UNH Ousted by Top-Seeded Northeastern In Hockey East Tourney

Sunday, February 28

Boston, MA

7 PM

University of New Hampshire

7-14-1

Northeastern University

18-1-1

Team	1	2	3	F
New Hampshire	0	0	0	0
Northeastern	1	5	1	7

Photo by: Jim Pierce

UNH Ousted by Top-Seeded Northeastern In Hockey East Tourney

2/28/2021 10:14:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

Box Score

BOSTON – The second-ranked Northeastern University women's ice hockey team scored five second-period goals in Sunday night's 7-0 victory against the University of New Hampshire in the quarterfinal round of the 2021 Hockey East Championship at Matthews Arena.

UNH starting goaltender Ava Boutilier (Charolottetown, Prince Edward Island) made 21 saves and exited with the Wildcats trailing 5-1 at 13:17 of the second period. Nikki Harnett (Plymouth, Minn.) stopped 18 of 20 shots on goal the final 26:43.

NU's Aerin Frankel made 21 saves for her ninth shutout of the season – first against New Hampshire in five games. The Huskies had seven different goal scorers and Andrea Renner led the team with three points, all on assists.

Eighth-seeded UNH ends the season at 7-14-1 overall. Top-seeded NU extended its winning streak to 14 games and unbeaten streak to 18 games (17-0-1) to improve to 18-1-1 and advance to the March 3 semifinals.

FIRST PERIOD

Northeastern generated a 15-5 shot advantage through 20 minutes and took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission
A deflected pass from behind the net found Katy Knoll between the circles and she snapped a shot 5-hole to give Northeastern a 1-0 lead at 5:55.
UNH went on its first power play at 6:08 but both shot attempts were wide of the cage.
The Wildcats went back on the power play at 10:47 and Chavonne Truter (Uxbridge, Ontario) was denied by Frankel on a dangerous scoring chance.
In the 15^th minute, Boutilier kept the margin at one goal as she denied Chloe Aurard in front of the cage and then again on a backhander off the rebound at the right doorstep.

SECOND PERIOD

The Huskies scored quick back-to-back goals twice to quickly build their lead in the middle frame as they recorded an 18-9 shot advantage in the second 20 minutes.
Before that outburst, UNH had a dangerous-looking power play at 3:21. The Wildcats controlled the faceoff and immediately pressured with a shot off the stick of Nicole Kelly (Brantford, Ontario) and two by Brianna Legros (New Liskeard, Ontario).
With the 'Cats still on the power play, Tamara Thiérus (Saint-Jérôme,Quebec) snapped a wrister from the slot that Frankel snared with her glove.
Northeastern returned to even strength at 5:21 and Katie Cipra's rising backhander from the slot gave the home team a 2-0 lead at 6:16.
Veronika Pettey converted a 2-on-1 rush into a goal and three-goal advantage at 7:57.
Less than a minute later, Kelly collected a loose puck in the neutral zone for a breakaway opportunity. She made a few dekes and pulled the puck back to the forehand near the right doorstep, but Frankel extended her leg pad for the save.
Midway through the period, Peyton Anderson's shot went off Boutilier and UNH defenseman Emily Rickwood (Brantford, Ontario) cleared the puck away from the goalmouth to keep the score 3-0.
Skylar Fontaine scored a power-play goal at 12:55 and Kate Holmes struck 22 seconds later to quickly extend the Huskies' lead to 5-0 and chase Boutilier from the game.
Mia Brown netted an unassisted goal on a breakaway down the right win to give NU a 6-0 lead with 28 seconds on the clock.

THIRD PERIOD

Northeastern scored the only goal with a 13-7 shot advantage in the third period.
UNH generated the first scoring chances of the final frame on shots by Jada Christian (Caledon East, Ontario) and Annie Berry (Milton, Mass.), but Frankel turned aside both shots.
Harnett made five saves the next three minutes and two more during a power play to quell the Huskies' offense.
Alina Mueller made it 7-0 at 10:57.
The shots were even, 5-5, the rest of the way but Frankel stopped all five to preserve her clean sheet.

UNH NOTEBOOK

Rickwood added to her Hockey East-leading blocks total with seven, which matches her high (and high by any Wildcat) this season. She ends the season with 58 blocks.
Maddie Truax (Gardner, Mass.), who entered the game third in the league in blocks, increased her season total to 49 with three more Sunday night.
Brianna Brooks (Whitby, Ontario) was the top 'Cat in the faceoff circle with 10 wins in 21 draws. Brooks also recorded a team-high four shots.
Boutilier increased her career saves total to 2,355, which ranks second in program history. Jen Huggon holds the benchmark of 2,851.
Boutilier is No. 4 in career minutes at 5077:30; third on the list is Alicia Roberts at 6526:33.

TOURNEY NOTEBOOK

New Hampshire has a 15-19 overall record in the Hockey East Championships with four tournament titles.
UNH has a 4-14 record in the Hockey East quarterfinals.
The Wildcats are 2-5 against Northeastern and that includes 1-5 in the quarters.
UNH is winless in three games against the tourney's No. 1 seed.

SERIES NOTEBOOK