The Northeastern women’s hockey team fell short of its ultimate goal a season ago, losing to Colgate, 3-1, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament
But the Huskies entered the 2018-2019 season with their eyes solely on the goal of winning a national championship. With 10 games remaining in the regular season, the third-ranked team in the country certainly has looked the part and a recent four-game stretch proved to head coach David Flint that his team is legit.
Earlier this month, Northeastern traveled to Belfast in Northern Ireland to play two games against defending national champion and No. 5-ranked Clarkson before heading home to play back-to-back games against No. 10 Boston College. A 2-1-1 record in that stretch was exactly what Flint needed to see from his club.
“So that four-game stretch, I knew was really going to tell where we were,” Flint told NESN.com. “Are we a legit contender or are we kind of a second-tier team? You know, going 2-1-1 in that stretch, it proved to me that we are really a contender and definitely a top-four team in the country. It’s just — our compete level and whether we were down or what the score was, we battled for 60 minutes and we played hard and we played right with both those teams and showed that we belong there.”
Northeastern’s top line has propelled the No. 3 Huskies to a 17-3-3 record, combining the senior leadership and clutch goal-scoring of Kasidy Anderson (16 goals, eight assists) with freshman stars Alina Mueller (14 goals, 21 assists,) and Chloe Aurard (10 goals, 14 assists) to form a lethal triumvirate.
“They have a great chemistry,” Flint said of his top line. “Kasidy kind of took Alina under her wing and they’ve developed a great friendship. Like I said, chemistry, and Chloe too with that line and, you know, they’ve come up big for us all year long. Kasidy’s been a great leader and she’s come up with some timely goals. I think that line has a good mix of speed, talent, size, strength. It’s just a good combination with the three of them and they’ve proven they are one of the best lines in the NCAA.”
The No. 3 Huskies will turn their attention to Vermont on Friday (6 p.m. on NESNplus) and Flint hopes his team is locked in as the Hockey East Tournament approaches.
“I think just consistent effort and, you know, not looking past anybody and taking it one game at a time,” Flint said. “We have a great opportunity in front of us and it’s just a matter of them being focused be ready every time we step on the ice to get the job done.”
You can catch the No. 3 Huskies at 6 p.m. on NESNplus on Friday and see a host of other exciting matchups this weekend on NESN:
