When Dave Flint’s Northeastern Huskies entered the Women’s Hockey East playoffs last spring, they were a .500 team (11-11-2 in WHE). In short, they needed to win the league title to get an invitation to the NCAA tournament. Despite having an experienced junior goaltender in Brittany Bugalski, Flint turned to a freshman. And Aerin Frankel didn’t disappoint.
Frankel, a native of Westchester County in New York and a graduate of famed Minnesota powerhouse Shattuck St-Mary’s, ripped off four straight onegoal victories. After knocking off New Hampshire in the quarterfinals, 3-2 and 2-1, Frankel simply got better, beating Maine, 2-1, in the semifinals, and Connecticut in the finals, 2-1.
"Early on in the year, she won some big games for us, and then she beat Wisconsin over Thanksgiving," said Flint. "After that, by late November, I knew this kid was the real deal. When it came playoff time, she took it even to another level.
"That semifinal game against Maine, the last two minutes we were a man down, and she made saves that I couldn’t believe," said the NU bench boss. "They threw everything including the kitchen sink at her, and they couldn’t get anything by her. She carried that into the next day, in the final, and was just rock solid."
