By Jill Saftel, News Staff
Spread thin and missing freshman forward and 2013 Beanpot MVP Kevin Roy, the men’s hockey team fell to Providence College twice in a weekend home-and-home series. The Friars outscored the Huskies drastically in a 6-2 victory Friday at Scheinder Arena and just squeaked by with a 3-2 victory Saturday night at Matthews Arena, sweeping the season series.
“I’m disappointed that we lost 3-2 and that over the weekend we didn’t come up with any points, and in the playoff hunt you need points each and every game,” head coach Jim Madigan said following Saturday’s loss.
Friday night, PC controlled puck possession and the offensive swing from the get-go. Junior forward Derek Army kicked off the Friars’ scoring with a goal at 8:38 in the first. It looked like senior defenseman Alex Velischek would make it 2-0 in the same period, but his shot rang off the post by senior goaltender Bryan Mountain.
But Stefan Demopoulos did just that at 14:14 for the two-goal advantage, and he was just getting started offensively.
Northeastern started out the second with an early power play, looking to capitalize while down 2-0. They were unable to get a single shot off during the man advantage.
Sophomore defenseman Josh Manson put the Huskies on the board at 9:34 in the second period after an earlier failed attempt on a rush. The defenseman scored his first career goal Feb. 19 against University of Massachusetts-Amherst, giving him a two-game scoring streak.
Manson’s goal kicked off a scoring spree for both teams, in which four goals were scored in three minutes and 20 seconds.
The Friars answered Manson’s goal with one of their own from freshman forward Mark Jankowski at 11:22. Then freshman forward Ryan Belonger made it 3-2 with one of his own one minute and 17 seconds later.
But just as soon as Belonger’s goal was announced in Schneider Arena, junior defenseman Steven Shamanski increased the PC lead to 4-2, one they wouldn’t surrender for the remainder of the game.
The Friars ran away with it in the final period, as Demopoulos scored his second of the night and assistant captain and senior forward Tim Schaller nabbed PC’s sixth goal. The 6-2 loss wascut for the Huskies was identical to their last game against the Friars on Nov. 16, in which PC took two Hockey East points with the same score.
Saturday, the Huskies gave up their first shorthanded goal of the season when Shamanski scored midway through the third for a 3-1 lead after junior forward Cody Ferriero fell and collided with freshman defenseman Colton Saucerman, surrendering the puck.
Manson continued his scoring streak with one of his own to give the Huskies a chance to close the gap, but Northeastern couldn’t get anything past Friars’ freshman goaltender Jon Gillies and left the weekend without any conference points.
Already undermanned, the Huskies are now without Roy, who suffered an upper body injury Friday, and Saucerman, who was injured Saturday. Both are day-to-day as the Huskies look ahead to a road weekend at the University of Maine.
