PROVIDENCE – Before last weekend, when most figured the Hockey East playoff picture would become considerably less cloudy, the Northeastern men’s hockey team sat within striking distance of eighth place Providence College.
However, after two ties, the second and third of the season between the two squads, NU seems more like a dog chasing its tale than a team making moves in the playoff picture.
Husky coach Bruce Crowder was much more pleased with Saturday’s 3-3 draw than Friday night, when the teams knotted at one.
Friday night Northeastern outshot PC 43-25, but allowed a third period goal for the Friars to tie the game.
On Saturday, Northeastern trailed nearly from the opening faceoff until the final horn, as Colin McDonald slid the puck along the ice under NU netminder Keni Gibson just 42 seconds into the game. Northeastern trailed the rest of the way, until sophomore Mike Morris buried his fourth goal since the holiday break, a wrist shot at the left post with 1:24 to play.
“We were down 2-0 and it was a gritty effort,” he told gonu.com after the game. “We found a way to get a point. Last night was a bad tie, tonight was a good tie.”
Although Northeasern could have caught Providence in the conference standings with a weekend sweep, Crowder isn’t in the dumps about missing a chance to pull out of last place. After the weekend, Northeastern is three points behind second-to-last Boston University, four points behind Merrimack and four points behind Providence.
“It was a situation where we could’ve made up some ground, but we didn’t and it’s in the past,” Crowder told The News on Tuesday. “It’s behind us now, we’ve still got half the Hockey East schedule to play. Our next 12 games are all going to be very important.”
Northeastern pounded Friar goaltenders David Cacciola (42 saves Friday) and Bobby Goepfert (47 saves Saturday) with an incredible 93 shots on the weekend.
“We just couldn’t find a way to put the light on,” Crowder said. “I think if it was boxing, or gymnastics or figure skating we might have gotten the nod, but it wasn’t. It’s hockey, and the only thing that matters is scoring more goals than the
other team.”
In Saturday’s matchup, McDonald’s tally was the first of a two-goal opening period for the Friars. Seven minutes into the game, sophomore Torry Gajda buried the first of his two goals when he took a feed from Cody Loughlean in the crease and tapped it home.
Northeastern’s Brian Swiniarksi brought NU within a goal 5:50 into the second, when he buried the puck past Goepfert during a scramble in front of the PC goal.
However, Gajda’s second goal of the game and 10th of the season restored PC’s two-goal cushion just three minutes later. This time, the Westfield, Mass. native grabbed the rebound of a Loughlean shot and deposited it past Gibson (31 saves).
After Gajda’s second goal, NU came to life. Freshman Ray Ortiz knocked home his fifth goal of the year at the 16:14 mark of the second. Ortiz’ goal was the culmination of a strong second period in which NU outshot the Friars 21-6.
The freshman line of Ortiz, Aaron Moore and Yale Lewis finished the night with a +2 rating and have been arguably Crowder’s most effective line thus far.
“I would say that over the Providence, they were our most consistent line,” Crowder said. “They played excellent, are quick to get on people and cycle really well. The next step for them is to get more pucks to the net.”
Despite constant pressure in the final period, the Huskies didn’t knot the score until Crowder pulled Gibson in favor of an extra attacker. With Gibson on the bench, and NU junior Donny Grover making his way into the offensive zone, senior Eric Ortlip fed Morris at the edge of the Providence crease for the tying goal.
Providence coach Paul Pooley wasn’t satisfied with the tie.
“They picked it up in the second; you could feel it,” he told reporters after the game. “And we didn’t respond soon enough. It felt like a loss, quite honestly.
On Friday, NU got on the board at 11:53 of the first period, when senior assistant captain Brian Tudrick posted his second goal of the year.
The lead, however, didn’t last. Just 19 seconds into the final frame, Providence’s Chris Chaput evened the score.
Northeastern will face No. 2 Boston College Friday night at Matthews Arena before meeting Merrimack on the road Saturday.
Last time the Huskies and Eagles met, Jan. 3, NU pulled off an impressive 3-0 upset at Matthews Arena.
“I think it will be the same Boston College team,” Crowder said. “I expect them to play hard, smart and stay out of the box.
“If we play like we did in the second and third period of that game, we’ll be fine.”
NOTES: Freshmen defensmen Steve Birnstill and Bryan Cirullo popped up in the Central Scouting Services’ midyear report recently. The CSS, which ranks players eligible for the NHL Entry Draft each year, pegged Birnstill 44 and Cirullo 227 among North American Skaters. Current Husky sophomore Mike Morris was slated 56th before being chosen in the first round of the 2002 draft by the San Jose Sharks.
Saturday marked the fourth consecutive game in which the Huskies refused to allow a powerplay goal, effectively killing of their last 13 shorthanded situations. “I think it’s a combination of us executing the system better, and getting better team defense and goaltending,” Crowder said.
In Saturday’s game at Providence’s Schneider Arena, the media was given seldom recorded faceoff stats. Eric Ortlip emerged as the strongest Husky on the draw, winning 11 of 23 faceoffs. Sophomore Brian Swiniarski was statistically NU’s worst , losing all three faceoffs he took.
With last weekend’s pair of ties, Northeastern’s season series with Providence ends at 0-0-3. It’s the first time in Northeastern’s history of Hockey East play (20 years) that the Huskies have tied a conference opponent three times in the same campaign.
