opening period against the Terriers will be critical. Especially if they want to get back on track after their first back-to-back losses of the year.
Not to mention they have another weekend set against Merrimack to finish out the six-games-in-12-days stretch right after that. There’s a lot to focus on for this group, and it starts at TD Garden for the Beanpot final.
“The excitement, the big crowd, big stage [at TD], hopefully that gives them a little boost to give them the energy they need,” Flint said.
WRBB will have live coverage from TD Garden for the finale of the 46th Annual Beanpot on Tuesday. Emma Sullivan, Zeno Minotti, and Armaan Vij are live on WRBB 104.9 FM for puck drop, currently scheduled for 7:30 p.m.