College Sports
“This team, throughout the year, had a ton of resiliency and dealt with a lot of challenges.”
Lilly Shannon and the Northeastern Women’s Hockey Team are heading to the Frozen Four. (Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff)
For the fourth time in program history, the Northeastern women’s hockey team is heading to the Frozen Four.
The No. 5 Huskies used a three-goal opening period to defeat No. 4 Minnesota, 4-2, on Saturday afternoon at Ridder Arena in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
Sophomore netminder Lisa Jönsson led the way with 45 saves in the victory, while Éloïse Caron, Stryker Zablocki, Mia Langlois, and Morgan Jackson all lit the lamp.
With the victory, the Huskies will move on to the 2026 Frozen Four — hosted by Penn State at Pegula Ice Arena — where they will take on No. 1 Ohio State on Friday, March 20. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m.
“Obviously, very excited for our group, they put out a great effort from the goal line out,” Northeastern coach Dave Flint said after the win. “This team, throughout the year, had a ton of resiliency and dealt with a lot of challenges and I’m just happy that they got rewarded tonight with a win and a trip to the Frozen Four.”
The Huskies built themselves plenty of breathing room in the early going of Saturday’s win.
Caron opened the scoring for Northeastern with a sharp shot from the faceoff circle just over five minutes into the game — beating Minnesota sophomore goaltender Hannah Clark.
After the Huskies negated a Gophers power play, Zablocki doubled Northeastern’s lead — taking the puck down the ice and snapping the biscuit past Clark at 8:53. Langlois closed out her team’s first-period scoring salvo with a power-play tally at 14:31, cleaning up a rebound generated off a shot from the blue line by freshman defender Alessia Baechler.
Clark was pulled after Northeastern took that three-goal advantage, but the Huskies capitalized once again against freshman netminder Layla Hemp in the second period. Jackson closed out Northeastern’s scoring at 12:21 in the second frame, cashing in on a back-door shot off an assist from junior forward Allie Lalonde.
The Gophers did manage to claw back in the third period with a pair of tallies, but Minnesota’s heavy shot volume didn’t deter Jönsson, who stemmed the tide and helped the Huskies punch their ticket to Pennsylvania.
”I feel like it’s honestly easier when you face a lot of shots,” Jönsson said. “Especially when they just keep coming. It’s easy to keep your momentum throughout the game. And I always just think — just take the next shot, next shot, and then hopefully my team can get it out of the zone and we can go on offense.”
The Huskies will face another daunting test next week against the top-ranked Buckeyes. But Flint believes this current roster is battle-tested — especially after leaving Minnesota’s barn with a victory.
“It’s special. I mean, I just told the group that I’ve been at Northeastern for 18 years now, and we’ve won some really big games and had success,” Flint said. “But this ranks right up there with with one of the biggest ones.
“I mean, that’s a really, really good hockey team — and to come into their building, in a pressure situation, and the way the team handled it and the composure they had. I’m really proud of the group for how they handled the situation.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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