By: Jason Mastrodonato, News Staff

After all the misery and frustration the first half of the men’s hockey season brought coach Greg Cronin and his players, two solid games have appeared to make at least some of the hurt disappear.

Northeastern picked up its first four-point weekend of the 2010-11 season, beating Massachusetts 5-3 Jan. 7 on the road and UMass Lowell 3-1 at Matthews Arena Jan. 8.

The victories elevated the Huskies to sixth place in the ultra-competitive Hockey East, just one win behind fourth-place Merrimack, and five points behind third-place Boston University.

“That was a huge, huge game tonight,” Cronin said after the win against UMass Lowell. “We’ll try to bring more tightness to the [conference]. There’s a pack of schools that we have to get up with.”

The Huskies have five straight home games on tap for the next three weeks, leading them into the Beanpot. They’ll face Harvard at TD Garden Feb. 7.

“The first half of the season was a little tough,” said freshman forward Brodie Reid, who scored his fourth goal of the season Saturday night against UMass Lowell. “Every game right now is like a playoff game, so it was huge to get four points this weekend.”

After back-and-forth play for the majority of the first period against Lowell, junior forward Mike McLaughlin made a nifty move to break free from a defender on the outside before dumping the puck back to Reid, who was skating through the slot. Reid then kicked the puck to his backhand before a quick wrister beat the goalie’s glove side to put the Huskies up 1-0.

Reid admits a strong performance against BU at the end of the season’s first half has given him a lot more poise as he starts to figure out the Hockey East competition.

“It’s been nice,” he said. “I’ve just been playing with more confidence. I ended the break with a good game against BU and I’ve built off that.”

Lowell tied things up just two minutes into the second period on a strange goal that was the start of a bizarre period.

Riley Wetmore put a soft floater on goal from the far-right side of the zone that appeared to get tangled in the top of the netting. The puck caught the corner, hung there for a second and knocked the goalie’s water bottle off the net and onto the ice. After a bit of confusion, one referee signaled for a goal, causing eruption from freshman goalie Clay Witt, who got the nod over the usual starter, sophomore Chris Rawlings.

“I didn’t see it go in,” Witt said. “I saw it go off the back of the net.” Cronin appealed, and after the play went under review, an overhead angle was enough to convince the officials that the goal would stand.

Later in the second period, the game took another spin, as sophomore forward Steve Quailer was hit on a dangerous play against the boards, leaving him dazed and bleeding from the chin. But the officials called just a two-minute elbowing penalty, and the Huskies’ power play couldn’t capitalize.

McLaughlin took a boarding penalty later in the second, an apparent response to the hit on his teammate, and a pair of unsportsmanlike penalties were also dished out simultaneously.

Neither team took advantage of the extra man, as they combined to go 0-for-7 on power play opportunities.

“I thought tonight we had some good looks, we just didn’t score,” Cronin said. “That to me, that’s going to carry us. The catalyst for us is usually the power play.”

The chippy second period came to an end, and just 18 seconds into the third, senior forward Wade MacLeod put home a rebound to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead as they went on to pick up their fifth win of the season.

The freshman, Witt, got his second start of the season, making 23 saves for his first collegiate win.
“He’s got to play,” Cronin said. “I’m kind of a one-goalie coach. I rode Brad [Thiessen] for three years and obviously Chris [Rawlings] last year. I thought that Clay has to get some games, and he did a great job.”

The win over Lowell came one night after the Huskies rallied against Massachusetts from a two-goal deficit in the second period to win 5-3.

Trailing the Minutemen 3-1 with 13 minutes to play in the second stanza, the Huskies scored three times in 38 seconds. Freshman forward Anthony Bitetto assisted both goals by Reid and MacLeod, and Quailer added an unassisted goal to conclude the offensive surge for a 4-3 lead. Bitetto had four assists over the weekend and has nine on the season – tied for the team lead with MacLeod.

In the third period, freshman forward Rob Dongara added an empty-netter to seal the win.

Northeastern will take on Vermont Friday in a critical Hockey East matchup at Matthews. The puck drops at 7 p.m.

“This is one of the most fun places to play in college hockey,” Witt said. “It’s always nice having the support
of the fans here.”