By Jill Saftel, News Staff

Undermanned and overworked, the men’s hockey team will have a chance to recuperate and prepare for the 2013-14 season after two losses to Boston University ended its 2012-13 campaign.

The losses came Friday and Saturday in a home-and-home series with the Terriers, who were still in contention for the postseason, while the Huskies’ playoff hopes had been dashed the weekend prior against the University of Maine. Friday’s loss was a 4-2 final, while the Terriers shut out the Huskies 5-0 Saturday.

It was a far cry from how the season began, with October wins over Merrimack College and defending national champion Boston College.

“Obviously it’s the end to a tough season, and one that has a lot of disappointment from the way we started and what we envisioned for this season to be,” head coach Jim Madigan said.

The Huskies dressed seven forwards and 10 defensemen Saturday at Agganis Arena for the season’s final contest, and went down to five forwards at one point with players in the penalty box for extended periods of time.

Freshman defenseman Dustin Darou was handed a five-minute major for hitting from behind, a game misconduct and ejected just 3:35 into the game. Junior forward Braden Pimm was given a 10-minute misconduct in the second. Freshman forwards Kevin Roy and Mike McMurtry remained sidelined with injuries and the Huskies lost fellow freshman forward Ryan Belonger on Friday night against BU when he left mid-game.

The shallow Northeastern core of players was left to battle a Terrier team with a lot to lose in the weekend series as home ice in the Hockey East quarterfinals was on the line.

“It sounds like a broken record, but tonight, not unlike any of the last 10 games where we’ve been shorthanded and short staffed, I thought our kids competed hard and well and battled,” Madigan said.

That battle lasted right until the very end, when Madigan called a timeout in the third period. The head coach said he told his team to keep playing the way they were playing, to play as a team and not give up.

Five goals down, they didn’t give up, and fired shots at Terrier goaltender Sean Maguire until the time on the clock read zero. The final play of the game came from senior defenseman Drew Ellement, whose shot hit pipe.

“At the end of the season, you saw our season went when Drew Ellement hits a crossbar with 0.6 seconds left for his first goal of the year, and it would have been Vinny Saponari’s 100th point,” Madigan said. “Neither of those happened, but that’s how our year went.”

Senior goaltender Chris Rawlings made 27 saves in Saturday’s loss and 33 saves Friday. He finished the year with a .903 save percentage and 699 saves made in 26 games played with an 8-14-1 record. Despite that record, in his final year at Northeastern Rawlings passed Brad Thiessen’s school record of nine career shutouts with 11, two of those coming this season.

“Chris played well early and kept us in the game, I liked that we were only down 1-0 after two,” Madigan said of Rawlings’ play Saturday night. “He’s played as many games in Northeastern goaltending as anyone. He played, he competed every night and he was given the ball every night. This is a tough league for four straight years to keep playing back-to-backs and continue to compete, and he did. Our season was up and down, so for most of our players it was up and down, not just Chris Rawlings.”

Rawlings was one of five seniors to play his last game in a red and black Northeastern sweater Saturday night; Vinny Saponari, Drew Ellement, Robbie Vrolyk and Steve Morra also saw their ice time as Huskies come to an end.

For Saponari, the location was fitting. He began his college hockey career in Agganis Arena as a Terrier before being dismissed from the team and eventually landing at Northeastern where he led the team as a senior captain.

“I was fortunate enough to have Vin for his two years at Northeastern and he’s worked hard and is very professional in his approach,” Madigan said. “He’s a good player, he’s a smart player. He’s got a lot of pride in the game and I’m happy that he was with us for two years.

“I thanked all of them for their commitment and dedication and effort to Northeastern hockey,” Madigan said of all his seniors. “They made us a better program, it might not show in the wins and losses, but they sacrificed an awful lot for the program and I thank them and I’m pleased they were part of the program.”

But for now, it’s the offseason for the Huskies, who after a last place finish in the conference, have nowhere to go but up.

“We’ll get back at it, refocus for next year with a lot of work to do,” Madigan said.