By Jack Weiland
They’ve spent 116 straight days in the basement of Hockey East, but after wrestling a point away from third-ranked Maine in a two-game set at Matthews Arena last weekend, the men’s hockey team could be poised to emerge from the depths soon.
Northeastern fell 3-1 to the Black Bears Friday night, but battled back Saturday behind Keni Gibson’s 32 saves to earn a 0-0 tie in the series finale.
That, coupled with a Boston University loss to host Providence College Saturday, moved the Huntington Hounds to within just a point of their crosstown rivals for the eighth and final conference playoff spot.
BU has the unforgiving task of playing UMass-Amherst (the second-place HE team that destroyed NU on Jan. 29) in a home-and-home series next weekend, while the Huskies will face Merrimack College (a team they’ve already beaten this year) and New Hampshire on the road Friday and Sunday, respectively.
“We control our own destiny,” said NU coach Bruce Crowder. “We’re not really scoreboard watching, we’re looking to see what we have to do. Obviously, Friday night is a big game for us, and Sunday, and Friday and Saturday after that.
“I think we’ve been playing with a lot of confidence since the middle of November,” he added.
“The first win was a big thing. That kind of got us going and believing that we could win.”
Saturday’s contest, the first scoreless Hockey East draw since Oct. 25, witnessed NU netminder Keni Gibson set the school’s all-time career and single season shutout records, with his fifth career and fourth of the year.
“It’s a great honor. I’ve got to congratulate my teammates, too,” he said. “They’re a big part of it: blocking shots, saving shots. It’s a team record. It might be my name on there, but without them, I don’t get that shutout.”
Saturday’s contest was equally enjoyable for Gibson and Maine netminder Jimmy Howard (40 saves).
“It’s fun to play in a game like that,” Gibson said. “Obviously you want to be on the winning end, but there’s nothing wrong with a tie and nothing wrong with watching good goaltending at both ends of the rink. I was happy with my play, but it was fun to watch him play, too.”
Neither netminder allowed much of anything in the way of second-chance shots.
“I thought [Howard] really sponged the puck well tonight, he controlled his rebounds very well tonight. As did Gibson,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “I thought that was one of the reasons neither team could score. There weren’t a lot of second and third opportunities.
“Both teams had plenty of chances to take the lead,” he added. “We certainly had ours, they certainly had theirs. But both goalies were very sharp, and certainly the best two players on the ice. For a 0-0 game, I thought there was a lot of exciting play.”
Included in Friday’s 3-1 loss to Maine were a couple of questionable goals.
The first, a second-period powerplay tally from Mike Hamilton, came while Gibson was being pushed to the ice by a Maine attacker.
Later, in the third period, Maine’s Jeff Mushaluk wristed a shot on net that appeared to be deflected by a high stick before beating Gibson.
However, referees determined that the puck bounced off an NU defender before hitting the twine.
Jason Guerriero netted his sixteenth goal of the year on a two-on-oh with sophomore Mike Morris in the second
period.
Morris blocked a clearing attempt from Maine’s Mike Lundin before heading to the net with Guerriero. Morris faked Maine goalie Frank Doyle to the net when it looked like he’d shoot, but instead slid a slick pass to Guerriero for the equalizing goal.
Maine’s Greg Moore added an insurace goal at the 8:50 mark of the third period by one-timing a pass from
Todd Jackson
past Gibson’s right pad.
Friday’s contest with Merrimack starts at 7 p.m. in North Andover, and Sunday’s road match up with New Hampshire is set to begin at 4 p.m.
Next week, Northeastern will face BU in a key home-and-home matchup. Both games start at 7 p.m
