The Bertagna Trophy and an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament are on the line when the No. 10/10 Northeastern women's ice hockey team squares off with No. 4/4 Boston University in the Hockey East championship game on Sunday afternoon at Kennedy Rink in Hyannis, Mass.
This is the fifth meeting of the season between the two teams, with the Eagles holding a 3-1-0 advantage, but it was the Huskies who came away with the latest victory in the Beanpot semifinal game on Feb. 5, 4-1. It is also their third meeting in the WHEA tournament, and first since the Huskies knocked off BU in the 2011 semifinal game, 4-2.
NU has won each of its last nine games, and 12 out of its last 13 overall, including its second straight Beanpot championship last month. It is the team's longest winning streak since 2002.
Sophomore forward
Kendall Coyne has led the charge for the Huskies this season, and is riding a 15-game point streak (20 goals, 16 assists), the longest of her career. The Palos Heights, Ill. native has recorded multi-point games in 12 of those 15 contests, including six multi-goal games and two hat tricks.
She was also named a top ten finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award last week, which is given to the nation's top player in Division I women's ice hockey, as well as a unanimous WHEA First Team All-Star on Friday.
Since returning to the Northeastern net on Feb. 5,
Chloe Desjardins has led NU to an 9-0-0 mark with a 1.63 goals against average and .947 save percentage. She was named the WHEA Goaltender of the Month last week after making at least 30 saves three times during February, and is also a WHEA Honorable Mention All-Star.
Northeastern and the WHEA tournament
The Huskies are making their sixth appearance in the conference tournament, entering Sunday with a 4-5 record all-time in postseason play, including an 0-1 mark in the title game. Northeastern made its deepest run into the tournament in 2011, when the Huskies reached the WHEA championship game before falling to the Eagles in the title game, 3-1.
Casey Pickett is Northeastern's active leader in career tournament points with five goals and six assists in seven games played, which ranks in a tie for third on the all-time scoring list.
Rachel Llanes, meanwhile, has a goal and four assists in WHEA tournament play, including four helpers during the 2011 postseason and ranks tied for fifth for most assists in one tournament.
The matchup with the Terriers
Boston University, the 2012-13 WHEA regular season champion, is 25-5-3 overall this season, and topped Providence in yesterday's first semifinal, 4-0.
Northeastern holds a 32-19-5 advantage in the all-time series against BU, including a 4-1 victory in the Beanpot semifinals in February.
The Terriers are led by junior Marie Philip-Poulin, who has 16 goals and 32 assists this season, including a shorthanded goal and an assist on Saturday against Providence.
Senior center Isabel Menard is second on the team with 41 points (14 goals, 27 assists), and was named a Honorable Mention All-Star this season.
Junior Kerrin Sperry has seen most of the time in goal this season for the Terriers, posting a 21-4-3 record with a 2.12 goals against average and .920 save percentage.
Breaking down the streak
Northeastern is riding a season-long nine-game winning streak, which is the second longest active streak in the nation, dating back to the start of the Beanpot on Feb. 5. The last time the Huskies had a winning streak of at least eight games was during the 2001-02 season. Additionally, NU hasn't ended the regular season on a seven-game winning streak since the 1987-88 season, when the Huskies won the ECAC Championship.
NU is averaging 4.8 goals per game during the last seven contests, nearly a goal above its regular season average, while giving up only 1.6, which is a goal below the average in all games this season.
The Huskies, who typically average a little more than eight penalty minutes per game this season, has logged seven penalty minutes per game during the streak, and is operating at 91.7% on the penalty kill.
Additionally, NU was won 53% of its faceoffs during the last eight games, compared to a 50% mark during the entire regular season.
Kendall Coyne (10 goals, 11 assists) and
Casey Pickett (seven goals, 13 assists) have combined for 41 points during NU's winning streak, while
Chloe Desjardins has held down the fort in the Husky goal, posting a 1.63 goals against average and .947 save percentage.
