After the loss of major players like Devon Levi and Aidan McDonough, the Northeastern men’s hockey team faced the heavy burden of composing a team ready to knock its opponents off their feet this season.

And on opening night, they did just that. The new squad debuted in the Huskies’ home opener against the Stonehill Skyhawks Oct. 7, and they did just that, starting the season off with a 7-0 win. The stands were packed with fans, ready for both new and old player appearances on the ice. 

They were not disappointed — every Husky contributed to the team’s success. Their clean passing and teamwork put Northeastern on the right foot to start the season.

“We wanted to establish our game, play the right all night, which I thought we did,” said head coach Jerry Keefe. “If we get up by a certain amount of goals, it’s never easy in these games, but I was actually really proud of the guys because I thought we stayed committed to playing the right way the whole night.”

The Skyhawks were penalized for slashing just four minutes in, losing graduate student center Matthew Allen to the sin bin and giving Northeastern an opening to score its first goal of the season. Jack Williams picked up the puck from a Stonehill defender and tried to send it off to graduate student Pito Walton, a defensive transfer from Princeton, but it bounced off a Stonehill skate before it reached Walton. Unfazed, Walton quickly found the loose puck and potted it for his first goal as a Husky.

Less than two minutes after the power play victory, sophomore defender Jackson Dorrington slammed another puck into the net — the second of three first-career goals of the evening — to put the Huskies at an early 2-0 lead. Sophomore defenseman Vinny Borgesi and graduate student forward Alex Campbell were credited with the assists.

Soon after, the Huskies received a team penalty for too many players on the ice. Stonehill had two minutes to their advantage, but they couldn’t make the play, even when a slashing penalty against Borgesi gave them a second chance just a few minutes after their first expired.

But the period wasn’t over yet for Northeastern; the Huskies snuck a third goal past Skyhawks sophomore goaltender Dylan Meilun before the clock ran down on the first frame. This time, senior forwards Gunnarwolfe Fontaine and Matt Demelis smoothly maintained possession of the puck as they crawled up the ice, eventually passing it to Cam Lund, a sophomore right-wing, who made the final shot to stick it in.

“We want [Lund] to feel like he can go and dominate a shift,” said Keefe. “You see spurts of it with him and I think once he takes that next step — which he’s ready, he’s ready right now — you’re going to see a kid that’s a real difference-maker when he [comes out] on the ice”

With high spirits from a three-goal lead, the Huskies came out even fiercer for the second period. Two minutes and 30 seconds in, graduate student forward Liam Walsh scored the fourth goal for the Huskies, using a rebound shot to his advantage at a seemingly difficult angle. 

With the momentum on their side and the student section’s ferocious energy, nothing could stop the Huskies.

Northeastern junior forward Matt Choupani landed in the box for cross-checking seven minutes and four seconds into the period, which left the Huskies at a disadvantage, but when they returned to even strength, Fontaine slid the puck to Borgesi in the scoring zone, setting him up for the perfect shot for Northeastern’s fifth goal of the game.

The Skyhawks struggled against the Huskies’ pressure; four nearly back-to-back penalties were proof they were scrambling to catch up. 

Entering the third, it only took nine seconds for Choupani and junior forward and captain Justin Hryckowian to set the puck up for senior forward Alex Campbell, who jabbed it into the net with one second left in a power play for his first career goal and a 6-0 Husky lead.

“[Hryckowian] is such a smart player, so he makes it pretty easy to play with,” said Campbell. “I can kind of use my speed on the outside and he wins battles, finds opens guys. He’s a great player [and] makes it easy to play with.”

Cam Gaudette, a junior defenseman who transferred from Northeastern to Stonehill after the 2022-23 season, tripped one of the Huskies, giving Northeastern another two minutes. Even though they couldn’t score a goal during their advantage, the Huskies were still up six goals with nothing to fear. 

Another power play moments later gave Campbell a chance to do it again, assisted by Lund and Hryckowian. 

Meilun held up for the last seven minutes of the contest but closed the game having given up seven goals. 

Northeastern’s 52 shots on goal were a blowout compared to the Skyhawks’ 13. Husky Cameron Whitehead, a freshman goalie from Ontario, held strong through all of the shots fired at him and shut out Stonehill in his first collegiate start.

“I think we did a really good job of focusing on what we do and we try to stick to that every single minute of that game; and especially in the third period when we’re up a couple of goals, we didn’t really back down at all,” Borgesi said. “I think we tried to just stick to what we do and everything played out great.”

The Huskies faced off in an exhibition match against Quinnipiac, last year’s national champions, on Oct. 8, winning 3-2 in an overtime shootout, and beat Bentley 5-2 on Saturday. Next, they will head to the University of New Hampshire Oct. 26.