Northeastern women’s hockey (15-4, 11-1 HE) swept the Boston College Eagles (9-9-1, 7-4-1 HE) Dec. 5 and 6 with an emotional final game in Matthews Arena.
“We faced some adversity during the game,” Flint said. “We went down early, then we went down again. And being in the third, I thought we were kinda out of gas, and we weren’t going to have it. And [we] stepped up to have a beautiful goal in the third period.”
The night before, on Dec. 5, junior forward Allie Lalonde scored the first two goals of the game at the top of the second period.
For the first, sophomore forward Éloïse Caron passed from behind the net to Lalonde, who nailed the puck into the bottom corner of the net just 31 seconds into the period. At five minutes, Lalonde raced up the side of the ice to slip the puck just under senior goaltender Grace Campbell’s pads. Being on the second line with Jackson and Caron most of this season, Lalonde mostly had success with assists, only scoring two goals herself.
“She was buzzing. She creates a lot. She gets a lot of opportunities, just the puck hadn’t been going in for her for a little bit, and it was nice to see,” Flint said.
It didn’t take long for the Eagles to fire back — freshman Maxim Tremblay scored a minute later. With points on the board, play intensified. By the end of the period, Northeastern still led in total shots 22 to 15.
Six minutes into the third period, BC’s freshman defender Madelyn Murphy received a penalty for interference. Despite seven shots on the power play, the Huskies came up empty.
With eight minutes to go, Lalonde proved to be the secret weapon once again. Off her own rebound, she knocked the puck to the far bottom corner for her first career hat trick, bringing the Huskies to a 3-1 lead.
On Dec. 6, there were reportedly more than 3,000 people in attendance, including around 100 alumnae. The pressure was on for the Huskies. It was the final game in Matthews Arena against a rival on senior day — the Huskies needed to win.
Northeastern came out strong in the first period but struggled to finish. While it topped shots on goal 15 to eight during the period, BC’s Murphy took the first goal of the game. Freshman defender Ella Lloyd took the first Husky goal of the night and her second of the season after ripping the puck from the faceoff circle. With points on the board, both teams’ play heated up, desperate to take the last win in Matthews.
With one minute to go in the opening period, graduate student forward Jaden Bogden was called for slashing. Boston College immediately closed in until junior forward Sammy Taber found the net after swatting the puck out of the air. The arena tensed, and the Huskies went to the locker room still chasing.
The team didn’t rest for long — senior defender Jules Constantinople was called for elbowing just 14 seconds into the second period. Sophomore goaltender Lisa Jönsson saved seven shots on BC’s power play to kill it off.
In a much-needed starter for the Huskies four minutes in, freshman forward Stryker Zablocki gained possession of the puck after a face-off and managed to find Bogden by the net, who tied the game at two. Tensions were high for the remainder of the period as play got messier. Two fights broke out, leading to two pairs of minors for roughing, making the game 4-on-4 for four minutes of the period. Northeastern still led in shots on goal in the second period, 16-9, but could not follow through.
The third period meant the final period of women’s hockey in Matthews Arena, and with it, a rise in the game’s pressure. Boston College was catching up in shots on goal, and Northeastern looked increasingly out of steam.
The final moments of the game were cinematic. With just two minutes to go, when overtime felt inevitable, Zablocki came through once again to give senior forward and captain Lily Shannon a perfect assist right at the net.
“That pass she made across, that was beautiful. And it put me in such a great position to put that in the back of the net,” Shannon said.
Shannon nailed it in, and the arena, gleefully equipped with light-up bracelets, erupted. With 39 seconds left, Zablocki sealed the deal with a perfect empty-netter from the neutral zone.
With that, Northeastern women’s hockey had won its final game in Matthews Arena. The team looked ecstatic as players piled on top of each other and alumnae poured onto the ice. The program has been around since 1980, and former players from every generation were invited to get one last look at the famous rink.
“All year we had that patch on our jersey at the farewell patch. And I remember one of the first games I said, ‘We have these patches on our jersey, and now we’re not only playing for Northeastern itself and the team that’s in this locker room, but we’re playing for all the people that have come before us,’” Shannon said.
Notable Husky alumnae, including Aerin Frankel, Katy Knoll, Kendall Coyne-Schofield and Florence Schelling, were given pucks with the Matthews Arena farewell logo.
“Some of them I haven’t seen since they graduated, then they’re here with their families and kids, and then you see some of the older alums too,” Flint said. “It’s special, I mean, we’ve never had an alumni turnout like this for any of our past events.”
The Huskies will go on a month-long hiatus before returning to an on-the-road lifestyle to play the Yale University Bulldogs (8-7-0, 4-5-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) in New Haven, Conn. Jan. 6 at 6 p.m.
“We’ve got to embrace the adversity of not having a rink, and we can’t sit there and feel sorry for ourselves. It is what it is, it’s a sheet of ice with boards and glass, and you’ve got to play the game inside that, and the other team does too. I think we’ll be fine, and you know, especially with the character on this team,” Flint said.