By Jill Saftel, News Staff

In a critical weekend of conference play between two teams stuck at the bottom of the Hockey East standings, the men’s hockey team was unable to come away with a single point as the University of Vermont Catamounts swept Northeastern on the weekend, and in the three-game season series, with 2-1 and 3-1 victories.

“Disappointing weekend for us,” head coach Jim Madigan said. “We needed points out of this weekend, we were looking at trying to get three or four points and get back into the race … We just didn’t take care of business, plain and simple.”

Tonight’s game brought a first period of scoreless play in which the Huskies outshot the Catamounts 12-4, it didn’t take long for someone to capitalize in the second.

Northeastern struck first with a power play opportunity thanks to a penalty on Vermont’s sophomore forward Colin Markison at 4:40. Junior forward Braden Pimm sent a cross-ice pass to captain Vinny Saponari who in turn set up junior forward Cody Ferriero perfectly by the edge of the crease. Ferriero’s shot beat Vermont freshman goaltender Brody Hoffman to make it 1-0 Huskies. The goal, at 5:42, was Ferriero’s ninth of the year.

The 1-0 Husky lead wouldn’t hold for the rest of the middle frame as junior forward Chris McCarthy put Vermont on the scoreboard with a shot from the circle to beat senior Bryan Mountain in goal and lock the teams at 1-1.

The Catamounts had a power play chance of their own with freshman forward Kevin Roy off for tripping at 14:17 in the second, but Mountain kept Northeastern in it.

With two minutes to play in the second, senior forward Steve Morra saw a chance on Hoffman, but the goaltender easily saved the slapshot from the slot.

McCarthy struck again in the final period as each team fought for the lead. With an assist from junior defenseman Nick Bruneteau, McCarthy’s shot snuck between Mountain’s legs with 11:36 to play in regulation for the 2-1 advantage.

The loss was nearly a mirror image of Friday night’s matchup with the Catamounts, down to the 2-1 score and Northeastern’s early 1-0 jump, only to succumb to comeback from Vermont, unable to score any of their own.

Friday’s match began with much of the same rhythm as the teams took turns working the puck to each zone. A penalty on freshman forward Jonathan Turk led to the Huskies’ first power play chance, which resulted in Vermont junior forward Connor Brickley getting a breakaway on goaltender Chris Rawlings before the Huskies regained puck possession.

Northeastern would eventually capitalize on a power play, and at 6:56 in the first sophomore forward Adam Reid got the Huskies on the board. Ferriero passed the puck from the outside lane to center ice where Reid was waiting, and although Hoffman stopped his initial shot with his pad, Reid took the rebound and shot it just high enough to get past Hoffman’s leg for the 1-0 lead.

Unfortunately for the Huskies, it was their only goal of the night. Sophomore forward Jacob Fallon and senior forward Ben Albertson both netted shots past Rawlings for the 2-1 win.

“Regardless of what our lineup has, we need more out of a few of our forwards who aren’t giving it to us,” Madigan said.

Sitting last in the conference with 11 points and four points out of a playoff spot, the Huskies return to action midweek with a trip to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst on Tuesday, a game postponed due to winter storm Nemo.