By Eoghan Kelly, News Staff
When the Northeastern and University of Vermont men’s hockey teams faced off at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Sunday night, something had to give.
Both sides suffered 6-2 losses to Providence College and then-No. 11 Boston University, respectively, on Friday night. Both were stuck in a slump and nearing the bottoms of the Hockey East standings. And both were looking to get back on the winning track after less-than-desirable starts to the season.
Something gave, and the Huskies came out on the short end.
Northeastern got off to another slow start and never recovered, falling 3-2 to the Catamounts and slipping into a three-way tie for seventh place in the conference with five points.
The Huskies are now 4-6-1 overall and 0-6-1 in their last seven Hockey East games.
Senior goaltender Bryan Mountain made 22 saves in his second start and third appearance of the season, while UVM freshman goalie Brody Hoffman stopped 33 shots – 16 of which came in the third period – for his second career win.
Both team’s leading scorers were on display Sunday as Vermont junior forward Chris McCarthy and Northeastern freshman winger Kevin Roy each scored two goals. McCarthy now has four goals on the season and seven points, while Roy has tallied five goals and 11 points.
Senior forward Vinny Saponari and junior forward Cody Ferriero each had assists in the game, pushing their point streaks to six and four games, respectively. Junior forward Braden Pimm also registered two assists.
For the second consecutive game, Northeastern faced an uphill battle after allowing an early goal.
The Huskies gave up a power play 8:32 into the game, one of five man-advantage opportunities surrendered in the game, and the Catamounts (2-4-2, 2-4-2 HEA) made them pay just 46 seconds later. McCarthy found the back of the net after he blocked a Northeastern clearing attempt and beat Mountain to the near post.
UVM extended its lead to two with less than six minutes remaining in the second period when sophomore forward Jacob Fallon won a faceoff and McCarthy ripped the rebound of his own shot over the glove of Mountain.
Northeastern clawed back to within one when Roy stuffed home the rebound of a Pimm shot with 4:40 remaining in regulation.
But a bad turnover along the offensive blue line less than 90 seconds later led to a breakaway for graduate forward Brett Bruneteau’s eventual game-winner.
Roy whistled a shot over the shoulder of Hoffman to make it 3-2 with 14 seconds remaining, but it was too little too late.
The Huskies went 0-5 on the power play on Sunday, the first time in six games they failed to score on the man-advantage.
Providence romped Northeastern, 6-2, in front of 2,127 fans at Schneider Arena on Friday night, after being held scoreless in their previous two games.
Friar junior forward Derek Army had a hat trick – the first in the conference this year – while freshmen forwards Mark Jankowski and Paul de Jersey combined for five assists.
Junior Clay Witt replaced senior Chris Rawlings early in the second period after Rawlings allowed three goals on 13 shots in only 22:51 of game time. The Friars added three more on Witt before the Huskies responded with a pair of consolation goals late in the third period.
Two power play goals, one each from Ferreiro and Saponari, capped the Huskies’ offensive effort.
Northeastern will look to break out of its slump Friday when it hosts St. Lawrence University for its third non-conference game of the season. Its next Hockey East game is Nov. 30 at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
