By Gordon Weigers, news staff
The Huskies received frustrating news on Sunday when they learned that Monday night’s Beanpot final against Boston University would be postponed for two weeks due to the season’s third major snowstorm. The Beanpot finals will now take place on Monday, Feb. 23.
The Northeastern men’s hockey team skated to a 5-3 win at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst on Friday night.
On Thursday, Hockey East honored redshirt sophomore goalie Derick Roy with the Stop It Goaltender of the Month award for his performance in January. Roy finished the month with a record of 4-0-1, which led the division. He picked up a 4-2 win vs. St. Lawrence University, a 3-2 win vs. Yale University, a 4-1 win and 2-2 tie at the University of Vermont and a 3-2 win vs. the University of Notre Dame.
Redshirt senior goalie Clay Witt started for the second straight game, coming off of a 3-2 Beanpot semifinal win against Boston College. Senior goalie Steve Mastalerz was between the pipes for UMass.
The game got off to a slow start for Northeastern. UMass took a 1-0 lead in the first period, putting the Huskies in an early hole. Freshman forward Riley McDougall scored the goal for the Minutemen just past the midway point of the first period. Junior forward Dustin Darou was called for roughing late in the first and the Huskies had to start the second period on the penalty kill. The penalty kill unit was unable to stifle the UMass attack as freshman forward Dennis Kravchenko rifled a shot past Witt and increased the lead to 2-0 only 18 seconds into the second period.
With under nine minutes to play in the second, senior defenseman Oleg Yevenko went to the penalty box for holding. As the power play was winding down, junior defenseman Colton Saucerman got the Huskies on the board, bringing the score to 2-1. Sophomore forward Mike Szmatula and sophomore forward Zach Aston-Reese picked up the assists on Saucerman’s sixth goal of the season, all six coming on the power play. Less than a minute later, freshman forward Nolan Stevens set up his brother, sophomore forward John Stevens, on a two-on-one to tie the game at 2-2. It was the second time in two games that John Stevens has been able to find the back of the net. UMass regained its lead as freshman forward Patrick Lee beat Witt in the final minute of period two.
Northeastern went to the locker room trailing 3-2, needing a strong turnaround in the third period.
“We challenged our guys in the [locker]room to make this our best period of the year,” Head Coach Jim Madigan said about the team’s focus heading into the third period.
It took the Huskies less than seven minutes to get past Mastalerz in the third. Szmatula worked the puck to Aston-Reese who buried his sixth goal of the season. Less than three minutes later, the Huskies struck again. Junior forward Kevin Roy ripped a shot on net that was steered aside by Mastalerz, but freshman defenseman Trevor Owens was there to bury the rebound. Owens’ second goal of the season put the Huskies in the lead for the first time of the night. Roy added an insurance goal in the final minute of play, increasing the lead to 5-3.
“I liked the way we battled back and showed resiliency as a team,” Madigan said.
The Huskies face the University of Connecticut (UConn) at home on Friday and at UConn on Saturday.
Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics
