Saturday morning, game day two at the Husky Invitational found
Northeastern and Providence College playing to a 2-2 draw.  The Huskies
strung together some nice passes but again lacked the final touch at
times.  The Friars looked somewhat tired after last night's match with
Concordia but played a tight game.
 
There was no scoring in the first period.  In the second, NU's Jessica
Wagner (Bree Cheatham, Danyel Howard) scored a power play goal after a
break in produced a Providence defensive lapse.  The goal came off a nice
three-way passing play.  The game, which had been very pedestrian in the
first had started to be more up and down in the middle period.  In the
third, Stephanie O'Sullivan tied the match at one when she slide the puck
under the goalie's pads after much PC pressure.  Northeastern regained
the lead when Dori Hoagland (Courtney King, Catherine Cataldo) knock in a
rebound after a long break in play that left the Friars at 6's & 7's.  In
the final minutes of the game Providence tied the match when an end to
end play was just poked home.  PC was on a power play and had pulled
their goaltender for an additional attacker.
 
Providence started the game with 2 defensive pairs and 2 lines, but after
a number of blue line errors, they switched to 3 defenders and 3 lines.
Not a good move, as the tired defenders became weary.  Someone needs to
reboot Alana Blahoski or her coach.  Sometimes Blahoski is playing
defense, sometimes center.  The mercurial junior is a huge talent to
loose because she is lost in what her role really is.  I would make up my
mind and give her time to settle.  The blue liner who was playing very
well was Karen McCabe.  She steadied the team often today.  On the attack
Alison Wheeler again looked very strong.  She has excellent vision.
 
Northeastern played better today, but still were not playing with much
spirit.  At times the passing looked real good.  At other times they were
looking for the goal scorers touch.  The woman of the match was defender
Bree Cheatham.  Her skating helped her make a number of superb rushes.
Kelly Tapani also showed her jets at times.  Danyel Howard also put out a
big effort on the attack.  On defense Emily Sweeney got a lot of ice time
and used it well.  She made a number of key break up plays.  Keri-Anne
Allan had another good day on the blue line and continues to read the
play well.  Overall, a better performance, but not one that the coaches
will be that thrilled about.
 
 _____________
/
 good shooting
 rhun
_____________/