Northeastern 2, Providence 1

[dave1381]

That's a final... Northeastern comes back from 1-0 late... I'll write more on this later. Looking at past games, you wouldn't have really expected anything different.

[dave1381]

here's the NU release w/ quotes.

http://www.gonu.com/whockey/2004/game20.htm

The Huskies scored two third period goals to complete a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the Providence Friars at Matthews Arena Sunday. NU improves to 9-5-6 overall and 3-3-2 in Hockey East, while Providence drops to 7-10-2, 3-2-1.

Trailing 1-0 at 13:22 of the third period, sophomore Theresa Ella sent a pass from the left wing corner onto the stick of Amy Goodney, who was all alone in the slot. The freshman rifled a one-timer past PC goalie Jana Bugden to tie the game at 1-1.

With time winding down in regulation, Husky sophomore defenseman Rachael Bertram sent a slap shot on goal which Bugden got a pad on, however the rebound popped loose in front of her net. Goodney pushed it to Cyndy Kenyon, who sent the puck along the ice past Bugden for the game winner.

“We just kept battling and that’s the wonderful thing about this team,” NU coach Joy Woog said. “They never give up and always feel they can win.

“Our approach to this game was to attack Providence, but also to respect them,” she continued. “We used this game as a gauge and a checkpoint to see where we are at in the season.”

Providence pulled their goalie with 53 seconds left in the game, but NU goalie Chanda Gunn held off the Friars late push for the victory. She finished with 35 saves.

The Friars struck first with a second-period goal from Sonny Watrous, her fourth of the season. Rush Zimmerman and Darlene Stephens each picked up assists. The Friars had another second period scoring opportunity when Ashley Payton broke in all alone on Gunn with under a minute remaining in the frame. Gunn calmly turned the shot away to keep the Huskies within one.

“I felt like she was going to shoot, so I just waited,” Gunn said. “She went to my glove side and I was ready for the shot.”

With the Hockey East victory, Northeastern jumps ahead of Providence and Connecticut in the league standings. The Huskies sit in third place with eight league points. Their next game will be Jan. 30 at UConn.

[dave1381]

uscho article on the game: http://www.uscho.com/recaps/20032004/w/01/25/pc-nu.php

[SKATNMIASOV]

Dave1381

I was looking at the NE roster. Gunn seems to be the only senior this year, and also the team has just one junior. They have played some teams pretty close this year with a relatively very young squad. The win against Princeton, two ties against Wisc. the tie against Ohio State and two wins against the friars IMO were unexpected. Do you think this team could be a real contender in the next couple of years? or do you think the departure of Gunn will hurt this squads chances in the future?
I really know nothing of the back up to Gunn so it is hard for me to judge what will be in the net the next few years for the Huskies.

[dave1381]

I think the team has done pretty well without Gunn... the Princeton win was without Gunn. I'd say the first Providence tie and the Wisconsin ties wouldn't have happened without Gunn, and they couldn't handle UNH without her... the Princeton win and this Providence win were more a result of their system. Gunn didn't have to do anything to spectacular this last game, except stop a breakaway, which frankly wasn't all that tough to stop. Northeastern has typically hung back early in the game and gotten outshot badly in the first period in just about every game, then they'll pour it on late in the game. Seems to work well for them. I think they'll be strong next year too... Gunn's biggest asset is she gives them confidence, that if they screw up a bit, there's still hope. Next year they'll be older and they won't need that as much. Sorry if that's really rambling and disjointed. As for contender in the next few years - sure for the Hockey East title... if you're talking national title, still hard for anyone to catch up with Minn, UMD, Harvard, and Dartmouth.