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Huskies to meet BU in a Beanpot rematch — this time for the Hockey East title and an NCAA tournament bid

Fifth-seeded Northeastern seeks its eighth Hockey East title in 10 years against second-seeded Boston University at noon Saturday in Storrs, Connecticut (televised by ESPNEWS).

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Two hockey players on opposing teams. One is wearing a red jersey and taking a shot on net. The other is a goalkeeper wearing a white jersey making a save.
Freshman goalie Lisa Jönsson (seen here in the triumphant Beanpot final against BU) has helped instill a defensive identity for Northeastern. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

The Northeastern Huskies are one win away from advancing to the NCAA women’s ice hockey tournament for the eighth time in 10 years.

When they meet Boston University at noon Saturday in the Hockey East women’s title game in Storrs, Connecticut (televised on ESPNEWS), Northeastern will be aiming to extend its championship tradition while committing to a defensive style foreign to its more celebrated teams. 

It has been a paradoxical year for the region’s dominant program. 

The Huskies (22-13-1) are making a ninth straight appearance in the Hockey East championship game despite an up-and-down season. They’re also seeking to become the lowest seed (at No. 5) to win the conference title. 

Though Northeastern finished well behind No. 2 BU (23-11-2) in the Hockey East regular-season standings, the Huskies split four games with BU — including a 4-0 Beanpot championship victory in January in front of 13,279 fans at TD Garden, the largest crowd in the history of New England women’s hockey.

Northeastern’s 3-1 upset semifinal win Wednesday at top-seeded Connecticut boosted them in the Pairwise national rankings to No. 11, where they are now tied with BU. (The Terriers scored a semifinal upset of their own, topping No. 1 Boston College 3-2 in double-overtime Wednesday.)

The Huskies have emerged from an up-and-down season of transition, struggling to score at times while developing freshman Lisa Jönsson as their new goaltender. Jönsson, a semifinalist for national goalie of the year, ranks in the top 10 nationally with a .939 save percentage and 1.56 goals allowed per game. 

“She gets better and better throughout games when she’s seeing shots,” head coach Dave Flint said moments after the UConn victory. “The games where she has long stretches without shots, that’s where she isn’t at her best. But she was awesome tonight.”

The Huskies have developed an identity around their defense for much of this season.

“I actually think that our history might have been the reason for the Jekyll-and-Hyde play,” associate head coach Nick Carpenito said of Northeastern’s historic run of success. “There are times where you show up and just expect to win because of what we’ve done in the past. 

“We were still an incredibly talented team — but in a different way. That was something that we struggled with early on [in the season]. We didn’t have a true grasp of what our identity was as a team.”

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Carpenito said the senior leadership of team captain Taze Thompson and defender Tory Mariano was crucial to the Huskies altogether finding their way. 

“Once they figured out that we have to be gritty, really hard to play against, defend and always be moving on our feet — that’s when the tide started to turn,” Carpenito said.

That sense of identity explains the Huskies’ avenging semifinal win Wednesday at UConn, where one year ago in the Hockey East final Northeastern’s streak of six Hockey East championships was stopped by a 1-0 overtime loss.

This time Northeastern was trailing 1-0 seven minutes into the final period when senior scoring leader Skylar Irving squeezed in the equalizer. Six minutes later, Irving was pushing her Huskies ahead 2-1.“She’s a bright-lights gal,” Carpenito says of Irving’s history of scoring in the biggest moments. “You’re always going to rely on your stars at some point. They’re stars because they shine brightest when the chips are on the table.”

Irving’s goals extended her career at Northeastern for at least one more game. 

“Just play our game, do what we do best, which is playing hard and playing fast, getting shots to the net,” Irving said. “Let’s keep doing what we’re doing and just play hard.”

Lily Brazis provided the Northeastern clincher on a feed from Morgan Jackson, her second assist of the night.

UConn outshot its guests, 37-31 — which turned out to help Jönsson, according to Northeastern Flint.

The Huskies can’t count on a repeat of their Beanpot shutout against BU, warned Flint. 

“When it comes down to the championship, all bets are off,” Flint said. “It doesn’t matter what you did against them during the season. We’ve just got to be ready to go.”

The Hockey East champion advances automatically to the NCAA tournament. The bracket for the 11-team field will be revealed on the NCAA selection show at 11:30 a.m. Sunday (streaming on ESPN+).

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