Following a dominant 4-0 victory over Merrimack over the weekend, the Connecticut Huskies (22-11-1) find themselves matched up against Northeastern (21-13-1) in the Hockey East semifinals on their home ice.
The women’s hockey program is led by freshman forward Claire Murdoch, who is fifth in the conference in points, as the Huskies are looking to repeat as Hockey East tournament champions. The Huskies also have the best goalie in the Hockey East, senior Tia Chan. Chan, who won tournament MVP last year after posting a shutout in the championship game, currently ranks first in the conference in goals allowed and save percentage.
While the Huskies have had a very successful season, currently sitting at 12th in the country after being crowned the Hockey East Regular Season Champions with a 19-6-2 conference record, they have had their struggles against Northeastern.
Northeastern has had the upper hand on the Huskies this season, winning their first two matchups 1-0 and squeaking out a 4-3 win in an overtime thriller last time they faced off to sweep the season series.
With one of the best goalies in the conference in freshman Lisa Jonsson and a strong trio in senior forward Skylar Irving, freshman defenseman Tuva Kandell and junior forward Lily Shannon, Northeastern is looking to advance to their ninth straight tournament championship and continue their Hockey East dominance.
These two squads met in the conference championship just a season ago, where Connecticut was crowned Hockey East champions for the first time in program history with a 1-0 overtime win, ending Northwestern’s streak of six straight conference titles.
Northeastern has been a Hockey East juggernaut, having made it to the conference championship in the last eight years and winning six of them. Even with a bit of a down year, going 15-11-1 in conference play, the Northeastern Huskies still find themselves with a chance to get to their ninth straight Hockey East championship.
The 2024 conference championship rematch will kick off Wednesday at 6 p.m. where the Connecticut Huskies are tasked with ending another one of Northeastern’s streaks. That being, on Wednesday, they look to stop Northeastern from getting to the championship game for the first time since 2016. The winner will face off against the winner of No. 13 Boston University and No. 15 Boston College for the Hockey East title.