By Eoghan Kelly, News Staff
The men’s hockey team overcame a sluggish start in a rare Sunday night game to beat the University of Alabama-Huntsville for the second consecutive night, 3-1.
With the win, the Huskies improve to 4-4-1 overall but remain 2-4-1 in Hockey East play.
“Any time you get a win, you’re happy with the win,” head coach Jim Madigan said after the game. “I don’t think we executed very well at times and it was sloppy, but…we’re gonna work from this and the guys know that we’ve got some work to do on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday as we get ready to get back into Hockey East.”
Northeastern came out slow in the first period, struggling to control the puck through the neutral zone and create sustained offensive pressure. They managed only nine shots on freshman goalie Gregg Gruehl, who was appearing in only his fourth career game.
As a result, Northeastern fell behind 7:01 into the game when UAH (0-9-1) sophomore forward Kyle Lysaght picked up a rebound near the top of the right circle and fired a turnaround shot past senior goaltender Chris Rawlings for his second goal of the year and a 1-0 lead.
The Huskies took the game back in the second period.
After creating a number of offensive chances early in the middle frame, Northeastern equalized when senior forward Vinny Saponari deflected a shot from freshman defenseman Dustin Darou over the glove of UAH freshman goalie Gregg Gruehl at 7:16. The goal was Saponari’s second of the season and extended his point streak to four consecutive games.
“I think I’ve just been trying to get to the net harder and trying to clean out loose pucks around the net, get a little grittier in front of the net,” Saponari said. “A lot of the times when you’re not scoring, your team’s not scoring, we just gotta be harder around the net and find those bounces that happen to go in.”
Saponari played a role in Northeastern’s second goal, too, drawing an interference call on junior defenseman Lasse Uusivirta with 5:42 remaining in the period. It took the Huskies only 11 seconds to capitalize on the man-advantage and take a 2-1 lead when sophomore forward Ludwig Karlsson took a feed in the corner from freshman forward Kevin Roy and tucked a shot under the crossbar.
The goal was Karlsson’s third of the weekend and fourth of the season, and Roy’s assist was his team-leading ninth point and extended his point streak to four games.
The Chargers thought they went down by two late in the second period when sophomore defenseman Dan Cornell appeared to beat Gruehl following an odd-man rush. But the goal was waved off when video review showed that senior center Garrett Vermeersch inadvertently bumped Gruehl in the crease.
Northeastern controlled the tempo of the third period but continued to struggle to finish offensive chances and put pucks on net. The lone goal of the frame came when senior forward Robbie Vrolyk put home an empty-netter with 27 seconds remaining, his second empty-net goal of the season.
The Huskies finished with a 34-25 shot advantage, and senior goaltender Chris Rawlings made 24 saves. Gruehl finished with 31 saves.
Northeastern is back in action next weekend with a pair of Hockey East road games. The Huskies will be at Providence College on Friday night and the University of Vermont on Sunday afternoon.