20/20
The Feb. 23 win at Providence gave the Huskies a 20-win season for the second straight year. It marks the first time since 1998-99 and 1999-00 that Northeastern has won 20 games in consecutive seasons.
A peek at the PairWise
Northeastern's nine-game winning streak, kicked off by its second straight Beanpot championship, has put the Huskies back in the hunt for a berth into the NCAA tournament.
NU is currently tied for eighth with Wisconsin in the latest PairWise rankings from USCHO.com, which attempts to mimic the method used by the NCAA Selection Committee to determine participants for the NCAA Division I women's ice hockey tournament. Northeastern is also 11th in the RPI, and is 4-9-0 this season against teams under consideration.
Last time out
Chloe Desjardins made 34 saves, and Northeastern was a perfect six-of-six on the penalty kill en route to a 4-1 win against No. 2/3 Boston College (26-6-3) on Saturday afternoon in the Hockey East semifinals at Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Rink.
NU received goals from four different scorers in the contest as Northeastern extended its winning streak to nine games.
Kendall Coyne and
Casey Pickett logged two points apiece for NU, while
Kelly Wallace and
Rachel Llanes also registered goals.
Coyne named Patty Kazmaier finalist
Accolades continue to roll in for Northeastern women's ice hockey sophomore
Kendall Coyne. The Palos Heights, Ill. was named one of ten finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award on Thursday, which is given annually to the top player in NCAA Division I women's ice hockey.
This is the second straight season, and third time in the last four years, that the Huskies have had a student-athlete listed in the top-ten for the sport's most prestigious individual honor.
Florence Schelling was a two-time finalist for the award in 2009-10 and 2011-12, where she was also a top-three finalist.
It is also the second straight season that Coyne has been included among the nation's top players after being named in the top-30 last season.
Well balanced attack
The Huskies have seven players this season who have recorded at least 20 points, led by the top two lines of Pickett, Llanes and Coyne and Savage, Wallace and Esposito. Defenseman
Maggie DiMasi has also contributed in the attacking zone with two goals and 19 assists. The last time Northeastern had seven players with at least 20 points was during the 1999-00 season.
Next in line is junior
Katie MacSorley with nine goals and 10 assists. Should she register another point this season, it would be the first time since 1988-89 that NU had eight players with at least 20 points.
Lending a helping held
Kendall Coyne,
Casey Pickett and
Rachel Llanes lead the team with 31, 26 and 23 assists this season, respectively, while
Maggie DiMasi has 20 helpers, marking the fourth time in program history that NU had four players with at least 20 assists and the time since the 1997-98 season.
Speed kills
Kendall Coyne,
Rachel Llanes and
Casey Pickett have carried the torch this season for the Huskies, becoming one of the most dangerous lines in the nation.
“One thing that all three of them possess is speed,” said head coach
Dave Flint. “They are one of the fastest lines in college hockey. They are all skilled and they have a built a great chemistry between them as well. They are really clicking right now and any time they are on the ice, the other team really has to worry about them.”
The trio has produced 43% of Northeastern's total scoring (151-of-348) and 51% of NU's total goals (70-of-136). Coyne leads the teams with 36 goals and 31 assists, while Pickett has 21 goals and 26 helpers and Llanes with 14 goals and 23 assists.
Coyne makes it 15-straight
Sophomore forward
Kendall Coyne is in the midst of her longest point streak of her young career, having recorded at least one point in each of her last 15 games (20 goals, 16 assists).
Three weeks ago at Maine, she became the 22nd player in program history to record 100 career points, and only the third to do so in less than two seasons. In 64 career games at NU, the Palos Heights, Ill. native has produced 62 goals and 50 assists, and is already 19th on the NU record list for career goals.
She is also the first Husky since Vicky Sunohara (1988-89) to post at least 65 points in a season. Coyne is 13th on the Northeastern record list for career goals, while her 36 goals this season are second on the single-season list.
A seven-time WHEA Player of the Week honoree in 2012-13, Coyne is fifth in the nation in points per game (2.03), third in goals per game (1.09), tied for fifth in power play goals (nine) and tied for fourth in game-winning goals (seven).
