By Gordon Weigers, news staff
In its final conference game of the calendar year, the Northeastern University (NU) men’s hockey team dropped a tough 5-3 game at Conte Forum against the Boston College Eagles.
The Huskies, who now hold a Hockey East record of 1-6-2, were without star sophomore Adam Gaudette, who was shaken after taking a jarring hit during last Tuesday’s loss to the Eagles at Matthews Arena. Senior Sam Kurker returned to the lineup after missing six games with an upper-body injury.
The Boston College campus has not been kind to the Huskies in recent years. Their last win at Conte Forum came on March 7, 2008, and they’ve been held without a win in their last 10 games at BC.
In Tuesday’s tilt, the Eagles scored less than two minutes into the game when sophomore J.D. Dudek ripped a shot over the shoulder of goalie Ryan Ruck. On a turnover in NU’s defensive zone, BC capitalized again to take a 2-0 lead. As the Eagles continued to push, it was the Huskies who landed the game’s next goal. Captain John Stevens carried the puck into the BC end and slipped a pass to senior Zach Aston-Reese. As junior Dylan Sikura flew to the net, Aston-Reese sent a pass right to his tape and he chipped it over the shoulder of freshman Joe Woll.
From there, Boston College controlled the tempo of the game. They scored twice in 55 seconds in the second period, turning a 2-1 game into a 4-1 affair. Northeastern still showed some life and tried to get back into the game. On a second period power play, Stevens slipped a pass to Sikura flying to the net. Sikura sent the puck cross-ice to freshman Jeremy Davies, who one-timed a shot by Woll to bring the Huskies to within two goals.
In the third, the Huskies struck again to make it a one-goal game. In a 4-on-4 situation, Aston-Reese dug the puck out of a jam behind the net and centered to Stevens who popped a shot into the cage for his second goal of the season. But as the Huskies tried to tie the game, BC senior Scott Savage put the nail in NU’s coffin by reestablishing the two-goal lead.
Though Northeastern was playing with some fire in the game’s final moments, the team ran out of time and the Eagles came away with the win.
“We take a lot of pride in being resilient and playing the same way no matter the score,” Stevens said.
The Huskies have fallen down early in a few games this year and have shown that they can fight back when they’re behind, but that hasn’t always translated to wins.
“I think we’ve done a good job finding our way back into games but we have to make it easier on ourselves and play with the lead,” Stevens said. “It’s hard to chase games in this league.”
With his two assists, Aston-Reese extended his point streak to five games. In that stretch, he’s racked up five goals and five assists. He and Sikura have tallied 25 points each this season, the sixth-highest total in the nation. Before his injury, Gaudette had 20 points through 15 games. Northeastern and Union College are the only two teams in the NCAA to have three players score at least 20 points at this stage of the season.
The Huskies will have a brief break before getting back to the nonconference schedule in a Dec. 18 game at Michigan State.
Gordo’s goal of the semester
One Northeastern goal that flew under the radar this semester was one scored by Adam Gaudette against the University of Minnesota, erasing a one-goal deficit in the third period en route to NU’s 6-4 win over the Gophers. With the Huskies on a power play, Dylan Sikura dragged the puck across the zone, drawing the attention of all four Gophers on the ice. He spotted a seam that opened up in the middle of the ice and threaded a perfect feed to Gaudette who was wide-open at the back door. Gaudette ripped the one-time shot into the Minnesota net before any of the Gopher players could react, thus tying the game at 4-4. Though the goal was impressive enough, Gaudette brought the house down with his celebration. The sophomore immediately dropped to one knee, gave a little wave to the crowd, hit a huge fist pump and jumped into the glass before being swarmed by his elated teammates.
Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics
