Saturday’s 3-4 overtime loss was the Huskies’ biggest letdown of the five games played thus far, as they held a 3-1 lead into the third. BC’s senior forward Barry Almeida got a puck in the back of the net with 11:56 remaining in regulation, lessening the lead to one goal.

“When you lose a two goal lead in your own building, that’s not a good thing, whether it’s the number one team in the country or the 10th,” head coach Jim Madigan said. “It was a tough loss. It was obviously a game that we wanted and to rebound from [Friday] night’s performance, which obviously wasn’t up to our standards.”

Eagles junior defender Brian Dumoulin followed Almeida’s lead three minutes later by placing a the tying goal across the red line. The third period ended in a 3-3 tie forcing a 5-minute sudden death overtime.

Just as the Huskies and fans thought they had almost knocked off a tie with the No. 2 ranked team in the country, BC’s sophomore center Bill Arnold netted the game ending goal with a minute left on the clock.

“The atmosphere was outstanding here. The student body makes the building electric. It’s just a great setting for Hockey East,” BC head coach Jerry York said. “I thought the game reflected really well on our team, down 3-1, just grinded it out, found a way to win a hockey game that was slipping away from us.”

BC came off the bench charging and sophomore forward Kevin Hayes netted the first goal of the game at 1:55 in the first, taking an early lead.

Northeastern followed by capitalizing on a power play when junior left wing Steve Quailer successfully knocked the puck through a scrum in front of the net, tying the game, 1-1 at 4:50 in the first.

Husky freshman right wing Joseph Manno had a big night and scored his first two collegiate goals. The first broke the 1-1 tie with two minutes left in the opening period.
“I was trying to control my emotions, just happy to help the team and was hoping for a win more than anything,” Manno said. “Would have been nice to get the win, but it was still awesome.”

His second goal of the night was the lone score in the second period, putting the Huskies up 3-1.

On Monday, Hockey East announced that Manno’s first two collegiate goals won him the Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week award.

“He keeps it simple. He works really hard and it paid off for him. So hard work gets you goals,” Quailer said.

The award marks the second straight week that the Husky Hockey program has been recognized by Hockey East. Last week, junior goalie Rawlings was named Defensive Player of the Week after netting his ninth career shutout. Rawlings warded off 16 shots from BC during the second period Saturday. BC charged Rawlings with a total of 39 shots before the night was over.

“Chris is battling out there just like the rest of our guys,” Madigan said. “We can’t keep giving up 40-plus shots a game, so Chris is making some real good saves and keeping us in the game. We’ve got to do a better job of taking away shooting lanes and moving pucks, so there isn’t a second or third shot off the initial shot.”

Freshman forward Ludwig Karlsson also had a big weekend as he picked up assists on both of Manno’s goals. On Friday at Merrimack, he netted his first collegiate goal, which was the Huskies only score of the night in the 4-1s loss.

The third period goal at 7:04 made the score 3-1 but wasn’t enough to get the Huskies going as No. 13 Merrimack answered on an empty net with 6 seconds left on the clock to regain a three goal lead. The win marked Merrimack’s third of their undefeated season.
This weekend the Huskies combined for 13 visits to the penalty box with seven against BC and six at Merrimack. Headed into the back-to-back games, sophomore defenders Luke Eibler and Anthony Bitetto were tied for the team penalty minutes.

After third period penalites for elbowing and game misconduct on Friday against Merrimack totaling 15 minutes, Eilber is now leading the Huskies with 23 penalty minutes.

“[The refs] said it was blindside and vulnerable position and blow to the head,” said Madigan in a post-game press conferences at Merrimack. “I’m going to trust that their eight eyes are better than my two.”

This week, the Huskies will be at the University of New Hampshire at 7 p.m. Saturday looking for their first road win.

“To be successful in this league, you have to win on the road,” Madigan said. “We’ve been talking about what it takes to win on the road, we’ll have a good week of practice and the guys will be focused on UNH.”

UNH made a visit to Matthews Arena Oct. 14 when the Huskies shut out the Wildcats 4-0.