Huskies halt streaking New Hampshire

The New Hampshire women’s ice hockey team looked to continue its recent three-game winning streak as it hosted Hockey East conference foe Northeastern at the Whittemore Center on Thursday night.

Headed into Thursday’s game the Wildcats had a 3-0-1 record over their past four games which includes three consecutive victories, and a 10-11-2 record overall. As for the Huskies, they had dropped three of their last five games headed into Thursday’s matchup, with a 12-9-2 record overall.

The last time these teams met, UNH won by a score of 3-1.

Northeastern broke the stalemate in the first with a tally by sophomore Kendall Coyne at 11:30.

The goal was created with the help of teammate Casey Pickett who flung the puck to Rachel Lianes in the Huskies zone, allowing Lianes to find a streaking Coyne up the middle of the ice. Coyne broke out in stride as she deked through two Wildcat defenders, finding herself with a one-on-one opportunity against UNH goaltender, sophomore Jenn Gilligan. Coyne found the back of the net with a quick shot that escaped through the five-hole of Gilligan.

The rest of the period consisted of even play between the two teams, as they each shared their equal chances to up the other. Despite UNH being down 1-0 after one, it managed to outshoot Northeastern nine to five in the period.

The offense picked up a bit more in the second period, and it all started when New Hampshire freshmen forward Brittney Redlick broke notched the first goal of the game for the Wildcats, as she fired a slap shot that hit the low right corner of the net past Northeastern goaltender Kelsey O’Sullivan 14:22 into the period.

Less than three minutes later the Huskies came back swinging with a goal of their own, which came shorthanded off of the stick of offensive powerhouse Kendall Coyne who tucked one past Gilligan to reclaim the lead for Northeastern 17:12 into the second.

The goal came when Coyne broke out from a rush as she came up the far right boards and headed into the middle of the ice, where she got tripped up by a UNH defenseman yet still managed to keep the puck in her control. This enabled Coyne to deke around Gilligan from right to left for a quick shot into the open net.

A little over a minute later, Northeastern forward Brittany Esposito put one past Gilligan on the power play off a rebound from Maggie DiMasi 18:28 into the period.

DiMasi received a quick pass from Casey Pickett and then fired a shot as Gilligan made the initial save, but Esposito was there on the far right post for the easy rebound goal. DiMasi and Pickett were awarded assists on the play.

At the end of the second period Northeastern led 3-1, with UNH outshooting the Huskies 13-8 in the period.

The third period went quiet offensively between the two teams, as neither managed to get much of a scoring opportunity.

Northeastern managed to shutout the Wildcats in the period to come away with a 3-1 victory.

Huskies goaltender Kelsey O’Sullivan received her first win of her career in net as she played a strong outing with only giving up one goal on 27 shots. New Hampshire had their chances frequently in the game with a couple ringers off the post, but overall just could not finish their opportunities despite outshooting Northeastern 27-22 in the contest.

With the loss New Hampshire falls to 10-12-2 overall and 6-5-1 in Hockey East action. As for the Northeastern, it improves to 13-9-2 overall and 7-6-1 in Hockey East play.

New Hampshire’s next game will be this Sunday, Jan. 27 as it travels to Agganis Arena to play Boston University. The puck is set to drop for 3 p.m.