Her nine power play goals are also three shy of tying the program record for PPG in a season (Hillary Witt, 12; 1999-00). She is also the first player since 2000 to record at least 45 points in back-to-back seasons (Witt; 1998-99, 1999-00).
She also recorded career-highs in assists (five) and points (six) on Nov. 3 against Connecticut. In her 63 career games, Northeastern is 38-12-3 when she records at least one point and 35-2-2 when she records a positive +/- rating. Additionally, she has been held without a point in just 10 of her 63 career games.
Llanes locks down No. 100
Senior forward
Rachel Llanes became the 23rd player in program history to record 100 career points on Feb. 24 against Providence. She joins linemates
Casey Pickett and
Kendall Coyne, who accomplished the feat earlier this season.
Llanes has struck a balance in 138 career games with the Huskies, tallying 41 goals and 60 assists. She also cracked the top-20 on the NU record list for career assists, sitting in 17th place.
Llanes is third on the team this season with 13 goals and 23 assists, and is 10th in Hockey East in scoring.
NU takes home WHEA hardware
Four members of the Huskies collected Hockey East accolades on Friday night at the annual awards banquet in Hyannis, Mass. Sophomore forward
Kendall Coyne was named a WHEA First Team All-Star and senior captain
Casey Pickett earned Second Team accolades while sophomore goaltender
Chloe Desjardins and junior defenseman
Maggie DiMasi were both named Honorable Mention All-Stars.
Coyne (Palos Heights, Ill.), who was also the runner up for Athletic Republic Player of the Year, was a unanimous choice to the First Team for the second straight season after finishing second in Hockey East in league scoring with 43 points (21 goals, 22 assists).
Pickett (Wilmington, Mass.) collected Second Team honors for the second time in as many seasons. She finished the regular season fifth in the conference with 31 points (15 goals, 16 assists) in league play. She has 47 points on 21 goals and 26 assists overall this season, which is good for second on NU and fifth in WHEA.
Pickett was the first of three Huskies to pick up their 100th career point this season on Dec. 1 at New Hampshire. She is 11th on the Northeastern record list for career points (125), while her 59 goals and 66 assists are 15th and 11th on the NU career record lists, respectively.
Desjardins earned her first career Hockey East All-Star nod in her first season as the Northeastern starting netminder. She is a six-time WHEA Defensive Player of the Week honoree, and was twice named the league's Goaltender of the Month (October and February).
DiMasi (Burlington, Vt.) also garnered her first career league accolade in her best season with the Huskies to date. The junior has two goals and 20 assists this season, which is seventh on the team and third in the league in points for defensemen.
Desjardins picks up win No. 20
Last weekend's quarterfinal victory against Vermont gave sophomore goaltender
Chloe Desjardins her 20th win of the season. Her 21-8-2 record this season is the fourth most single-season wins in program history, and she is one of seven netminders in the country with at least 20 victories this season.
It also marks the first time in team history that the Huskies have had a goaltender win 20 games in back-to-back seasons.
Florence Schelling was 20-6-4 for NU last season.
It just comes natural
Kendall Coyne's three hat tricks this season have helped the sophomore winger become one of the nation's leaders in goals per game (1.09).
Before netting three tallies against BU in the Beanpot semifinal, she helped the Huskies erase a three-goal, second period deficit on Jan. 27 at Vermont by recording her second natural hat trick of the season. The other came on Oct. 12 against Union when she scored three third period goals.
The Palos Heights, Ill. native has four career hat tricks in two seasons on Huntington Ave. The program record for career hat tricks is nine (Hillary Witt and Vicky Sunohara).
Chloe back with a bang vs. Boston University
In the Beanpot semifinal against Boston University, sophomore goaltender
Chloe Desjardins made her first start in goal since Jan. 16.
The Saint Prosper, Beauce, Quebec native played the game of her career that night, posting a career-high 38 saves to help the Huskies reach the tournament title game for the 24th time in program history. Desjardins, a six-time WHEA Defensive Player of the Week honoree, is 21-8-2 this season with a 2.50 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. She is also tied for eighth in the nation with four shutouts.
