By Jill Saftel, News Staff
A snow storm, a Tuesday night road game, some melted ice and a game delay might not seem like factors that would help a team pull out a much needed win. But when the men’s hockey team traveled to the University of Massachusetts for a rescheduled match stemming from winter storm Nemo and waited through a 30-minute delay, the Huskies left Amherst with two crucial Hockey East points and a 5-4 overtime victory.
“It’s a win we needed to get back in the playoff hunt,” head coach Jim Madigan said after the win. “I loved the way our guys competed and battled for 60 minutes … we found a way to win. At this point in the season you need wins and that was a huge one for our hockey club.”
After being held to one goal in each of their last two games, the Huskies were looking for some offense – and that’s exactly what they got. Senior assistant captain Robbie Vrolyk, who has scored eight goals in eight games played against UMass, scored twice in the contest.
He also had an assist on Northeastern’s first goal of the game to tie the Minutemen at 1-1, scored by sophomore Adam Reid when he hammered home a Mike McMurtry shot rebounded by UMass goaltender Steve Mastalerz.
“Everybody’s stepping up and talking, being positive,” Vrolyk said. “It’s creating a good atmosphere.”
After Reid got the equalizer, UMass pulled ahead with a 3-1 lead just over two minutes into the second period. Vrolyk scored his first of the night at 10:24 in that period, beginning to close the gap, and junior forward Cody Ferriero made it a tied game again with one of his own at 16:28.
But the Minutemen didn’t let the Huskies get out of the middle frame on even ground, and junior forward Michael Pereira beat senior goaltender Chris Rawlings two minutes and 25 seconds after Ferriero’s goal to give UMass the 4-3 lead heading into the third.
When the Huskies returned to the ice for the final 20 minutes of regulation play, something looked different. Rather than 6’5” Rawlings in net, it was 5’7” senior Bryan Mountain who got the chance to close out the game.
“I thought it could give us a little life and energy,” Madigan said of his decision to switch goaltenders. “Bryan is a more aggressive type of goaltender and they [UMass] go to the net pretty hard … with that I just thought Bryan was maybe a little more aggressive in his crease and out a little bit more, and he could handle that a little bit better.”
And while Mountain picked up his first win of the season, it wasn’t the only first for the Huskies that night. After Vrolyk’s second goal of the night locked the teams at 4-4 by the end of regulation the tenth-place Huskies and eighth-place Minutemen were headed for overtime, both looking to scrounge up conference points to lock down a place in the postseason.
As the final minute of OT began to tick off the clock, sophomore defenseman Josh Manson had a shot on net and took the chance. It paid off, not only with the NU victory but with Manson’s first collegiate goal.
“Overtime wins are obviously a lot more dramatic than regular wins, but hopefully we can just build off that and take the momentum that we created tonight,” Manson said.
With injuries plaguing the Huskies, including veteran defenseman senior Drew Ellement, Manson has clocked some serious ice time as of late.
“He battles, he competes, he’s a warrior,” Madigan said of Manson. “He’s really had a great second half. He’s banged up there a lot, and he just goes out and plays. There have been a lot of leadership qualities that have come out of him in the last few weeks.”
Unfortunately for the Huskies, they found their offense only after being swept at home by the University of Vermont in 2-1 and 3-1 losses, putting the eighth place in Hockey East and final playoff spot further out of reach.
With Tuesday’s win, Northeastern is now one point behind ninth-place University of Maine and two points behind UMass. Every game is a must-win for the Huskies with just six match-ups left. They’ll head to Providence College on Friday night in the first of a home-and-home weekend with the Friars, who sit tied for fourth with Boston University in the conference standings.
As for the Tuesday-night win, Madigan said it was just what his team needed.
“It’s a great momentum boost, that’s what we need,” he said. “More than anything, it’s about the guys; their attitude, their mindset, the mentality they went into the game with, the way the believed in each other, trusted each other. And it was really visible from the bench all game long.”
