With the Beanpot finally in their rearview mirror, the Huskies played UMass twice this weekend, earning a split with the Minutemen that landed NU in a tie for third place in the Hockey East standings with just six matches left in league play.
Friday the Huskies hosted UMass at Matthews Arena and came out victorious by a score of 2-1 in a tight, physical game before they traveled to Amherst the next night where they lost 3-1.
In the first game of the weekend series, the Huskies went down 1-0 early when UMass forward Marc Concannon took a slap shot from the right circle that got past sophomore goalie Brad Thiessen’s outstretched glove. Concannon was assisted by forward Scott Crowder, son of former Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder, on the play.
Just a few minutes later, however, NU responded with a goal from sophomore defenseman Dave Strathman, who scored on a shot into the upper right side of the net for his second goal of the season.
“The kid that was defending me had his stick broken, and my [defense] partner made a nice read and made the play to me,” Strathman said. “After that I faked the shot and walked in. I was looking to make a play back door, but there was no one there, so I just ended up shooting it, and it went in.”
The second period nearly saw both teams go scoreless until sophomore forward Kyle Kraemer scored on a shot from the left circle to give the Huskies the 2-1 lead with 14.2 seconds left heading into the third period.
For Kraemer, who was second on the team in points last season, it was his first goal of the season. He said it was a relief to break out of the slump he had been in so far this season.
“It’s been kind of rough. It’s been, I think, 20-something games. Last year I ended the year pretty well and pretty confident and I came back this year even more confident and I kind of ran into some bumps in the road,” he said. “It’s been a long, long, long rollercoaster. Tonight was a special night, my family was here. It was just kind of nice to get [a goal] with them here in the stands. But now I’m out of [the slump].”
From there the team relied on Thiessen, who made six stops in the third period. He had 28 in the game, allowing just one goal.
UMass thought it had evened things up with a goal toward the end of the third but Minutemen forward P.J. Fenton was called for interference on the play.
With the win, the Huskies spent a day in a three-way tie for second place in the league, as Boston College, Providence and NU each had 24 points.
UMass, however, put that to an end quickly, as they came out in the first period the next day and put the Huskies in an early 2-0 deficit spurred by a pair of goals from forward Alex Berry.
In the second, UMass put the Huskies in a 3-0 hole when Fenton scored on a pass from forward James Marcou thanks to a 2-on-1 breakaway during a power play.
Northeastern was not without its chances to pull back in the third, however. Freshman forward Tyler McNeely was granted a penalty shot after being hooked from behind on a breakaway early in the period that he shot wide. Junior forward Dennis McCauley had a shot squeak through UMass goalie Paul Dainton’s legs but was swept away before it could cross the goal line.
Head coach Greg Cronin said the team had opportunities to get back into the game, but struggled to click offensively.
“I thought we had chances and we couldn’t score. We had one of those games where we were fumbling pucks and we just couldn’t seem to get the puck at the net,” he said. “And even when we did think we scored it wasn’t going in, and we had a penalty shot, which would have been a big lift early in the period and we didn’t even hit the net on that one. It was a night of frustration offensively for us.”
NU finally got on the board when Kraemer scored his second goal in two nights on a shot from the left circle that managed to beat Dainton during a power play.
Cronin said that before the game he had encouraged Kraemer to continue focusing on his offensive game.
“I think it was a matter of time until he scored. I told him before the game he should shoot the puck, because when goal scorers get goals they tend to score in bundles,” he said. “So if I’m Kyle Kraemer, I’m shooting every puck that I cross the blue line with.”
The Huskies are now preparing for an important weekend series against Boston University. Currently Northeastern and Providence sit tied for the final two home ice slots in the Hockey East playoffs, but BU and Vermont are tied for fifth right behind the two teams and trail by only a single point.
The first game of the weekend will come Friday at Matthews Arena before the series will shift to Commonwealth Avenue, where the two teams will play at BU’s Agganis Arena. Pucks for both games will drop at 7 p.m.
