The praise for the Northeastern hockey team was unanimous on both sides after Saturday’s contest against Umass-Lowell at Tsongas Arena.
Take the normally reserved Husky coach Bruce Crowder’s reaction: “I thought it was our game the whole way. We had plenty of quality opportunities.”
Or River Hawk coach Blaise McDonald’s thoughts: “I have a lot of respect for the way NU plays. They swarm the puck, they are tenacious and play at a high skill level. They are a tough opponent for anybody.”
The more pressing matter at hand? The Huskies’ 2-1 loss, their third in a row, and second in as many nights that saw them jump out to a convincing advantage in play, but lose it in the end.
“It’s been two great games for us, two great six periods of hockey,” said Crowder, noting his team’s 3-1 loss to a resurgent Boston University the night before. “I’ll take my chances if I get that any weekend.”
The Huskies (7-11-2, 3-6-1 Hockey East) put together a 1-0 lead against both the River Hawks and Terriers, and held their own against two surging teams. BU, at 12-7-0, stood at 11th in the country, while the University of Massachusetts-Lowell entered on the heels of an undefeated seven-game stretch (6-0-1).
Both opponents, however, accounted for their initial lack of intensity by benefiting from their goaltending, BU’s John Curry and the River Hawks’ freshman standout Peter Vetri.
“Our guys played well, there’s not much you can say,” Crowder said. “It’s like facing a hot pitcher who throws you a no-hitter. It was two straight nights of it.”
After a scoreless first period, the first goal of the game came from Husky captain Jason Guerriero at the 12:44 mark of the second, his ninth of the year and 24th point. Defenseman Steve Birnstill found Guerriero in front of the net, who forced it past Vetri.
From that point on, the game was Vetri’s.
Inspired by his team’s two goals, including Ben Walter’s 17th at the 14:53 point of the second, and Cleve Kinley’s less than two minutes later at 16:36, Vetri stood his ground on 11 shots from the Huskies in the period and another eight in the final frame.
“In the first period, I was really able to get into the game, and it made me ready for [the Husky rush] in the second,” said Vetri, who at 5 feet, 10 inches commented on his style as a standup goalie. “Getting some shots early was good to get me into the game.”
Sophomore center Bryan Esner provided the Huskies with one of a set of offensive rushes, but in the end only gave Vetri an opportunity to stand tall.
Just over a minute into the third period, Esner broke free of the last Umass-Lowell defender on an error, but his 1-on-1 effort was only tapped away by Vetri.
McDonald knew Vetri was a big reason for his team’s win, and also noted how he could have been the only one.
“You need goalies, in this league, to often times win you games,” said the fourth-year coach. “Peter stepped up when we were struggling as a team and provided a level of tranqulitiy for us.”
By numbers alone, the difference in play was obvious. The Huskies held a 15-7 lead in shots after one period at Matthews Arena against BU, and with a 1-0 lead on sophomore Aaron Moore’s first goal of the season, seemed to be on their way to a notable league win.
Much like Vetri, Curry, the sophomore who replaced Terrier veteran Sean Fields, provided the lift BU would need in the final two frames.
Kenny Roche tied the game in the second after a Guerriero interference penalty at 11:31. Defenseman Dan Spang set up the goal, and was part of the team’s next goal in the third.
At 1-1, both teams started play in the third evenly matched both on the scoreboard and on the ice, but Matt Radoslovich gave the Terriers the lead at 10:23 off passes from Spang and Brian Ewing and his team never looked back.
Kevin Schaeffer’s empty-netter provided the final bit of insurance BU would need to take back a game they initially struggled through.
Huskies bow to Denver in New Year’s Weekend Denver Cup final
One nationally-ranked team was enough for Northeastern to handle on New Year’s Weekend at the Wells Fargo Denver Cup.
The second, however, was too much.
The Huskies were familiar with both 10th-ranked Colgate and 7th-ranked University of Denver entering the weekend tournament, having lost to the Pioneers at home, 4-2, on Oct. 16, and then upsetting the Raiders in Hamilton, N.Y., two nights later, 4-3.
Northeastern was on the winning track again against Colgate in the first round of the tournament with a convincing 5-1 victory.
Guerriero and Brian Swiniarski scored two goals apiece, while Guerriero added two more assists, well on his way to being named to the All-Tournament team.
The team was then blanked by Denver in the final led by Peter Mannino’s strong performance in net with 37 saves. The Pioneers did all of their scoring in the first two periods, helped the most by Paul Stastny’s goal and two assists.
Northeastern begins a two-game stretch against the Providence College Friars on Friday night. Both Friday’s game in Providence and Saturday’s at Matthews Arena will start at 7 p.m.
