By Sarah Moomaw, News Staff
The men’s hockey team earned its third consecutive win at the University of Michigan on Friday night at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich., with a 4-1 non-conference victory.
Wins over Providence College and the University of Vermont the weekend before boosted the Huskies into a three-way fifth place tie with Providence and the University of Massachusetts-Lowell in Hockey East, bring their record up 3-7-2 in conference (4-7-2 overall, after the win at Michigan).
“The team has played very well, has played much better the last three games,” head coach Jim Madigan said. “We’ve had effort and a good strong compete level … we’ve played with a lot more intelligence, a lot more purpose to our game and focus. So when you combine those elements, it results in wins.”
Sophomore forward Cody Ferriero’s pair of goals would have been enough to list the Huskies over the Wolverines, but junior forward Steve Quailer and sophomore forward Braden Pimm both got pucks to the back of the net.
Michigan, ranked No. 11 in the USCHO poll, got on the board early with a goal by Travis Lynch at 7:58 in the first.
The period ended with shots on goal even by both lines at nine a piece. Even though Northeastern picked up the win, they were outshot, 34 to 22.
Quailer opened the second period with his third goal in as many games on a power play at 5:04. Michigan’s David Wohlberg took a seat for hooking at 3:33.
Ferriero’s first goal broke the 1-1 tie with 12 seconds left in play in the second period, giving the Huskies the lead, 2-1. He picked up where he left off in the third, sinking his fourth goal of the season at 4:39 in the third, assisted by Pimm and Quailer for the second time.
“Our team is playing well lately and morale is up,” Ferriero said in post-game comments. “Overall we are feeling pretty good. I think everyone is skating well. And like I said, I can’t say enough about [Pimm and Quailer]. They have been finding me all over the ice.”
Pimm got a shot past Wolverine goalie Shawn Hunwick with just over two minutes left in play in regulation to give the Huskies a three goal lead, for the final score of 4-1.
Northeastern killed all three Wolverine power plays and avoided giving up a five-minute major and game misconduct, which had become a common Husky trait.
“With each of those five-minute majors comes a 10 minute game misconduct, so there’s 60 additional minutes [this season] on top of our penalty total, but our numbers of penalties haven’t been high since the first couple of weeks,” Madigan said after practice Monday. “We are trying to eliminate the five-minute majors from our game.”
Playing at home Saturday (Nov. 19) for Homecoming against the University of Vermont, the Huskies took home their second victory of their current three-game streak with a 4-1 win.
The three-game streak is the first since the 2009-10 season, when they pieced together five wins in February.
“What do they say? ‘Two games is luck and three game is a streak?’ So, I guess you could say we have a streak going now. It’s a lot of fun being around the guys when we’re winning. So I guess you could say we’re having fun,” junior forward Alex Tuckerman said.
Freshman forward Ludwig Karlsson got the Huskies on the board in the first minute and half of play, which gave the Huskies a lead until Vermont forward Matt White snuck a shot past junior goalie Chris Rawlings on the power play at 15:10 in the first. Ferriero had taken a seat a minute and half earlier for slashing.
The first period ended with roughly three minutes left on a five-minute major and 10-minute game misconduct to freshman forward Joseph Manno for contact to the head at 17:41.
The Huskies’ kill unit held off the Catamounts for the entire five-minute penalty.
Karlsson netted his second goal with help from the same line in the first as junior forwards Vinny Saponari and Garrett Vermeersch picked up assists, giving the Huskies a one goal lead. Quailer added to the lead making it 3-1 with 30 seconds left in the second period.
The Huskies fourth goal of the night came off the stick of Tuckerman at 13:54 in the third. It was Tuckerman’s first goal since Jan. 3, 2010 after he missed last season after undergoing surgery.
The weekend sweep started with the Huskies handing Providence College their first league loss at home with Northeastern’s first road win, 5-2.
Five different players scored to secure the win – Quailer, Ferriero, Karlsson, sophomore forward Zak Stone and junior defenseman Drew Ellement, with assists from six teammates.
Rawlings stopped a penalty shot after Quailer interfered with Tim Schaller in front of the net. The shot at 8:47 in the second had the chance to the tie the game at two a piece but didn’t.
Northeastern’s forwards constantly pressured Providence, scoring twice against Providence goalies Alex Beaudry and Justin Gates, with the fifth goal on an empty net.
This week, the Huskies head to South Bend, Ind. to face USCHO No. 2 Notre Dame for two games at Compton Family Ice Arena, where the Fightin’ Irish are 4-0 on the season (10-3-3 overall).
“Every weekend presents an opportunity and challenge,” Madigan said. “The opportunity for us is to go out and play a nationally ranked team and the challenge is trying to beat that team. Where we are now, playing well and coming off three games, I think we all feel good about ourselves.”
Notre Dame is set to join Hockey East for the 2013-14 season.
“To have Notre Dame in Hockey East is tremendous,” Madigan said. “To have them in any conference is great opportunity because of the quality institution they have, [and] obviously, [a] top notch athletics program. So, to be able to bring in a nationally ranked team into Hockey East I think is fabulous and will create some great competition for us and the other schools in Hockey East.”
