It’s all virtually starting anew for Florence Schelling and the Northeastern Huskies, with maybe a few convincing hints of certifiable improvement. They again have yet to crack the “L” column through four games, though arguably have yet to face anything close to the peak of their testing.
Not that a 3-2 road win over a semi-desperate Boston College team is to be downplayed, especially with all the underlying implications found in the box score.
A BC power play strike at 12:24 of Tuesday’s second period snapped the Swiss Save-ior’s shutout streak at 133:08 worth of clock time, just a few sprinkles more than her previous career-high of 130:15. She had rolled up that smooth ride as an impressionable rookie 12 months ago, when she was evenly splitting the workload with the not-so-shabby sophomore Leah Sulyma. During that stretch, the two each laid claim to a pair of nonconsecutive goose-eggs as they backstopped the Huskies to a stimulating 5-0-2 transcript through the month of October.
Ironically, though, the first big balloon on the budding Huntington Ave. parade happened to pop on a November 1 visit to Conte Forum, where BC wrung Sulyma dry for a 5-0 decision. From there on in, NU skidded through a 7-19-1 finish and apart from Sulyma’s 31-save feat versus Boston University on January 8, neither stopper indulged in another shutout.
On Tuesday night, though, Schelling and Co. never let the Eagles claim an upper hand, twice renewing an expired lead en route to the 3-2 decision, their first triumph of BC since January 17, 2008.
Contrary to 2008-09, surpassing the Eagles would be the chief gratifying difference for the Huskies in the wee stages of the active campaign. Apart from that, it is all but an exact replica.
As a team, NU now stands at 3-0-1 overall, coupled with a cumulative score of 12-4, 137 shots for, and 107 shots against. At their four-game mark last season, they were 2-0-2 with a combined 11-4 tally and 116 shots on goal.
Schelling’s personal log reads even more identically. To start her radiant rookie year, she went on a 3-0-1 spurt, posting two shutouts, authorizing a mere three opposing goals, and repelling 133 shots.
So far this season, even with Sulyma still very much available as a junior, she has had sole responsibility for the Huskies’ three wins and tie (Hockey East shootout win over Connecticut), letting in but four goals and stoning 103 other bids in the process.
One more jutting reversal emerged in Tuesday’s affair, specific to the interests of Schelling: whereas the goaltending guild has made a habit in recent years of all but forcing Northeastern to stay in a given contest, Schelling’s praetorian guards pampered her early and often while still allotting her enough of a good, cathartic sweat later in the game.
By the first intermission, the Huskies had already rolled up a 21-5 differential in the shooting gallery, which would eventually finish at 46-28, advantage NU. Another 16 attempts that period alone were blocked, channeled wide, or dinked off the red iron.
Sixteen out of 18 skaters pitched in for at least one of those 46 SOG and six individual Huskies appeared on Tuesday’s scoresheet, an early and active pledge to deepen a line chart that lately has been about as shallow as a kiddie pool.
Conversely, Schelling has yet to deal with more than 30 shots in a single game this year, whereas she faced an even 40 in each of her first two collegiate engagements and would confront eight 30-plus bushels in 19 total appearances as a frosh.
When needed, though, Schelling has characteristically perked up in the early going of her sophomore chapter. Other than the second period hiccup against Mary Restuccia and another blemish at 6:42 of the third versus Allie Thunstrom, she swallowed 21 BC bids within the latter 40 minutes of play, including five unanswered early in the second and the last seven in a matter of 11 minutes in the third leading up to Lindsay Berman’s game-clincher with 23 seconds to spare.
All the more impressive given the smattering of stretches where Northeastern kicked up an imbalance of ice shavings in the other zone, which can treacherously invite frostbite for the less-busy keeper. It didn’t happen to Schelling, whose save percentage and goals-against average took a minor dent, but who gladly upped her winning percentage a touch and whose team is officially tied for first place in the Hockey East standings.
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