By Gordon Weigers, news correspondent
Junior forward Kevin Roy helped Northeastern continue its winning ways by scoring four goals and three assists in two games against the University of Connecticut (UConn) this weekend. NU breezed past UConn in back-to-back blowouts, winning 9-0 and 6-1.
The Huskies entered the weekend on a four-game winning streak and looked to keep climbing the Hockey East standings against UConn. Redshirt senior goalie Clay Witt got the start in goal for NU, his third in a row.
The scoring started early on Friday night at Matthews Arena for the Huskies. Sophomore forward Mike Szmatula made a play in the corner and found junior defenseman Colton Saucerman at the right point. Saucerman fired the puck on net, and sophomore forward Zach Aston-Reese deflected it past sophomore goalie Rob Nichols. Aston-Reese found the back of the net less than eight minutes later, deflecting a shot by sophomore forward John Stevens behind Nichols. The tally by Aston-Reese came on the power play and gave NU the 2-0 lead.
Only two minutes later, the Huskies added to their lead as sophomore forward Brendan Collier set up freshman defenseman Garret Cockerill for a one-timer that found the bottom corner of the net. Leading 3-0 with less than four minutes left in the first period, NU went to the power play again. Sophomore defenseman Matt Benning sent a pass to Roy, who ripped it by Nichols from the faceoff circle. While killing off a penalty late in the period, redshirt senior forward Torin Snydeman stole the puck deep in UConn’s zone and found Szmatula in front for an easy tally. The two teams went to the locker room with NU up 5-0.
It was much of the same for the Huskies in the second period. Halfway through the second, Aston-Reese flew through the neutral zone and sent a pass to Szmatula, who entered the UConn zone. Szmatula found Saucerman, who put the the puck on the net, trailing on the play. Aston-Reese tipped Saucerman’s shot through the legs of Nichols to complete his first hat trick as a Husky. Aston-Reese has now scored nine goals this season, surpassing his total of eight goals last season.
“My practice habits have changed,” Aston-Reese said. “I’ve been working on bearing down in front of the net.”
In the last minute of the second period, sophomore forward Dalen Hedges fired a pass to Roy in front, who tipped home his second goal of the game.
Five minutes into the third period, junior forward Mike McMurtry sent the puck in front to Hedges, who slid it to a wide-open Roy. Roy slammed the puck home for the hat trick, his first since Oct. 11 of last season. Roy was not done there, as he buried a pass from Benning to make the score 9-0 with under nine minutes remaining.
“We know we can beat any team any night,” Roy said.
Roy’s four goals bring him to 16 this season, the most of any Husky.
NU and UConn had a quick turn around after the game and prepared for a 3:35 p.m. puck drop on Saturday. This time, it was redshirt sophomore Derick Roy between the pipes for the Huskies.
It took NU a little over 10 minutes to get the scoring started. Hedges found freshman defenseman Trevor Owens, who ripped a shot past Nichols to put the Huskies on top 1-0.
Early in the second period, Snydeman got on the board with assists from Aston-Reese and Benning. UConn cut NU’s lead to 2-1 before Hedges found the back of the net with help from McMurtry and Kevin Roy. Later in the period, senior forward captain Adam Reid got on the board with his third goal of the season.
In the first four minutes of the third period, Reid scored again to make it 5-1 NU. Snydeman added one final tally to make the score 6-1.
The Huskies will travel to Maine next weekend in an attempt to continue their six-game winning streak against the University of Maine. NU currently sits in fifth place in Hockey East.
Photo by Arzu Martinez
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