BOSTON – Fresh off a 4-2 win over UConn on Tuesday, the Northeastern women's hockey team (11-9-2, 7-6-1 WHEA) will return to action this weekend for a home-and-home series against No. 2 Boston College (18-1-3, 12-0-3 WHEA). Friday's game (on ESPN3) is set for 2 p.m. at BC's Conte Forum, while Saturday's game (on NESNplus) is scheduled for 12 p.m. at Matthews Arena.Â
The teams previously met on Nov. 28 at Conte Forum with the Eagles emerging victorious by a 7-3 count. Senior
McKenna Brand had a hand in all three Northeastern goals, scoring once and assisting on goals by
Lauren Kelly and
Skylar Fontaine as well.
With two contests against the No. 2 Eagles this weekend, Northeastern will be participating in its seventh and eighth games against top-10 opponents so far this season. According to USCHO.com, the Huskies have played the second-toughest schedule in the nation this season, trailing only Cornell in the category. NU is 1-4-1 against ranked teams thus far, including a win over No. 1/1 Wisconsin on Nov. 24 and a tie vs. No. 1/1 Clarkson on Sept. 29.
MILESTONES APPROACHING
• Senior
McKenna Brand enters the weekend just two points shy of 100 for her collegiate career. Brand has racked up 53 goals and 45 assists in 133 games, and would become the 28th player in program history to reach the milestone.
• Senior
Denisa Krizova needs one more assist to reach 100 helpers in her NU career. Krizova would join Fiona Rice (118), Kendall Coyne (108) and Tina Cardinale (104) as the only players in program history to reach the 100-assist plateau.
• Krizova is also three points away from moving into sixth place on Northeastern's all-time scoring charts. In 126 career games, Krizova has piled up 157 points on 58 goals and 99 assists.
LAST TIME OUT
• Northeastern received scoring contributions from three different lines in a 4-2 victory over UConn on Tuesday evening at Matthews Arena.
• Senior
McKenna Brand notched the game-winning goal and added an assist, while senior
Lauren Kelly, junior
Kasidy Anderson and sophomore
Matti Hartman also lit the lamp.
• With two points on Tuesday, Brand extended her point-streak to six straight games. The Nevis, Minnesota native has racked up five goals, six assists and 11 points during that span.
• Junior goaltender
Brittany Bugalski stopped 30 of 32 shots to move into sole possession of fifth place among NU's all-time winningest goaltenders with her 48th career victory.
PROTECTING THE LEAD
Northeastern is 9-0-2 this season when scoring the opening goal of the game, compared to 2-9-0 when its opponent scores first. In addition, the Huskies are unbeaten this season when holding a lead at the end of a period, posting a 9-0-0 record when leading after 20 minutes and a 10-0-2 mark when holding the lead through two periods.
BLOCK PARTY
Freshman
Brooke Hobson leads all Hockey East rookie defensemen in blocked shots this season with 39. Only four other freshmen defensemen in the nation have blocked more shots than Hobson in 2017-18.
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