By Sarah Moomaw, News Staff
The men’s hockey team has won five straight games after sweeping the then No. 2 team in the nation, the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. The two-game weekend road series improves the Huskies record to 6-7-2 on the season (3-7-2 Hockey East Conference).
Northeastern picked up its first points in the USCHO national poll this season, good for the 26 spot, after the weekend sweep. The two-game series included a 9-2 win Friday night and a 2-1 on Saturday.
“Obviously, it was a great weekend for us coming to Notre Dame,” head coach Jim Madigan said.
The nine goals Friday were the most by a Northeastern squad since the 2002-03 season when the Huskies took a 10-1 win from the University of Connecticut.
“It’s one night. It’ll be a much different night, [Saturday] night,” Madigan said. “They are great hockey club and we got some breaks early on. Overall, pleased with the victory. With a team as good as they are, we caught them on a good night for us and rough night for them.”
Seven different goal scorers connected Friday night in the upset, which dropped the Fighting Irish to No. 7 in the Dec. 5 poll, and handed them their first loss in their new home, Compton Family Ice Arena. They entered Friday night’s game 5-0 since it opened Oct. 21.
The first period started with a spark, as sophomore forward Braden Pimm got a puck past Notre Dame’s goalie Mike Johnson after just 30 seconds had elapsed. Two more were tallied on by freshman foward Adam Reid and freshman defender Dan Cornell before the five-minute mark for an early 3-0 lead.
“We’ve talked about since we started playing well, trying to have a good first five minutes, good starts to our games,” Madigan said. “If you look back, we’ve had some good starts … the guys have responded.”
After the third goal of the period, the Fighting Irish pulled Johnson for goalie Steven Summerhays.
Summerhays couldn’t keep the deficit to three for the remainder of the first period as Cody Ferriero connected for his fifth goal of the season off a pass from freshman forward Ludwig Karlsson with 36 seconds left in the first.
By the first intermission, Northeastern was leading 4-0.
The second period opened much like the first, with a pair of goals by junior forward Garrett Vermeersch, the first coming just 47 seconds into play. His second goal came roughly 10 minutes later, giving the Huskies a comfortable 6-0 lead.
“I started off pretty slowly this year,” Vermeersch said.” So it’s nice to finally get on the score board … its to help out and chip in for the team.”
At 18:01, junior defenseman Drew Ellement got a two-minute penalty for holding, putting the Fighting Irish on the power play for the fourth time. T.J. Tynan found his way through Northeastern’s penalty kill team with a shot past junior goalie Chris Rawlings to reduce the deficit to five.
“The toughest thing is when you’re up and hold a four, five goal lead, is keep your players focused,” said Madigan. “At times I thought we got out of our game plan a little bit and tried to do too much.”
Northeastern’s linesmen took the ice with a vengeance in the third period with a goal in the first minute.
Pimm notched his second goal of the game and fifth of the season, after just 13 seconds of play, putting the Huskies up 7-1.
Notre Dame picked up a second tally with a goal from Nick Larson 11 minutes later, but junior forward Justin Daniels scored against the Fighting Irish’s third goalie of the night, Joe Rogers, at 14:24 in the third to counter it, making it 8-2.
Before the clock expired the Huskies struck one more time when a goal by Drew Ellement scored with 1:41 left to play, for the final 9-2.
Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Fighting Irish returned to the nail-biting drama that Husky fans are used to.
“[Friday] night’s win doesn’t happen very often, but tonight was a real good win,” said Madigan. “You know, a 2-1 game in their building, we had to battle back after being down by a goal. These are the types of games we are going to see the rest of the year in Hockey East.”
Pimm picked up where he left off with his sixth goal of the season at 13:02 in the second period, responding to Notre Dame’s early goal by Riley Sheahan.
The first period ended scoreless, but Northeastern’s target practice continued from the night prior as they put up 10 shots, all saved by Johnson, to Notre Dame’s seven.
Junior forward Steve Quailer broke the 1-1 tie with a power play goal at 3:05 in the third, setting the Huskies up for their fifth straight win.
“[We] talked about, ‘Hey, you’re going to be the difference guys,’ and lo and behold, the words came to truth. They were the difference,” said Madigan about the power play line.
Only up by 1, Rawlings came up strong with nine saves in the third to prevent, past weeks’ usual third period loss. In the last five games, Rawlings has only allowed seven goals. The Huskies have now outscored their opponents on the current win streak 24-7.
“I am seeing the puck pretty well, for me at least it’s about being prepared. I’m in my own little world out there,” said Rawlings, whose .937 save percentage ranks 10th in the country.
On Saturday, the Huskies return to conference play and Matthews Arena to take on University of Massachusetts-Lowell at 7 p.m.
“As great as these wins were, they don’t count to our Hockey East standings,” Madigan said. “The game of the year for us is next Saturday against [UMass] Lowell, who was just swept. We know they are a good hockey club … we’ve got to come out with the same intensity and effort.”