Too good after two
Northeastern has been unstoppable this season when leading after 40 minutes of play. The Huskies have led after two periods in 20 of their 35 games this season, going a perfect 20-0-0. Last season, NU was 18-1-1 when possessing the lead after 40 minutes of play.
25/25
Kendall Coyne's 20 goals in her last 15 games bring her to 36 this season. This marks the second straight season that she has scored at least 25 goals in a season. The last time Northeastern had a 25-goal scorer in back-to-back seasons was when Brooke Whitney scored 26 in 2000-01 and 32 in 2001-02.
Wallace can dish it out
Jan. 16 at Walter Brown Arena saw junior
Kelly Wallace assist on the final three NU goals of the game, a new career-high in both helpers and points. Since being paired on a line with
Paige Savage on Dec. 1, Wallace has 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in her last 16 games, and is fourth on the team with 15 goals and 12 assists this season.
Road warriors
Northeastern is 11-4-0 on the road this season, its most road wins since the 2001-02 season (11-2-1). It is the second most road wins for any Hockey East teams, and tied for the fourth most in the nation. NU trails only Minnesota (18), Boston College (13), and Clarkson (13), and is tied with Mercyhurst for the most wins away from home this season.
Packing a punch
NU's line of
Paige Savage,
Kelly Wallace and
Brittany Esposito have proved that they can complement Northeastern's top line of
Kendall Coyne,
Rachel Llanes and
Casey Pickett. In the last 14 games, Savage, Wallace and Esposito have combined for 21 goals and 24 assists, including six points (two goals, four assists), in the Beanpot title game, helping NU to a 12-2-0 record in that span.
On Jan. 27 at Vermont, Esposito tied a career-high in points and assists with three helpers, including Wallace's power play goal early in the third period. Esposito has three goals and four assists in her last seven games, and is fifth on the team this season with 10 goals and 16 helpers.
Wallace is having the best season of her career, having more than tripled her scoring output from last season (seven points), with 15 goals and 12 assists in 35 games this season. She scored twice against Vermont last weekend, marking the first time since Nov. 14, 2009 that she's recorded a multi-goal game.
Savage is among the league's top rookies with nine goals and 14 assists on the year, which ranks sixth among Hockey East freshmen. She has three goals in her last three games as part of the longest point streak of her career (six games; four goals, five assists).
Power play hitting its stride
Entering the game 0-of-19 on the man advantage dating back to Dec. 1 at New Hampshire, the Husky power play came alive on Jan. 16 at Boston University. NU tied a season-high with three tallies on the man advantage, going 3-of-8 on the night.
Overall, NU is fifth in the nation in power play percentage (30-of-128; 23.4%) and is one of eight schools in the country with at least 30 power play goals.
NU has received power play goals from 10 different players, led by
Kendall Coyne's nine. Coyne, who is three power play tallies away from tying the school record for PPG in a season, is tied for the league lead in power play goals and tied for second in power play points (9-8-17), trailed closely by
Rachel Llanes in a fifth (6-6-12).
Opposing teams have learned to stay out of the penalty box against Northeastern in recent games, with NU only being awarded 10 power play opportunities in the last four games.
Killing it on the PK
Since the start of the Beanpot on Feb. 5, the Huskies have held their opponents to just 8% on the power play (2-of-24). NU is ranked 11th in the nation, and first in Hockey East, in penalty killing percentage this season (116-of-134; 86.6%). Northeastern has also potted seven shorthanded goals this season, led by
Casey Pickett's three.
Dominance at the dot
After winning just nine of nine of 37 faceoffs at New Hampshire on Jan. 24, the Huskies responded appropriately four days later at UVM: winning 44-of-59 draws.
Overall, NU has won 50% of its faceoffs this season (1025-of-2038), led by
Claire Santostefano's 54% efficiency (149-of-273). Northeastern is 17-2-1 this season when winning the battle in the faceoff dot, compared to a 6-7-1 record when its opponent wins more draws.
