By Jason Mastrodonato, News Staff

Entering the 2010-11 season, the men’s hockey team’s strength was supposed to be its offense. The Huskies had a solid core of returning forwards, with a few talented freshmen joining the ranks.

The defense, however, was the question mark. Before the season began, head coach Greg Cronin said if the defense played well, NU should see some success.

But while the defensive unit has thrived, the Huskies haven’t been scoring, averaging just 1.75 goals per game. The trend continued Friday night, in the school’s first-ever matchup with Niagara University (3-3-2), as the Purple Eagles defeated the Huskies 4-1 at Matthews Arena.

“We haven’t really been able to score this year,” senior captain Tyler McNeely said. “We played pretty well. We had a lot of chances. We just couldn’t put the puck in the net.”

Northeastern dropped to 1-5-2 on the season, and capped off a three-game home stand against non-conference opponents with three straight losses. Friday’s game was the first time the Huskies weren’t tied heading into the third period this season.

After a scoreless first period with six penalties, NU started the second with a few power plays, but couldn’t convert. Instead, Niagara’s forward Bryan Haczyk slotted a shorthanded goal off a turnover from NU freshman forward Cody Ferriero.

The Huskies had a 5-on-3 later in the period, but again came up empty.

With an incoming Niagara power play and the extra attacker on the ice, Paul Zanette took a cross-ice pass and popped it by sophomore goaltender Chris Rawlings to put the Purple Eagles ahead, 2-0.

The assault continued in the third, after McNeely took a five-minute penalty and 10-minute game misconduct for hitting a Niagara player in the head. The Purple Eagles scored twice on the power play.

“I wanted to get the third period started off quick, so I was playing hard,” McNeely said. “I went for the hit and opened up, got my elbow up, and it was a tough one to take. I felt terrible after that one, but it happens and the game goes on.”

Senior forward Wade MacLeod saved the Huskies from being shutout later in the third period, finishing a rebound for his third goal of the year, and NU’s fifth power play tally in 51 tries this season. The Huskies went 1-for-14 with the extra man during the game.

“Whenever you have 14 power play chances, you have to score on a few of them,” McNeely said. “And if you don’t, you’re probably not going to win the game.”

The coaching staff has been giving the power play extra attention during practices, but the results have yet to come.

“We need to keep it simple and keep shooting the puck on net and they’ll start going in,” MacLeod said. “We have a ton of chances, but execution has to be there for the power play.”

The Huskies took a season-high 43 shots on goal, but couldn’t solve Niagara goalie Andrew Hare.

“It’s a little frustrating right now because we’re not scoring as much as we should be, especially after getting that many power plays,” MacLeod said. “Usually a game will be 5-to-4, 6-to-4 with that many penalty minutes, but we just didn’t find a way to put it in.”

While Northeastern has shown a physical style of play all season, MacLeod admits the team may have to tone it down a bit to stay out of the penalty box. The Huskies are fourth in the country, averaging 18.9 penalty minutes per game.

“It has to be addressed,” MacLeod said. “Part of Northeastern Hockey is to be physical, finish every check and make sure people know when they come into Matthews Arena, they’re going to get hit. We have to keep playing physical, but keep elbows, hands and sticks down and reduce penalty minutes, because it’s a huge problem right now.”

The Huskies look to pick up some momentum with a pair of Hockey East games at No. 5 Maine this weekend.

“That was the only good thing, that it wasn’t three Hockey East games we dropped, it was three non-conference games,” MacLeod said. “If we can put up a win or two in Maine, which is a tough place to play, and get some valuable Hockey East points, it definitely can put us in the right direction and give us some confidence.”