NEWHA Roundup: Jan. 31 - Feb 1, 2025:

We’ve made it NEWHA fans — the last month of the regular season is upon us. Things are getting tighter in the conference standings, and it’s all coming down to the last sets of regular season contests. There’s a lot going on this week, so let’s just hop right. 

Series Rewind: Sacred Heart Secures another Six Points in Weekend Sweep 

The Pioneers have struggled to get things going consistently over the last few months, however none of that unsteadiness was evident over the weekend as they easily dispatched Assumption in back-to-back 2-1 and 2-0 wins. 

It took a bit of time for SHU to get their feet underneath them Friday, as the teams skated to an even eight shots on goal apiece in the first period with no scoring to show for it. The goals started flowing in the second, with SHU scoring on two of their 17 shots on goal while Lauren Larson stopped all 15 of Assumptions on the other side. 

First to find the back of the cage was Isabella Chaput. SHU’s leading scorer rifled a shot in from the point that found its way through traffic to beat Jadyn Weiser for the 1-0 lead. The goal was the first score for Chaput in five games, and just her third of the second semester (after scoring eight to open 2024-25). Kailey Smith and Olivia LaRoche added assists on the power play tally. 

Twelve minutes later, Ella Holm joined in on the scoring fun after she shoveled in a pass from Laroche behind Weiser to make it 2-0 Pioneers. The score would stand as the eventual game winner, the third such goal for Holm this season, and with two assists it was the first multi-point game of the season for Laroche. 

Halfway through the final period, the Greyhounds made things interesting with a power play tally of their own. Assumption has struggled on the advantage all season, going 7-for-82 over the course of the year, the second worst power play mark in the entire NCAA. 

They scored that seventh goal on the PP on Friday thanks to Alexa Hanrahan, who now has three such goals under her belt this year. Katelyn Prive and Emma Gurnell had the assists on the play, which was the fourth assist of the season for both skaters. 

Weiser was strong in the loss, making a semester-high 37 saves in the defeat. She’s now up to a .931 save percentage in 14 starts, with a 2.32 goals against average. Similarly, Larson also had a strong performance, making 35 saves in her fourth win of the year. The goaltender has yet to allow more than three goals in a game in the second semester, and while the team in front of her has struggled to score, she has stayed fairly consistent in each of her 12 starts in 2024-25. 

SHU opted to swap goaltenders for the second game of the series, turning back to Carly Greene for her fourth start in the last five games. The senior was once again flawless, making 36 saves including 14 in the final period of regulation to secure her fourth shutout of the season. 

Helping Greene out were goals from the Bowlbys. First was Sami, who scored the game-winner just 50 seconds into regulation off assists from Peyton Bennetts and Sydney Antonakis. After scoring on their first shot of the game, the Pioneers fired another 29 shots on goal, only managing to extend their lead on the last SOG of the afternoon. 

With 10 seconds remaining, Addie Bowlby had the yawning cage in front of her with Weiser on the bench, and the freshman wasted no time putting the puck home for her second of the season. Ally Cohen added the lone assist on the play, and the Pioneers walked away from the weekend with six of a possible six points, extending their lead atop the NEWHA standings to two points. 

It’s no secret SHU was the most consistent team to start the year, but have now started to struggle heading into the back half. The scoring is still low for them, as they’ve now notched two or fewer goals in seven of their nine games of the semester. However, after the split with LIU last weekend that I talked about in last week's roundup, this was as good of a weekend as you could have asked from the Pioneers. If they want to hold on to the top spot in the conference, they’re going to need to dispatch teams in whatever manner possible heading into the last weeks of the year. 

For Assumption it’s been a bit of a fall from grace. After starting the season rock solid, the Greyhounds have dropped to seventh in the conference standings, ahead of only Saint Michael’s. They’ve lost every single game of the semester so far — a run of eight contests — and haven’t scored more than two goals in a game since Nov. 23rd; a 3-1 win over Saint Michael’s. It’s been a rough go of things for the Greyhounds, and just one point in the second semester is not going to cut it if they’re looking for post season success. 

Weekly Awards: 

Player of the Week: Maggie Culp, F, LIU – Senior 

With two overtime wins for LIU this weekend, Culp played the hero in both, scoring two game-winners against Saint Michael’s. The senior is now up to seven goals on the season, tied for second on the Sharks in the statistic. She is just four points away from 60 in her NCAA career. 

Defensive Player of the Week: Anna Fairman, D, LIU – Graduate Student 

For the second week in a row, Fairman gets honors for the top defensive player in the conference. With four goals scored by the Sharks this weekend, Fairman played a role in three of them, extending her point streak to three games. The defender now has eight points in her last six games, including three multi-point games, and added her third goal of the season in Friday’s 2-1 win. 

