By Jill Saftel, News Staff
With two crucial Hockey East points on the line, neither Northeastern nor University of Maine would leave Matthews without at least one point and skated to a 1-1 draw at Matthews Arena. In a chippy matchup, both the Huskies and Black Bears drew several penalties for their gritty play.
“That was a hard fought game by both teams and for us, I like the way we responded from our game last weekend,” head coach Jim Madigan said. “In this league, it’s tough to get points in league games. For sure, at home you want to come up with two points every night but we’ll take the point tonight and then build on it as we get ready for our two opponents next weekend.”
The first penalty didn’t come until 12:18 when sophomore defenseman Dax Lauwers was called for boarding on a hit that much of the Matthews crowd believed to be clean. Regardless, Maine was unable to capitalize on the power play opportunity.
Halfway through the first period, Northeastern had registered four shots but they were all either wide, blocked or misdirected. It looked like freshman forward Kevin Roy would put the Huskies up when he took control of the puck on a giveaway and snuck behind the Maine defense with a clear shot on Maine’s goaltender Martin Ouellette, but he wasn’t fast enough and the Maine goaltender got a good look before easily stopping Roy’s shot.
Roy wouldn’t let Ouellette stone him again in the first, as he knocked one in at 16:06 to put the Huskies up 1-0. It was Roy’s ninth goal of the season.
With just a few seconds left in the first, senior forward Joey Diamond took a shot on Chris Rawlings, who deflected the puck to his right, but not far enough, and it settled just in front of the crease. Rawlings’ scrambled to clear it, but one of his defenseman was able to get to the puck just as the horn sounded to avoid a tying goal from Maine.
Early on, Northeastern was able to infiltrate Maine’s defense, getting chances close to the net. The Huskies had 14 shots from below the faceoff dots in the first period, while holding Maine to most of their shots from behind the circles.
The second period was a different story, and it started with a shot by Diamond getting past Rawlings but being called off due to a seemingly random whistle. But the Black Bears wouldn’t stay unlucky, as freshman forward Bill Norman notched his first of the year to tie it up with an assist from senior forward Adam Shemansky.
Despite a few opportunities from the Huskies including some hustle from senior forward Steve Morra to get to the puck with a legitimate chance in front of Oullette, Maine controlled offensive play during the middle twenty. The Black Bears took 38 shots to Northeastern’s 18 in the second, with 17 shots on goal to Northeastern’s eight.
Maine succeeded at breaking down the Husky defense, taking seven of those shots from the slot in prime scoring position.
Even with two consecutive penalties from Diamond, the Huskies couldn’t capitalize and a Roy penalty for holding the stick canceled out the man advantage for Northeastern in the last minute of second period play.
Senior forward Garrett Vermeersch almost banged one in with under a minute left in the second, which was reviewed but the original no-goal call stood.
The teams stayed locked at 1-1 throughout the third period with power play chances on both ends, leading to five minutes of overtime play. The OT period’s best chance came when Maine’s Shemansky tried to stuff in a rebound off sophomore forward Stu Higgins’ shot, but Rawlings got on top of it for the save. Oullette and Rawlings were the stories of the game, each turning away 31 and 42 shots, respectively.
Neither team could find the net, ending with the 1-1 draw and each team walking away with one Hockey East point.
“We know what one point can do, it kept us out of a playoff spot last year, so points are valuable,” Madigan said. “We’ll take the one and move forward.”
The Huskies return to the ice at Agganis Arena next week to take on crosstown rivals Boston University on Jan. 18 before returning to Matthews Arena on Jan. 19 to face the Boston College Eagles.
