By Calli Remillard, news staff
Northeastern University (NU) men’s hockey usually generates quite a bit of buzz on campus, but the red and black spirit reached new heights over the past week in anticipation of Capital One Frozen Fenway.
Despite starting on a rocky loss to the University of New Hampshire (UNH), the Huskies rallied two later to force a 2-2 tie against the Wildcats. The latter was part of Frozen Fenway, played under the lights of historic Fenway Park. With the iconic Green Monster looming overhead, fans of each school lined the opposing field boxes, doing their best to fight the cold, open air to cheer on their athletes skating over the infield grass.
In their first of two meetings on Thursday night, NU fell short to UNH despite a powerful start. With the Wildcats scoring the final four goals of the game, Northeastern’s fierce fight for a comeback was evident early in the game but fizzled, ending with a 5-3 loss in Durham.
NU hit the ground running, leading by two within the first five minutes of the game. Racking up his 20th goal of the season and extending his point streak to 10 games, senior forward Zach Aston-Reese got the Huskies on the board. Senior forward John Stevens followed with the second goal just minutes into the game, only to be matched by the Wildcats’ Brendan van Reimsdyk to make it 2-1.
The Huskies held onto their one point lead, with both teams exchanging goals during the second. Aston-Reese scored his second goal of the game on a power play, but that was the last of NU’s shots that saw any net. UNH controlled the ice in the third period, hammering away the final four goals of the game.
It was tough loss to come back from, but the Huskies did just that on Saturday evening at Fenway Park. Though perhaps not the outcome sought after, NU battled UNH in what ended with a 2-2 draw. The tie left Northeastern with an overall 1-1-1 record in Frozen Fenway, having played in 2012 and 2014 before returning to the historic venue.
Sophomore star Adam Gaudette started the Huskies on a 1-0 lead during a power play, assisted by Aston-Reese.
“We’ve had a lot of emphasis this week about getting to the backdoor on the power play, so that’s where I was,” Gaudette said when asked about the goal. “I just followed the game plan and it paid off.”
UNH powered ahead 2-1 during the second, and managed to hold their lead until the final minute of the period when freshman defenseman Jeremy Davies ripped a low shot right under Wildcats’ goaltender Danny Tirone to tie it up.
Neither team was able to generate any points throughout the remainder of the game, including overtime.
“Both teams played hard,” said head coach Jim Madigan. “We had to get back to some basics and staples to our game. You need to get points in this league, and the last couple games we’ve fallen short of that.”
Despite the past few losses, the Huskies are looking to heat up in the wake of Frozen Fenway.
“You’re obviously looking for two points and a win, but we’ll take the one point and build from it,” Madigan said, confident that his team will make a turnaround regarding the rest of the season.
The Huskies remain resilient and will be back on the ice on Jan. 20, hosting Merrimack College at home at Matthews Arena.
Photo by Brian Bae