Goaltender of the Week: Jill Hertl, G, FPI – Junior 

FPI was super solid against Stonehill over the weekend, sweeping the set from the Skyhawks. Backstopping them to those wins was Hertl, who made 82 saves across the two games including 37 in Friday’s victory. Her 45-save effort in the overtime win Saturday was her second highest effort of the season thus far, and extended her streak of 30+ save performances to four straight games. 

Rookie of the Week: Brynn Levinson, F, FPI – Freshman

Another key in the sweep for FPI was Levinson, who in the aforementioned overtime win scored the game-winner. She had already scored earlier in the game, and assisted on the first FPI goal to open the scoring. All told she had four shots on the weekend, and is up to 17 total points for the season. 

Complete Scoreboard: 

Friday: 

Franklin Pierce 3 at Stonehill 2
Sacred Heart 2 vs Assumption 1
LIU 2 at Saint Michael’s 1 – OT 
Saint Anselm 3 at Post 1 

Saturday: 

Post 3 vs Saint Anselm 0 
LIU 2 at Saint Michael’s 1 – OT 
Franklin Pierce 3 vs Stonehill 2 – OT 
Sacred Heart 2 at Assumption 0

What to Watch: Post/Stonehill 

Friday at Stonehill, 6 PM | Saturday at Post, 2:30 PM

The hottest team in the conference vs. a team that started the semester hot, but faltered over the weekend to FPI is the highlight of this upcoming weekend. 

The Eagles have now found themselves in new territory, with their most wins in a season in half a decade as they’re on track to have their best overall record since 2019-20, when they finished with 12 wins. This second-semester success continued over the weekend, as they split with Saint Anselm, a team still higher than them in the standings, although not that much further ahead. 

One thing that does give me pause for Post is their remaining schedule — their final three weeks of the season are against arguably the toughest opponents in the conference. Stonehill this weekend, LIU the following, and SHU to close out the regular season slate. 

If there is one good thing to note about this weekend however, it’s that Post has already split part of the season's series with the Skyhawks thanks to a 1-0 win on Nov. 15th (followed by a 3-0 loss the next day, but still). Since the start of the Spring semester, Post has been averaging 2.2 goals per game, but has also shut out their opponents in two of their last three contests. 

On the opposite end will be the Skyhawks, who dropped back-to-back 3-2 decisions to Franklin Pierce over the weekend. All four of Stonehill’s goals over the weekend came on the power play, including two in a two minute span on Friday in the opening minutes of the second period. After conceding the 2-0 lead in the first game of the series, Stonehill turned it around to mount a two-goal comeback on Saturday, although the game ended in an overtime winner from FPI’s Levinson. 

That power play, however, is going to be critical, considering how Post’s PP is 7.5 percentage points behind Stonehill’s (a 13.9% conversion rate vs. 21.4%). All told, even with two of the lower scoring offensives in the conference squaring off, the teams should provide some interesting hockey to keep viewers entertained. 

What I’m most interested to see is the potential matchup between Alexsa Caron and Hannah Saunders again. While Caron has had some struggles, overall the freshman has been solid for Stonehill, and even more so in the second semester. Saunders is similar, as the junior has the best in-conference save percentage on the season, with a .941. 

The two games should be interesting, especially considering how close the two squads now are in the conference standings. A big weekend for Post could see them in new territory, although I think Stonehill is gonna do everything in their power to keep that from happening. 

Full Upcoming Schedule: 

Streaming details available here

Friday: 

Franklin Pierce at LIU – 3 PM 
Post at Stonehill – 6 PM 
Saint Michael’s at Sacred Heart – 7 PM 
Saint Anselm at Assumption – 8:20 PM 

Saturday: 

Assumption at Saint Anselm – 1 PM 
Saint Michael’s at Sacred Heart – 2 PM 
Franklin Pierce at LIU – 2 PM 
Stonehill at Post – 2:30 PM

Monthly Standings Update: 

As of Feb. 5th, 2025

1. Sacred Heart – 45 Points (14-5-3 in conference, 15-10-3 overall) 

1. November: No. 1 

2. LIU – 43 Points (15-5-2 in conference, 15-10-3 overall)

1. November: No. 2

3. Franklin Pierce – 39 Points (13-8-1 in conference, 13-10-1 overall)

1. November: No. 3

T-4. Saint Anselm – 35 Points (9-9-4 in conference, 9-15-4 overall)

1. November: No. 5

T-4. Stonehill – 35 Points (10-9-3 in conference, 10-16-3 overall)

1. November: No. 6

6. Post – 30 Points (9-10-3 in conference, 9-16-3 overall)

1. November: No. 7

7. Assumption – 24 Points (6-14-2 in conference, 6-19-3 overall)

1. November: No. 4

8. Saint Michael’s – 13 Points (3-19-0 in conference, 3-25-0 overall)

1. November: No. 8