By Bailey Putnam, news correspondent
The Northeastern men’s hockey team fell behind 6-2 to the University of Vermont (UVM) in the Huskies’ season opener on Saturday night at Matthews Arena.
After a back-and-forth first period ended with Vermont ahead by one, the Catamounts took control in the second period with a string of four unanswered goals.
“I thought we played a real good first period, got our legs underneath us,”UVM Head Coach Kevin Sneddon said. “But in the second period, I think we kind of just elevated our game. Sometimes you get a little bit of puck luck, and I think that’s what happened tonight.”
The point sheet was highlighted by Vermont’s first line of forwards who collectively put up a total of eight points on the night, including a hat trick from junior forward Jonathan Turk.
“I think we’re a much better team than that, and we’re definitely going to learn from it,” Northeastern Assistant Coach Jerry Keefe said. “Looking back, hopefully this is one of the things that, at the end of the year, you say ‘hey, that might have been a good thing that happened to us.’”
Turk’s linemate and last season’s Hockey East Rookie of the Year Mario Puskarich added two assists and a goal of his own. Sophomore forward Puskarich put a rebound past redshirt senior goaltender Clay Witt midway through the game to kick off the Catamount’s second period domination. Shortly after, he set up Turk for an easy tap-in goal with a cross-crease pass during a UVM power play.
Vermont kept its foot on the gas for the remainder of the second period, outshooting the Huskies 19-9 and adding a goal from senior forward Jake Fallon along with Turk’s second of the night.
Northeastern’s Clay Witt, who posted 21 saves in two periods, was replaced by redshirt sophomore Derick Roy at the beginning of the third.
“We’ve certainly been on the other end of it against Clay,” Sneddon said. “He’s been sensational against us in the past. I think maybe we caught a little bit of luck tonight.”
Northeastern staged a brief comeback stint early in the third period when sophomore center Mike Szmatula poked in a centering pass from junior winger Kevin Roy for a goal. The Huskies continued to show some life when senior captain defenseman Dax Lauwers beat UVM’s junior goalie Brody Hoffman with a blocker-side shot for a goal just two minutes after Szmatula’s. The goals put the Huskies on the scoreboard, down 5-2.
However, Vermont’s Turk sealed the game by netting his third goal on a tip from the point with 3:18 left in the game.
Keefe expressed his frustration after the game.
“The most disappointing thing for me was that I thought we were soft out there tonight, and we’re not built that way,” Keefe said. “At the end of the day, hockey is a pretty simple game that comes down to one-on-one battles, and I think we lost an awful lot of them.”
Looking forward, the Huskies are working in preparation for a pair of games against out-of-conference opponent Colgate University this upcoming weekend.
“We’re going to go up and play a really good opponent with Colgate on Friday,” Keefe said. “So this is going to be an extremely important practice week for us, and I think our guys realize that.”
Photo by Kariman Abuljadayel
