The wild ride has finally ended. The Huskies had a roller coaster of a year that culminated in a surprise Frozen Four appearance and a bittersweet end for some iconic players. In a year that was defined by early departures and a young roster, the players found a way to break through on the national stage in a way we haven’t seen since the end of the Alina Müller era on Huntington Ave.
Expectations for the roster were scattered entering the year. The roster sported 8 freshmen including the exciting arrival of Stryker Zablocki, who had impressed in her time with the Canadian U18 team at the 2025 IIHF World Juniors. For those of you who are observant, you may see I mentioned 8 freshmen while only 7 are listed on the team roster. That’s because of the surprise departure of forward Hannah Christenson before the start of the season. However, out of this shakeup came one of the most inspiring stories in college hockey this year. In her place the team brought in former Northeastern Club Hockey player Brigitte Aube. Brigitte had lost most of her high school hockey career to a devastating ACL injury that required multiple surgeries, but had impressed enough in her time with the club team to catch the eye of the varsity staff. To walk on to a Division 1 team is no easy feat, let alone one that would later finish in the Frozen Four.
Once the dust had settled from the preseason shenanigans, the Huskies had a packed slate of home games to look forward to. In the wake of the news that Matthews Arena would officially be retired halfway through the season it was to nobody’s shock that the first half of the year would feature 11 home games. This included a 4 game stretch to start the years (5 if you’re counting an exhibition) against the likes of RIT, Providence, and RPI. Quick work was made of the three, who all finished in the bottom half of the NPI table when the season was said and done. The first real test of the year was a road trip to Hamden, CT to face off against #7 Quinnipiac. This series would provide the first bump in the road, with two losses by multiple goals. The biggest story of the series was the inability to shut down QU’s Kahlen Lamarche who put up 7 total goals over the course of two games. The wake of this series also saw the second surprise departure for NU, as key defenseman Tuva Kandell made a sudden move back to Sweden to play for her previous team Frolunda.
Despite the rough series in Connecticut and losing yet another player before the year had finished, the team proved resilient by posting a 12-1-1 record the rest of the way through 2025. This included a 9 game win streak and a series split against #4 Penn State. During this time the team was firing on all cylinders. The defense stepped up with both Jules Constantinople and Kristina Allard taking home defender of the week honors. Meanwhile the offense continued to dominate teams, putting up 44 goals over the 14 game stretch. Young stars like freshmen phenom Stryker Zablocki and sophomore Éloïse Caron outpaced opponents defense while captain Lily Shannon led by example finding the back of the net whenever a clutch goal was needed. It also became increasingly clear the Flint planned to run a goalie tandem between the pipes, with 2025 All-Rookie Team honoree Lisa Jönsson splitting some time with freshman Rena Trembecky. This created a new wrinkle for opposing teams when scouting the Huskies. Jönsson stands at 5’11” and catches righty, relying on her frame and incredible positioning. Meanwhile, Trembecky’s play style (and height) is more akin to previous NU great Aerin Frankel, who like Renna caught lefty and relied on her agility and aggressive style in net. Ultimately both goaltenders got off to a hot start working with each other, and would carry it through to the end of the year, providing a solid backstop to an often busy defense.
The end of the season’s first half brought about the most prevalent story line (likely in all of college hockey) for 2025. This is, of course, the demise of Historic Matthews Arena. The old barn, who had seen its share of women’s hockey (including the first Women’s Beanpot) was to be retired after one final clash against out-of-town rivals Boston College. Despite being one of many conference games on the year, the importance of securing a win was definitely felt by both the fans and the players. The Huskies would ultimately prevail, winning 4-2. The Matthew’s era was ended in a fitting fashion. The last game winner netted by captain Lily Shannon, who on a level few others have reached, truly embodied what it meant to be a Husky hockey player. And the last goal ever scored serving as a look to the future with Stryker Zablocki netting the knockout blow as time wound down. For those who were in attendance it was as good of an ending as can be asked for, and now we look forward to the new arena… but first there’s a bunch of home-away-from-home road tripping to get to!
We’ll chalk it up to post-Matthews sadness, but the start of 2026 was not exactly what NU wanted. A road trip to Yale for a one-off out of conference game saw them get shut out before a surprise first-round exit in the Beanpot at the hands of BU. This meant there would be no defending their 2025 title and for the first time at TD Garden the final would not feature the Huskies. But as with the rest of this season, the story of this team is one of resilience. The team bounced back quickly rattling off another 9 game win streak that featured gutsy sweeps over #5 UConn in Storrs and a strong #13/14 Holy Cross team that was on a tear. The first Holy Cross game felt like the epitome of this stretch. The Huskies went down 2-0 in the second and struggling to solve HC goalie Brooke Loranger before scoring two late goals to push the game to OT before eventually winning in the shootout.
By the end of the season the team had claimed the Hockey East Regular Season title for the 7th time and hadn’t lost a conference game in regulation for the entire season. For a high turnover team with a hectic start of the year, this was an incredible achievement. Multiple Hockey East honors came with it. Stryker Zablocki capped off her outstanding freshman campaign by claiming the conferences scoring title and a spot on both the All-Rookie and All-Conference teams. She was joined on the first team by Lily Shannon and Jules Constantinople. Jönsson and Allard received second-team honors and Morgan Jackson rounded out the third. Constantinople also took home Defender of the Year after stepping up massively in the wake of Kandell‘s departure.
The Huskies entered the Hockey East tournament all but assured of an at-large bid to the national tournament, and carved their way through BU and Vermont to force a rematch with UConn in the finals. Despite being the high seed, NU was unable to host the final game, and no neutral site was arranged. Ultimately, in a tight contest, UConn took the game and the trophy in the 2nd overtime. The game was the definition of a goalie duel, with 108 saves made between Jönsson and UConn netminder Tia Chan. This also meant Northeastern would wind up getting the 4 seeded Minnesota come national tournament time.
It does not need to be said again, but I’m going to do it anyway. The story of this season is resilience. They had, for the third year in a row, lost the Hockey East championship in overtime at Toscano Family Ice Forum. It would be easy to let such a loss weigh heavily on you, but the team did not. They instead traveled to Minnesota and put up 4 goals on the #4 team in the country to book their ticket to the Frozen Four. Jönsson once again stood on her head making 43 saves. Meanwhile, the offense gave her plenty of goal support early before holding fast defensively for the rest of the game. It cannot be overstated how much this game meant for both the team and the fans. Here was a very strong, arguably better than they should have been, Huskies team. Yet by the end of the Hockey East tournament they had only come away with the HE regular season trophy. I by no means want to downplay the importance of that trophy, but a Frozen Four appearance is a much more appropriate accolade for the quality of team this was. When NU eventually did bow out at the Frozen Four for most fans it was not heartbreak, but hope. More national level experience for young players, more progress to build on, and a fitting accolade for all of the integral seniors.
This season can be seen as one built upon looking forward. Looking forward to the new arena that will replace the hallowed halls of Matthews. Looking forward to the professional hockey careers many of the graduating class have coming up. And looking forward to the growth of the next generation of Huskies hockey. That’s why despite coming up short in the Frozen Four, the entire teams heads should be held high. Not only for reaching such an elite level, but for setting in place the building blocks of the coming years and decades.
Roll ‘Skies!