By Gordon Weigers, news correspondent
Northeastern’s men’s hockey team pulled off two dramatic wins on home ice against the University of Notre Dame this weekend. The Huskies picked up four points in the standings as they defeated the Fighting Irish 3-2 on Friday, Jan. 23 and 4-2 on Saturday, Jan. 24.
Redshirt sophomore goalie Derick Roy got his third straight start in goal on Friday. Roy and his team looked to build off of two strong games last weekend and continue their ascent in the Hockey East standings.
After a scoreless first period, junior forward Kevin Roy got Northeastern on the board. Junior defenseman Dustin Darou sent a perfect pass to Roy in the slot where he fired a wrist shot past Notre Dame freshman goalie Cal Peterson. Derick Roy made a spectacular sliding pad save on Notre Dame senior forward Austin Wuthrich just after the midway point of period two.
Only 30 seconds later, Roy made another brilliant pad save on sophomore forward Vince Hinostroza to keep the Fighting Irish off the scoreboard.
With under seven minutes to play in the second period, Peterson made a save on junior defenseman Colton Saucerman’s shot from the side of the net. The rebound popped out to Kevin Roy, but again Peterson shut the door. Junior forward Mike McMurtry also made an attempt, but was denied. Finally, sophomore forward Dalen Hedges found the loose puck and slipped it behind his back and under Peterson to double Northeastern’s lead to 2-0.
Notre Dame began to battle back in the third period. Junior forward and leading goal-scorer for Notre Dame Mario Lucia fired a slap-shot by Derick Roy to cut the lead to 2-1. Ten minutes later, Notre Dame junior forward Sam Herr buried a wrist shot from the high slot, evening the score at 2-2.
In the final two minutes of play, Kevin Roy flew through the neutral zone and dropped a pass to McMurtry. McMurtry feathered a perfect pass to Hedges who ripped home his second goal of the game.
The goal by Hedges would stand as the game-winner as Northeastern shut down Notre Dame’s final minute surge.
“We had a lot of belief on the bench,” Hedges said. “We knew Derick would shut the door for us.”
Head Coach Jim Madigan was happy with the victory, but knew his team had to look forward to Saturday night’s matchup.
“We know [Notre Dame] is going to be a lot hungrier tomorrow night,” Madigan said after Friday’s win.
Notre Dame was certainly hungry on snowy Saturday night. This time, the Fighting Irish came out flying in the first period. On a power play halfway through the first period, junior forward Thomas DiPauli stole the puck from Darou and fired it over the shoulder of redshirt senior goalie Clay Witt.
Notre Dame’s lead evaporated late in the first period as McMurtry wheeled a pass to Hedges who snapped home his third goal of the weekend. Neither team would score in the second period and headed into the third tied at 1-1.
Only two minutes into the period, sophomore forward Zach Aston-Reese soared through the neutral zone and picked up a loose puck. Aston-Reese raced to the net and snapped a shot into the top corner behind Peterson to give the Huskies the 2-1 lead. A mere ten seconds after his first goal, Aston-Reese slipped a backhand shot past Peterson to cushion the lead at 3-1. Aston-Reese’s fourth and fifth goals of the season gave the Huskies momentum for the rest of the game.
Notre Dame would come to within one goal with a power play marker by freshman forward Anders Bjork. With just under three minutes to play, sophomore forward Mike Szmatula hit the puck into the corner of the goal from down low to increase the lead to 4-2. The score held as the Huskies completed the sweep of Notre Dame.
After the game, Aston-Reese was all smiles.
“We just kept it simple,” Aston-Reese said. “After a rough start, we are finally turning it around and we’ve got some confidence in the locker room.”
Northeastern is gearing up for a Beanpot showdown with rival Boston College on Monday, Feb. 2 at the TD Garden.
Photo by Brian Bae
