It was a great day for hockey as a light coating of snow fell on Boston.
Saturday afternoon at Bright in the US Nationals consolation game, the
Northeastern Huskies beat the Golden Gophers of Minnesota 4-0.  The game
started slowly, but in the final twenty minutes, the Huskies leaped over the
Gophers with their superior puck movement and found victory.
 
As the contest began, neither team was moving that well.  NU went ahead during
a 5 on 3 power play when Emily Pemrick (Erine Metcalf, Hilary Witt) tipped in
a shot from the point.  While Northeastern had the lead, it was still
anybody's game.
 
In the second there was no scoring.  The Huskies were skating better.  The
Gophers were using some questionable stickwork.  The result was a rather
chippy game.
 
In the final term, Northeastern surged forward and started to make the killer
pass.  After defending a Minnesota power play, fresher Kelly Martin (Keri-Anne
Allan, Sarah Smythe) received a nice pass from Allan and drilled it.  Allan
had made the play by taking the puck deep into the Gopher zone before feeding
Martin.  The Huskies continued to press and ultimately went up 3-0 when Witt
(Stephanie Acres) buried her try from the slot.  Acres provided a lovely setup
from the corner.  In the last minute of play, with the teams playing 4 on 4
hockey, Acres (Pemrick, Jennie Setaro) took a fine feed, waited and dumped her
chance in the open netting.
 
I really don't understand why Minnesota is going with the illicit side of the
game.  They have some obvious talent, but it needs to be developed.  The
potential will remain just that if the basic skills of the game are not
addressed.
 
Northeastern did not play a great game.  It takes a lot to get up for a
consolation game, and to their credit they did pull it together.  The woman of
the match was the defensive corp.  In particular, Jaime Totten stood out with
her strong breakup plays.  Setaro used her speed well and provided several
excellent passes, including a marvelous long ball breakaway pass to Beth
Claggett.  Erine Metcalf was remarkable strong on the blue line and Allan
motored forward.  In goal, fresher Erika Silva earned the shutout by pulling
off a series of combination saves.  Overall, it was good to see Northeastern
conclude their season on the positive side.
 
 
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 good shooting
 hungerf
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