BOSTON – On an unsuspecting, bright and cold Friday afternoon, Matthews Arena held a game that saw it all: power play goals, empty netters, massive penalties, and to top it all off, a Lisa Jönsson shutout. The Northeastern women’s hockey team defeated the Vermont Catamounts 3-0 in a top-heavy matchup that continued their six-game win streak at home and four-game win streak in conference play.
Northeastern has not fallen to a Hockey East opponent yet, but Vermont had broken that streak for another team once before. The Catamounts delivered the one and only conference loss to the Boston College Eagles Oct. 31, and they clearly sought to continue that trend heading into Friday’s matchup.
Northeastern has also been making strides of its own lately, rising to No. 9 in the USCHO D-I Women’s Poll, breaking the top 10 for the first time this season.
Both sides had notable efforts early on in Friday’s contest. Vermont threatened quickly in Friday’s contest, with an attempt from afar nearly by junior forward Morgann Skoda that reflected off of Jonsson’s pads. Not long after, a Vermont player attempted a breakaway, but Northeastern’s Morgan Jackson was strong on the backcheck and ended the threat.
Graduate student forward and assistant captain Jaden Bogden had a strong attempt about five minutes in, but Catamounts goaltender Ellie Simmons blocked it with ease. Later on, senior defender Kristina Allard managed to snag the puck from a scramble along the boards to the right of the net. She quickly brought the puck across and tried to fire it in, but it was blocked by Simmons. The puck found itself in Northeastern’s end quite a bit in the game’s opening minutes, but as the Huskies found their rhythm, they quickly brought an end.
“Vermont, they’ve kind of had our number the last two seasons,” said head coach Dave Flint. “They’ve got a few wins against us, so it was nice to win today.”
Play picked up rapidly with a little over nine minutes left in the opening frame. Northeastern stood at four shots on goal to Vermont’s two.
Vermont’s junior defender Ashley Kokavec received a penalty for interference, and it didn’t take long for the Huskies to capitalize. Senior defender Jules Constantinople passed to breakout Husky freshman forward Stryker Zablocki, who lay in wait right above the left offensive circle and shot it easily over Simmons’ shoulder. This was the freshman’s third goal of the season, as she continues to be promising player for the Huskies.
Another penalty followed, this time against the home team’s Bogden, for interference. Northeastern handled the kill with relative ease, a reminder to Vermont and the Matthews Arena crowd of why the Huskies rank No. 2 nationally on the penalty kill with a .958 save percentage.
“[The] penalty kill is a mentality,” Flint said. “It’s not a glamorous role, and you’ve got to be willing to work hard at it. It also starts with good goaltending, and we have very good goaltending.”
Junior forward Kaylee Lewis secured what looked like a dangerous breakaway for the Catamounts with a little over a minute left, but her shot sailed over Jönsson’s head, neutralizing the threat and bringing the fiery first period to an end.
Two minutes into the second frame, Zablocki brought the puck around behind the net before strolling up and firing off a sudden shot that caught everyone by surprise, but the execution did not parallel her earlier goal as the shot went wide.
It wouldn’t be long until the Huskies added to the scoreboard once again, though, and senior forward Lily Brazis made sure of that. Standing right in front of a wide-open crease, Brazis effortlessly sent the puck to the back of the net off an assist from junior forward Ella Blackmore.
“I was in a nice spot, so I just put it home,” Brazis said.
Vermont tried its hardest to break past Jönsson in the second frame. While they improved in connecting passes and putting more pressure on the Huskies, they simply could not get past the sophomore goaltender.
“Great person, great player. Absolutely shoutout today,” Brazis said of Jönsson.
Simmons faced a series of shots in the middle of the second frame, blocking them all. The Vermont goaltender stood on her head and impressed against a formidable Huskies offense..
As time ticked down, Vermont’s attempts to score seemed more desperate, while Northeastern succeeded in creating subtle opportunities. However, the Catamounts kept the Huskies occupied. Both teams maintained energy in the second frame, but the Huskies found themselves taking a back seat.
“I challenged them like, ‘Hey, third period, we got to go out there and play hard for 20 minutes and be good in our own end, and limit their chances, ’” Flint said.
And play hard they did.
The third period was a back-and-forth affair that found the Huskies locking down their end and maintaining a strong front.
But all the momentum the Huskies had been building up was brought to a screeching halt when, with a little over fifteen minutes left in the game, sophomore forward Éloïse Caron suffered a nasty collision into the boards behind Vermont’s net. Caron’s helmet flew off, and Matthews was silenced as she lay on the ice, holding her left leg in pain. She was eventually carried off the ice, the call remaining a minor penalty on Vermont senior forward Sofie Skott. Flint had no updates on Caron’s status after the game.
As play continued, Northeastern held strong on its own side of the ice to keep the Catamounts from getting one in and hang on to the two-goal lead.
“I thought we were very good defensively, especially in the third period,” Flint said. “We played lockdown defense and didn’t really give them much.”
Notably, sophomore defender Tristan Thompson brought Skott down a few minutes later behind the Northeastern net. Regardless of any intent behind the hit, the move ignited the DogHouse and brought some electricity back into Matthews.
With 2:41 left in the matchup, Vermont pulled Simmons in a last-ditch effort to pull the game within reach. However, seconds after she stepped off the ice, an errant pass from the Catamounts, attempting to break out of their own end, ended up in Jackson’s possession. She fired the puck into the empty net without hesitation. The final score held at 3-0 to close out Friday’s impressive performance from the Huskies.
“We’re just going to keep climbing the mountain every day and take it one game at a time, and hopefully we’ll keep going up from here,” Brazis said.
The Huskies are back in action Saturday, Nov. 8 at Matthews Arena. Daisy Roberts, Zeno Minotti and Mike Kaminsky have the call with the puck set to drop at 1:30 p.m. on 104.9 FM.
Siera Qosaj is a second-year student at Northeastern University. She primarily covers Husky sports. You can find her on Twitter here.