NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — Regardless of Friday’s final score of 4-1, Northeastern women’s hockey head coach Dave Flint wasn’t content with the way the Huskies performed at home.
Saturday told a completely different story.
Northeastern traveled to take on the Merrimack Warriors in the second game of the home-and-home Hockey East series between the two sides and ran rampant at J. Thom Lawler Arena, handing a sound 5-0 defeat to the Warriors. The win marked the Huskies’ sixth straight and seventh total in conference play, maintaining their hold atop the Hockey East standings.
The tale at Merrimack was one of possession-based play for the Huskies. Northeastern came out of the gate hot, applying a heavy forecheck to keep the Warriors pinned in their zone for minutes on end. Merrimack was desperate from the get-go to get some type of clearance past the dominating pressure of the visiting team.
That pressure could only be withstood for so long.
In a tough, gritty effort in front of the goal of Merrimack freshman netminder Lauren Lyons, the Huskies’ third offensive line of junior Ella Blackmore and seniors Lily Brazis and Holly Abela dug away in the crease after Blackmore forced a neutral zone turnover. After a series of saves made by Lyons and tasty rebounds left in the crease, Blackmore was finally able to put enough on the back of an attempt to give Northeastern their first score of the day just over five minutes into the first period.
With the lead in their hands, the Huskies kept all the momentum behind them. It took less than two minutes to break through again, after yet another turnover generated in the neutral zone from sophomore forward Ellie Mabardy, who scored her first NCAA goal in Friday’s tie-up. Senior forward Mia Langlois was waiting on the opposite side of the ice to receive the puck, driving into offensive territory and sending in a bouncing puck Lyons’ way.
Whether or not it was intentional for the puck to find the back of the net can be up to the discretion of the viewer, but Lyons completely missed the sightlines on Langlois’ shot, letting the puck slip through the five-hole unscathed to double Northeastern’s lead.
After senior defender Jules Constantinople was heavily hit from behind by junior forward Maria Lindberg, Lindberg was sent to the box on a boarding call in the waning seconds of the first period. The Huskies were unable to capitalize at the start of the second frame, and not too long after their power play was killed off, Northeastern senior captain Lily Shannon was called for a hooking penalty herself.
But Northeastern’s penalty kill was ranked fourth in the nation heading into the game. Even down a skater on the ice, they continued to control the pace of play, even generating a shorthanded opportunity, the Huskies still hunting for their first of the season.
After a few more minutes of five-on-five ice time, it was once again Northeastern’s third offensive line that found itself generating dangerous chances. Following a scrum on the boards, the puck fell into Abela’s path. In a sequence that mirrored the line’s first goal, Lyons found herself sliding across her crease as the Huskies chipped away at the doorstep. This time, Brazis connected to put the puck through to give Northeastern a 3-0 lead with just over 12 minutes remaining in the second period.
Brazis’ goal marked the third scored by the bottom six of the Huskies’ offense in the afternoon, giving a nice boost to the scoring prowess of the team as a whole.
“[The] third line was clicking today,” Flint said. “They might have been our best line out there today… It takes the pressure off our top two lines a little bit. If we’re going to be successful throughout the season, everybody’s gonna contribute.”
It was befitting of that line to generate a goal off of a forecheck, something they are notably focused on every time they take the ice.
“We’re very vocal up there,” Brazis said. “We were playing simple, crashing the net, forechecking hard. That’s what gave us the options to get in those gritty areas to score those goals.”
The second period came to a close without any more goals from the Huskies, although the power play did get a few good chances, notably a score sent in from the blue line from freshman defender Ella Lloyd that was nixed due to a goaltender interference call. The shot tally was heavily in Northeastern’s hands, as their 18 shots on goal in the second period more than quadrupled the four that Merrimack was able to muster up.
Just over a minute into the start of the third, the Huskies broke through yet again. After being moved back to the second offensive line to play alongside fellow sophomore Éloïse Caron, Morgan Jackson received a seam pass from her linemate at the top of her zone. Though Jackson’s first effort was nullified by Lyons, a crashing Caron put the spin move on to backhand the puck into the corner of the net and extend Northeastern’s lead to 4-0.
It would not be a Northeastern Hockey East matchup without some magic from their power play. Having scored on the player advantage in every single conference game heading into Saturday, the Huskies were determined to keep that streak going. Graduate student forward Maddie Crowley-Cahill was called for interference with just over eight minutes remaining, giving Northeastern two minutes to do just that.
In familiar fashion for her, Constantinople’s effort resulted in the eventual score, after a shot taken from her office (the blue line) was saved by Lyons. Unfortunately for the freshman netminder, Shannon was waiting on the doorstep to immediately turn on the hot rebound, securing Northeastern’s 5-0 win.
“[Constantinople] is playing with a lot of confidence, a lot of poise with the puck, good decisions, getting her shots through to the net,” Flint said. “That’s why she’s on the power play, and that’s what we need from her.”
Saturday’s victory was a resounding display of authority put together by the Huskies. They outshot Merrimack 40-10, and that does not even include the 21 blocks made by the Warriors’ defense. The last time a Northeastern roster started conference play with a seven-game win streak was the 2019-2020 season, where they won eight Hockey East games before falling to Maine in an overtime loss.
Funnily enough, Maine is the next test the Huskies will face, as they travel to Orono for a two-game set against the Black Bears next weekend. Northeastern will look to do what the 2019-2020 team could not and continue its commanding season.
“There’s no easy games in our league,” Flint said. “[Maine] is always a tough place to play, and they’re a really tough team to play against. We’ve got to be ready for that.”
Northeastern will take on the University of Maine Nov. 21 at 6 p.m. WRBB Sports will provide coverage of the series; look for announcements of coverage on X.
Daisy Roberts is a hockey, basketball, and baseball broadcaster and writer for WRBB Sports. She has been covering Northeastern Athletics for five years. You can read her content here and follow her on X here.