Sacred Heart junior Kailey Smith (left) handles the puck in front of the LIU bench at Martire Family Arena (Photo Credit: Sacred Heart Women's Hockey)

The last roundup of January is here, and before we get into the last month of the regular season, there’s still a lot to look at in NEWHA. The top four is as close as can be, and we’re looking at those squads here today. Let’s get into it. 

Series Rewind: LIU/Sacred Heart Split, just as everyone expected 

The header may seem sarcastic, but this was what I expected from these two teams over the weekend. Both games were relatively low event shutouts, although LIU had slightly better production in their win on Sunday than SHU had in their win on Saturday. 

Kailey Smith, a defender for the Pioneers, was their hero and lone goal scorer in Saturday’s 1-0 win. The junior put the puck past graduate student Abbie Thompson for her first goal of the season. Savannah Popick and Sami Bowlby both added assists on the goal for their sixth helpers of the season respectively. 

Carly Greene returned to the Sacred Heart net against Stonehill on Jan. 18th after missing over two months and was fairly productive. She carried that into this weekend’s back-to-back starts against the Sharks. The shutout on Saturday marked the third such performance of the season for the senior, as she turned away all 20 LIU shots on goal through 60 minutes. The team in front of her blocked a further 12 attempts from the Sharks, led by Anastasia Sloan who had four herself (and had another three on Sunday). 

The Pioneers were also helped by their finesse in the faceoff circle. Through two games the team won 53 of 91 faceoffs (58.2%), which is far above their season average of 49.7%. 

One main difference on the weekend was the power play for the two sides. Which isn’t to say LIU’s had an incredibly productive weekend, just that they had a better weekend than SHU did. 

On a combined six attempts (14:56, including a major advantage) the Pioneers recorded 12 shots, but had no goals to show for it. The Sharks on the opposite side went two-for-five, though they needed just five seconds to score their second power play goal on Saturday to put them ahead 2-0. 

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Ashley Morrow, who had just one goal on the season entering the weekend, scored both power play tallies for LIU. She’s now up to three goals on the season, and all three have come on the advantage. The senior is the most productive goal scorer on the PP for LIU, and it showed on Sunday with her game winner and the follow up goal, which were both in the second period. 

An empty netter from Bri Eid helped seal the win for LIU, while Thompson made 24 saves in another shutout. Grace Babington had assists on all three of the goals scored for LIU, which ties her with Jeannie Wallner with 17 total points in 25 games played this season. Both players are sixth in scoring across the conference alongside Saint Anselm’s Audrey Jackson. 

The return of Greene spells good things for SHU, and she had a fairly productive weekend with a combined 45 saves in two games against the Sharks. While she didn’t get the win on Sunday, she still has consistently put up solid numbers for the Pioneers, and if they’re able to get back to scoring it could go a long way over the last few weeks of the regular season. 

For LIU it’s more of what we’ve seen consistently over the last stretch of games. Low scoring contests in which they’re able to keep their opponents from scoring too to sneak out the win. 

What concerns me — for both teams, to be fair — is the consistent low scoring becoming an issue. While goal scoring isn’t too high across the conference, for two teams looking to secure the auto bid after a tournament championship, the lack of production will be difficult to overcome against the higher scoring teams they’d be facing in the regional round. But that’s a problem for a later day.

Weekly Awards: 

Player of the Week: Bailey Feeney, F, Stonehill – Junior

In Stonehill’s weekend sweep, Feeney played a role in both wins for the Skyhawks. In Saturday’s 3-0 win, the junior scored two of the tallies, including a pretty wrister for the third and final goal for the team over the weekend. She’s now up to 18 points on the season (two away from matching her career season’s-best) and is one of just five skaters with double digits goals in NEWHA this season (10). 

Defensive Player of the Week: Lily Barrett, D, Stonehill – Junior

On the opposite side of the puck from Feeney, Barrett was also incredibly impactful for Stonehill over the sweep. The junior now has points in three straight games, including two in Friday’s win over Saint Michael’s. Four of her five assists this season have come in the last three contests, and she is now the second highest scoring defender on Stonehill’s roster. 

