The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

Women’s Hockey: Rookie leads NU in win over Black Bears

By Jewel Della Valle

The women’s hockey team snapped a five-game losing streak with a two-game split at Maine in a weekend series that saw the teams combine for 10 second-period scores.

Northeastern dropped Saturday’s game 7-2 but battled through Sunday to win 6-2. It was just the second time in 16 games the Huskies have given up two goals or less.

Freshman forward Chelsey Jones, who leads the Huskies in points with 21, scored the first hat trick of her career Sunday, and had four goals and had two assists on the weekend. Jones’ play earned her the Hockey East Player of the Week award.

“It’s definitely an honor, but I attribute it to my team,” Jones said. “It was a team effort this weekend, in scoring those goals and putting up those points.”

The Huskies got the high-scoring weekend started with a goal from freshman forward Annie Hogan at 6:11 in the first period Saturday, after assists from senior forwards Jessica Coppney and Marie Desrosiers.

A little more than 10 minutes later, Maine forward Sonia Corriveau made it the last time the Huskies would lead in the game, as she notched her first goal of the season and first of three goals on the day.

At the start of the second period, the Black Bears showed their claws, scoring four goals to Northeastern’s one. In a little more than six minutes, Maine went from being tied 1-1 to up 4-1.

Maine forward Robyn Law put one past junior netminder Sarah Belliveau to give the Black Bears the advantage three minutes into the period. Just 27 seconds later, Maine forward Brigitte Laflamme added insurance with her eighth goal of the season. At 6:08 into the period, Corriveau scored her second goal, giving Maine the 4-1 lead.

The Huskies got one back when Jones scored a power play goal, her first tally of the weekend with 6:30 left to play in the second period. Sophomore defender Brenna Frost tallied her first collegiate point with the assist.

Corriveau scored again just over a minute later, making it 5-2 Maine and the prospect of a comeback bleak. The Huskies were in a similar situation against Maine earlier this season, but overcame a 5-1 deficit, scoring five unanswered goals to win 6-5, the largest comeback in Northeastern women’s hockey history. But the Huskies couldn’t pull it off again, and let in two more goals in the third to fall to a 7-2 loss.

“We definitely did not come into [Saturday’s game] with a mental edge and we paid the price for that,” Jones said.

The Huskies saved their comeback resolve for Sunday’s game. Going down 2-1 after the first period, Northeastern battled back to score five unanswered goals, winning 6-2 and snapping Maine’s seven-game win streak.

The attack was spread out over the second period. Five minutes in, sophomore defender Erin Reil took feeds from freshman forward Liz Chapman and senior assistant co-captain Crystal Rochon for the score, knotting the game at 2.

Jones and junior forward Nikki Petrich then put the game away for Northeastern, combining for four goals, two apiece, and three assists in the period to secure the Husky victory.

Jones scored her first goal of the game in the first period to make it 1-1. Her second came on a power play at 7:17 in the second period, with assists from Petrich and Rochon. Taking a feed from freshman defender Ginny Berg, Jones scored again, giving her a hat trick on the day, and making it 4-2 with eight minutes remaining.

Petrich notched her seventh and eighth goals of the season with less than four and a half minutes left in the second period. Jones got assists on both scores and senior captain Amy Goodney got an assist as well.

“In our first game our second period was just really bad and they capitalized on us and took advantage when we made mistakes,” said Goodney, who skated in her 100th game Saturday. “In the second game, we did the same thing to them. Whenever they were making mistakes in the second period, we were capitalizing.”

Goodney and Jones said at the beginning of November, the Huskies changed their defensive game plan, now sticking to man-to-man coverage instead of zone defense, an adjustment the team is still getting used to.

The new coverage strategy seems to be working. The Huskies gave up 27 goals last month, 15 less than October’s 42 goals in the same number of games, even after facing off against No. 3 New Hampshire for two November match ups.

Northeastern is now 3-12-1 (2-7-1 HE) and will take on Boston College at Matthews Arena Dec. 9 at 2 p.m.

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