By Marisa Goolgasian, news staff
The Northeastern men’s ice hockey team had a lot to be thankful for over the holiday weekend, which they started and ended with wins, extending their streak to four games.
The Huskies first headed north to face the University of Vermont Catamounts on Nov. 16, where they looked to win their third straight game in Burlington for the first time in program history. NU swept the series against the Catamounts last year at 3-0-0, but going into this season Vermont still has the upper hand in the all-time series at 32-26-7.
The hero of this victory was undoubtedly second-year goaltender Cayden Primeau, who earned his second shutout of the year after making 26 stops.
The game remained scoreless throughout the first two periods. In the first, UVM took a narrow 9-8 shot advantage and had three power play chances, but just couldn’t crack the Husky defense.
Thankfully, the Huskies, who are now outscoring opponents 22-10 in the third period this season, stuck to their recent streak of come-back victories. Less than two minutes into the final frame, third-year forward Grant Jozefek moved the puck up to fourth-year forward Brandon Hawkins in transition. Hawkins fired a shot on goal that was blocked by UVM goaltender Stefanos Lekkas, whose save sent the rebound out to second-year forward Zach Solow. Solow sent it into the net, notching the eventual game-winner.
“We’re known as a third period team so we had some confidence going into the third period,” said Primeau after the game. “All we knew was we were playing a good goalie and we had to get some shots on net and bury some rebounds and we did just that.”
The following Saturday the Huskies were back in Matthews Arena, this time to battle the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers for the second time ever. The two teams first met last season in Rochester, where the Huskies bounced back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game 3-3.
The Huskies shot to a 2-0 lead early in the first period. Solow, whose goal at 1:24 into regulation was confirmed after a long review and fourth-year forward Liam Pecararo both put goals on the scoreboard for NU.
Despite holding a strong lead throughout the first, NU was down 3-2 by the end of the second due to a strong offensive push from the Tigers. Fortunately, the moment the first puck dropped in the third period, the Huskies yet again burst back into life.
NU sent 14 shots at RIT goaltender Logan Drackett and about halfway through the period, tied the game 3-3 when Jozefek scored his ninth goal of the season off of a redirection from third-year defender Jeremy Davies.
Then, with 5:29 left in regulation, first-year forward Tyler Madden and defender Jordan Harris worked together to put the Huskies ahead on the scoreboard where they stayed until the final buzzer rang.
“We had a really bad second; they scored three quick ones,” said Davies after the game. “We came into the locker room after the second and kind of re-grouped. We came out strong and were able to score two and get the win.”
The Huskies are back in conference play this Friday in Matthew’s Arena, where they will kick off their two-game series against the Merrimack College Warriors.