Goaltender of the Week: Abbie Thompson, G, LIU – Grad Student

Thompson has consistently been one of the top performers in NEWHA all season, and that continued over the weekend with a combined 46 saves across two games. She notched her fourth shutout of the season with the win over SHU on Sunday, and she’s allowed fewer than three goals in six of her last seven starts dating back to Dec. 13th. 

Rookie of the Week: Devyn Amundson, G, Post – Freshman

Post continues to see production from their entire lineup, and that continued this weekend with rookie Amundson getting her first start in net over the weekend. The freshman made 34 saves in the 2-1 overtime win over Assumption on Friday, helping the Eagles sweep the Greyhounds as the team continues to roll. 

Complete Scoreboard: 

Friday: 

Post 2 vs Assumption 1 – OT 
Stonehill 4 vs. Saint Michael’s 2 
Saint Anselm 1 at Franklin Pierce 1 – Saint Anselm Won SO 1-0

Saturday: 

Stonehill 3 vs Saint Michael’s 0 
Saint Anselm 6 vs. Franklin Pierce 4 
Post 2 at Assumption 0 
Sacred Heart 1 at LIU 0 

Sunday: 

LIU 3 at Sacred Heart 0

What to Watch: Franklin Pierce/Stonehill 

Friday at Stonehill, 6 PM | Saturday at Franklin Pierce, 6 PM

When looking at the schedule for this upcoming week, this is the series that jumped out to me.

Back in November, these two teams split their weekend set and since then have seen similar success in conference action. Through 20 conference games, the squads are even at 34 conference points — good for a tie for third place. FPI has one more win than Stonehill does, at 11-8-1, however over the last few weeks the Skyhawks have been outperforming the Ravens. 

Since returning from the semester break, Stonehill has yet to lose a game, going 5-0-1 against LIU, Sacred Heart, and Saint Michael’s. Their lone tie came against the Pioneers, however a shootout score from Maeve Connolly secured the extra point for the Skyhawks. 

On the opposite side, FPI is 2-2-1 over their first five games of the year. Their two wins came against Assumption to start the month, but since then they’ve lost to both Post and Saint Anselm, while missing out on the extra point against the Hawks in the shootout last weekend.

Statistically speaking, FPI does have better offensive and defensive numbers than Stonehill. Similarly to their matchup in the fall, the Ravens are averaging 2.5 goals per game, 0.8 goals higher than the Skyhawks’ 1.7 they’ve been scoring on average. On the opposite side, the 2.4 goals against average that FPI has is decently lower than the 3.1 Stonehill has. 

The caveat is the out of conference opponents Stonehill played back in the fall really rode up their defensive metrics. FPI didn’t play the same opponents, and didn’t drop the games at the same level, which helps in their favor on the stat sheet. In conference, Stonehill’s numbers defensively are not perfect but still better, although their low scoring totals are pretty consistent.  

Both teams are fairly even on their special teams units, and their goaltending is similarly solid. Jill Hertl in 18 starts is sitting at a .929 save percentage, which is an even higher .933 in conference play. 

Alexsa Caron on the other side has a .914 in 25 starts this season, but now the freshman has been splitting time with Eve Stone, who has finally returned from injury for the spring semester. The junior in her first two starts is 1-0-1 with a .933 SV% and a shutout over Saint Michael’s this past Saturday. Regardless of who is in net, the two goaltenders will match up well against Hertl, and that bodes well for anyone interested in a goalie matchup. 

I do think this series sways slightly in favor of Stonehill, considering the momentum swing they’re on. The swing is similar to the one they had last year, which helped them go on an eight game winning streak (including the NEWHA championship game over the same FPI team) to win the tournament title. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out again to close out the 2024-25 regular season. They have to get through FPI first though, and I do think it will be a challenge to sweep the series altogether. 

But I have been wrong and I’ve been wrong often this season, and no outcome would truly surprise me from these two squads. 

Full Upcoming Schedule: 

Streaming details available here

Friday: 

Franklin Pierce at Stonehill – 6 PM 
Assumption at Sacred Heart – 7 PM 
LIU at Saint Michael’s – 7:10 PM
Saint Anselm at Post – 8 PM

Saturday: 

Saint Anselm at Post – 2:30 PM 
LIU at Saint Michael’s – 3 PM 
Stonehill at Franklin Pierce – 6 PM 
Sacred Heart at Assumption – 7 PM

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