By Sarah Moomaw, News Staff

The men’s hockey team’s 3-1 victory over reigning national champions and United States College Hockey Online No. 1 Boston College tonight at Matthews Arena headlined Homecoming Weekend.

“I thought our kids really played well from the beginning of the game to the end of the game,” head coach Jim Madigan said. “[BC is] three, four year national champions, well coached, great players … It’s a nice victory, there’s no doubt.”

The Huskies picked up from where they left off after Wednesday’s home opener (a 4-2 win over Merrimack College) by notching the first goal. Freshman forward Ryan Belonger tipped in his first collegiate goal at 5:03 from the right circle off a setup from sophomore Joseph Manno.

Junior right wing Cody Ferriero fought through traffic in front of Eagles’ senior goalie Parker Milner to get the puck to freshman forward Kevin Roy’s stick. Roy redirected the shot past Milner to net his second goal of the season at 8:06 for a 2-0 lead.

The Eagles first goal of the season came from Steven Whitney eight seconds into their first power play of the game. Whitney found the lower left corner of the net to cut the lead in half, 2-1.

The second period opened with a 4-on-4 as Roy and BC’s junior center Bill Arnold were serving leftover penalty minutes, but by the second buzzer the score hadn’t changed. Northeastern put up 12 shots on goal to BC’s eight, nudging them ahead in the overall 19-17.

Newcomer Colton Saucerman took center stage at 3:42 in the third period when he unleashed an unassisted slapshot from the blue line past Milner.

The win pushes Northeastern to 2-0 on the season (2-0 Hockey East). The Huskies and Eagles will rematch on Saturday at BC’s Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill at 7 p.m.

Check back Thursday for a full game story.