Picking apart the competition
Senior captain
Casey Pickett had three assists against New Hampshire on Dec. 1 to become the 21st player in program history to eclipse the 100-point plateau. Pickett is the first player since Kim Greene in 2003 to accomplish the feat.
“She's been outstanding, and to reach 100 points is pretty amazing for any player,” said head coach
Dave Flint. “She works extremely hard at it and deserves it.”
Pickett, who has 59 goals and 66 assists in 138 career games, is 11th on the school record list for career points. She is also among the program's best in career goals (15th) and assists (11th).
Poll position
Northeastern remained in the top-10 of the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll for the fourth straight week. NU is also back in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll at No. 10.
The Huskies have previously been ranked seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th at times during the season, and have been either ranked or receiving votes in each of the past 45 USCHO.com polls, dating back to March 7, 2011.
Triple digits
With four goals in the Beanpot championship game on Feb. 12, the Huskies reached the 100 goal mark for the second straight year. The Huskies have scored at least 100 goals 22 times in program history. The last time they scored 100 goals in back-to-back seasons was in 1998-99 and 1999-00. NU's 127 tallies this season are the most for the team since 1999-00, when the Huskies potted 138.
Jumping into the offense
Junior defenseman
Maggie DiMasi is seventh on the team, and first among defensemen, with 22 points this season. She tied career highs for goals and points with two goals at New Hampshire on Dec. 1.
DiMasi had a career-long seven-game scoring streak earlier in the season (eight assists).
She is also third in the league in points for defensemen, 23rd in the nation in points per game for defensemen (0.65), and is Northeastern's active leader in career points among defensemen with 47 (nine goals, 38 assists).
Getting on them early
Scoring the first goal of the game was key to Northeastern's success in 2011-12. The Huskies were 18-3-3 when scoring first last season, compared to a 4-4-0 mark when their opponent was the first to score.
The Huskies have scored first in 20 of NU's 35 games this season. Northeastern is 16-2-2 in those games.
Llanes llighting the lamp
When
Rachel Llanes found the back of the net last season, the Huskies typically won. Northeastern was 8-0-1 in 2011-12 when Llanes scored a goal. The one “tie” was actually Northeastern's shootout win against Boston College in the Beanpot semifinal on Jan. 31 - the game goes down as a tie per NCAA rules.
Llanes has had similar results through NU's 34 games this season. She has registered three points on five occasions this season, and had a four-game scoring streak with three goals and six assists. NU is 15-3-2 when Llanes tallies a point, and 16-2-2 when she has a positive +/-. Llanes has 11 multi-point games this season, and has tallied two goals and five assists in her last four games.
Century club
Junior forward
Katie MacSorley was the latest Husky to reach the 100-game plateau yesterday vs. Boston College. She joins
Siena Falino,
Rachel Llanes, and
Casey Pickett, who all played in their 100th career games last season, while
Casie Fields,
Brittany Esposito and
Claire Santostefano reached triple figures earlier this season.
Llanes and Pickett are tied for the team lead in career games played among active players at 137 games, each. Falino dressed for her 100th career game in the season finale against Providence.
Next on the list is
Maggie DiMasi, who has played in 98 career games at Northeastern.
Four or more is best
Northeastern found its most success last season when the Huskies scored in bunches. When NU scored four or more goals in 2011-12, the Huskies were a perfect 12-0-0. Conversely, when the Northeastern offense scored two goals or fewer last season, the Huskies were 4-4-3.
The Huskies have continued the trend this season; NU has scored at least four goals in 22 of the team's 35 games this season, and is 19-2-1 in those games.
Get in front of it
The Huskies had a season-high 25-blocked shots against Providence last weekend in the regular season finale. Through 34 games this season, NU has blocked 441 shots.
Maggie DiMasi leads Northeastern with 39 blocked shots, while seven Huskies have at least 30 blocks this season (Pickett, 33; Murphy, 32; Llanes, 31; Hickel, 31; Coyne; 30, Santostefano; 30).
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