By Chris Judd, News Staff
Scoring less than two goals in a game for the first time this season, the Northeastern men’s hockey team lost to UNH 3-0 on Friday at Matthews Arena.
“I thought UNH just wanted it a lot more than us,” Northeastern coach Jim Madigan said Friday night. “They had better effort, they worked harder and they were better in all three zones. … I just didn’t like the way we competed. We were too soft on pucks, we weren’t gritty enough.”
UNH got the game’s first goal five minutes into the game off a failed clearing attempt by the Huskies. The puck bounced off a UNH skater, who passed it to the left side of the net. Kevin Goumas’ initial shot hit the side of the net. Nick Sorkin took the puck out and was able to put it in an empty net to give UNH a 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats were able to crash the net throughout the first period, but the Huskies defense held them to no more goals.
The Huskies had a chance to tie the game with 12:30 left in the first period when UNH goaltender Casey DeSmith coughed up a puck in front of the UNH net, but the Huskies could not score.
Senior forward Cody Ferriero cut across the defense with 4:30 left in the first period and fired a shot from the net, but DeSmith made the save.
The Northeastern offense struggled to get anything going in the second period with only seven shots on goal, and went on the power play two minutes into the period but didn’t register a shot on goal.
Northeastern had another power play opportunity five minutes into the second period. One minute in, UNH won a battle against the boards and passed the puck to Jeff Silenco who was all alone on the right side. He streaked down the ice and beat Witt in the upper right corner of the net to give UNH a 2-0 lead.
“It was a quick transition,” Silengo said Friday night. “We worked all week on trying to do quick transitioning so [Dan Correale and Justin Agosta] caught them a little out of position, and Dan made a great pass to me and I was all alone. I was able to get the shot high. … If we got a shorthanded goal scored against us, we would feel let down a little bit, so it was nice to get that for us. It gave us momentum.”
The Huskies surged with five minutes left in the second period, but could not turn it into a goal. The Huskies trailed UNH 2-0 at the end of the second period.
UNH outshot the Huskies in the final period 16-7. Kyle Smith scored the final goal for the Wildcats from the left red circle when he shot a puck past a defender and to the right of junior goaltender Clay Witt for a 3-0 lead.
The Huskies committed three penalties in the final six minutes of the game, but killed all of them, including a 5 on 3 that went on for over a minute and a half.
“It was a good game,” UNH coach Dick Umile said Friday night. “We came out from the start and played a solid 60 minute game. I was pleased with the way the team played in all zones.”
This was the first game in the season where the Huskies scored less than two goals.
“We have not had issues all year long with our forwards getting shots to the net,” Madigan said. “Tonight we just weren’t locating pucks, in scrums we weren’t battling hard enough and we weren’t heavy enough. We have to do a better job, it’s effort based.”
Saturday night brought more offensive struggles for the Huskies as they fell at UNH in a 4-1 decision. The single Northeastern goal was scored by sophomore forward Kevin Roy on a power play in the third period. Redshirt freshman Derick Roy made 28 saves for the Huskies in net.
Northeastern returns to action Friday at Merrimack College.
