University of Vermont’s Joe Fallon was a flawless presence in Saturday’s tightly contested matchup against visiting Northeastern at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
With 28 saves, he was perhaps the deciding factor in the game. A wide-open goal from teammate Jeff Corey in the first period and an empty netter aside, the Huskies and Catamounts could not figure each other out before a sold out crowd of 4,003 in Vermont’s 2-0 win.
The Huskies were also caught in the middle of the nation’s top unbeaten streak, as No. 10 Vermont made it a total of 11 games (8-0-3) by the end of the night.
“I think it was just a matter of their goaltender playing well, and we missed some opportunities there,” Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder said, watching his team drop to below .500 for the first time since Oct. 30 (6-7-1). “There are things we’ve got to get better at, including our power plays.”
Both teams were 0-for-6 in power play opportunities, as each team tried desperately to find an advantage for an extended portion of play.
“For the most part, we made one mistake,” Crowder said of Vermont’s first goal. “We weren’t able to capitalize or get one by Vermont’s goalie. We outshot him, and I am happy with our effort. We haven’t been able to get goals, with only one against BC and Vermont together.”
After staying nearly even with the Catamounts in shots during the first period (11-10), Northeastern was in control for much of the second (11-5).
Junior forward Mike Morris, in his second game back from a concussion, gave the Huskies hope in both the second and third periods, but Fallon never budged.
At the 14:40 mark of the second, Morris came in from the right side and found a clear shot to Fallon, but the puck bounced off the post.
Then at 15:40 with his view of Fallon and the net even better, Morris launched one that hit right off the crossbar.
“In a one-minute span, Morris hit the crossbar and the goalpost,” Crowder said. “At that point, we knew the luck wasn’t on our side.”
Senior captain Jason Guerriero, named the CCM Hockey East Player of the Month last Wednesday, nearly combined with Morris late in the third period. Saddled with three penalties already, the Huskies were finally looking for the right drive down the ice, and after Guerriero found Morris, Fallon made a game-saving save again.
The Huskies and Catamounts were each penalized twice in the final two minutes of the contest. Among them, Morris was forced to sit down at 18:03 for slashing, not helping matters in NU’s final rush of the contest.
“We definitely want him on the ice more than in the penalty box,” Crowder said of Morris. “In that situation, I think he was more a victim of circumstances.”
Through 14 games this season, the Huskies have played 10 ranked teams. They will add another to the list on Friday night when they travel crosstown to Conte Forum for a matchup with No. 5 Boston College (7 p.m.).
That, along with Saturday’s game against University of Massachusetts-Lowell at Matthews Arena (7 p.m.), wrap up the December schedule for NU.
“The biggest thing for us is not that we’re under .500, but that 10 of our 14 games have been played against teams ranked in the top 15 in the country,” Crowder said. “If we’re under .500, we can look at it as seeing if we’re getting better each time we play these teams.”
