They’re two months ahead of schedule.
The Northeastern men’s hockey team, which went all the way to Jan. 3 during the 2003-04 campaign for their first Hockey East (HE) victory, continued their winning ways with two straight HE wins in their first two tries last weekend.
On Friday night at Matthews Arena, the Huskies hosted No. 10 University of Maine and gained a 4-0 lead on their way to a 4-2 win. NU then traveled to Providence College on Sunday for a matchup with the Friars, and clung to a 2-1 lead in the third period before a Jason Guerriero empty netter sealed a 3-1 victory.
The Huskies (5-3-1 overall, 2-0-0 HE) are now 4-0-1 in their last five contests, starting with a 4-3 overtime win over Colgate University Oct. 23. NU, two spots of the latest Top 15 USCHO.com/CSTV Division I Men’s Hockey poll with 35 votes, travels to Durham, N.H., Friday, for the first of two straight nights against No. 6 University of New Hampshire.
“That’s a little bit of the maturity that we have,” said Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder. “Even when we played Maine on Friday night, we got out to a 4-0 lead. They ended up making it 4-2. For the most part, we’re finding ways to win hockey games. I think that’s a sign of a team that’s for us, up and coming. We’re looking forward to that continuing.”
Goalie Keni Gibson was the difference all weekend, stopping 41 shots against Maine, and then another 36 against a third-period rushing Providence team, and for his efforts was named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week. “Obviously Keni was the difference in tonight’s game,” Crowder said in Providence. “That’s what we need. We need a guy that’s going to be a difference maker. Keni, two games in a row now, has played extremely well.”
Crowder has emphasized a stronger penalty kill after a poor showing in the opening games of the season. On Sunday, the Huskies continued to answer their coach’s call inducing an 0-for-9 performance by the Friars (4-5-0, 2-4-0), while the Black Bears (7-6-0, 3-3-0) didn’t fare much better in going 1 for 6 in power play situations.
“We’ve been stressing for two to three weeks to get better in the penalty kill situation,” Crowder said. “[Providence was] o-fer on the power play. That’s something you need to have. We were very weak in that area for the first three to four weekends of the season.”
Gibson said a strong penalty always helps.
“They were blocking the shots, moving it out of the way. We worked so hard on it in practice the last couple of weeks, it’s starting to pay off. The guys are playing with confidence. Nobody panicked, we kept it going,” Gibson said. NU was outshot by Providence, 8-2, in the third period as the puck stayed in the Husky end for the majority of the period. Friar defenseman Luke Irwin had a clear shot on net on a Husky power play, but a pad save by Gibson continued to hold the Husky lead.
“We worked a lot harder,” said Providence coach Paul Pooley. “We changed things up a bit in terms of line combinations. We were sitting back a bit to start. In the last period, we were in their zone 90 percent of the time, even if we didn’t get a lot of shots on.”
The Huskies got on the board at the 4:16 mark in the first period when Guerriero set up a Brian Swiniarski score after skating around the back of the net.
Then in the second, sophomore Yale Lewis skated quickly down the left lane and fed Bryan Esner perfectly from the faceoff circle. Esner then finished the job for a 2-0 lead with 7:08 left in the second.
The Friars threatened late in the second when Torry Gajada forced a ringing shot off the crossbar, while Gibson had a strong glove save on a Jamie Carroll shot. Providence scored their lone goal 53 seconds into the third, when a pileup in front allowed for Jon Rheault to tip a rebound in.
“Two things [hurt us]. Falling down 2-0, and having two power plays in the first period and not getting a goal,” Pooley said. “It’s so essential [to score on power plays]. It changes momentum, you get a 1-0 lead and the teams play differently.”
Northeastern came out fast against the Black Bears on Friday. Joe Santilli tipped in a Mike Morris rebound past Maine goalie Jimmy Howard at 16:16 of the first period for the team’s first score and less than two minutes later, a Maine defender gave the puck away in front of the net, allowing Morris to walk in untouched and deke Howard, giving NU an early 2-0 lead.
The Huskies extended their lead to 3-0 when a Steve Sanders shot trickled past Howard and into the net at 2:41 of the second period. Sanders’ first goal of the season would prove to be the game-winner.
NU added another goal when Santilli got a pass from Morris and shot the puck off the skate of a Maine defender in front of the net, who redirected it past Howard at 4:28. That was the end of the night for Howard, who was pulled by Maine head coach Tim Whitehead for Matt Lundin. After making 10 saves in the first period, NU goalie Keni Gibson made five more on a Maine power play early in the second. At 8:46, Maine finally got on the scoreboard when junior Derek Damon fired a wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle and beat Gibson up high on the glove side. Gibson rebounded quickly though, surviving a flurry of Maine scoring chances during a power play and stopping 17 shots in the second period.
Maine controlled the game in the third period, outshooting the Huskies 15-6. Greg Moore made it a 4-2 game at 6:08 of the third period, but Gibson denied the rest of the shots he faced.
GAME NOTES: Husky leading scorer Mike Morris (five goals, eight assists) was inactive for Sunday’s game following a concussion in the third period against Maine. The junior will be ready for Friday night, Crowder said.
– Correspondent Ricky Popolizio contributed to this report
