On Friday, Northeastern (7-11-2, 2-10-0 HE) faced a heartbreaking 5-4 loss against the University of Vermont (10-9-1, 4-5-1 HE). The narrow loss fueled the fire for their match on Saturday, which the Huskies won 3-1.
Vermont got the first touch of the puck on Friday, but the Huskies quickly swept it into Vermont’s zone, with early shots coming from junior forwards Justin Hryckowian and Matt Choupani.
Nothing was able to hit the net until the sixth minute of play. Hryckowian made a short pass to senior forward Alex Campbell from behind Vermont’s net. Campbell made a quick move to pass Vermont freshman defenseman Duncan Ramsay and make his eleventh goal of the season.
The early goal should have swelled Northeastern’s momentum, but Vermont quickly shut it down. After four missed shots from the Catamounts, the fifth found the back of the net. As graduate student defenseman Pito Walton entered the neutral zone in the twelfth minute, Catamounts graduate student forward Ryan Miotto forced a turnover. One-on-one with Miotto, Northeastern freshman goaltender Cameron Whitehead could not make the save as Vermont tied it up at one apiece.
Northeastern gained a two-minute power play opportunity in the thirteenth minute after Vermont freshman forward Daniel Sambuco was called for cross-checking. However, the Huskies did not capitalize on the opportunity, only getting two shots off.
As Northeastern’s power play ended, Campbell was sent to the box for interference. Vermont’s two-minute power play began, but similarly, they could not make anything of it. However, just a few seconds after the end of the advantage, freshman forward Dylan Hryckowian was called for tripping, handing Vermont another power play. In the last few seconds of Vermont’s five-on-four advantage, and with just 1.1 seconds left in the period, Catamounts sophomore defenseman Ralfs Bergmanis took a deep shot from near center ice. It was deflected to junior forward Andrei Buyalsky, who made a quick shot from the right faceoff circle. Vermont closed out the first period with a 2-1 lead.
The second frame opened with a holding penalty on Vermont’s junior defenseman Luca Münzenberger in the first minute. A two-minute power play began for Northeastern, giving them an early edge over the Catamounts. The Huskies got five shots off, but none touched the net.
Vermont got a power play of their own four minutes later. Sophomore forward Thomas Sinclair tried to shove the puck in but battered Whitehead. Northeastern sophomore defenseman Hunter McDonald pulled Sinclair away from the net and was called for roughing. Northeastern stood their ground, only allowing the Catamounts to get one shot off during the two minutes.
The teams went back and forth on the ice, getting decent looks at the net, but Whitehead and Vermont senior goalie Gabe Carriere held their own. With less than two minutes left in the period, Northeastern sophomore defenseman Vinny Borgesi made a perfect cross-ice pass to sophomore defenseman Jackson Dorrington, who shot it past Carriere. The goal lit up Husky fans in the DogHouse and the game tied up at two entering the final period.
Northeastern opened the third with heavy pressure, taking nine consecutive shots. However, in the sixth minute of the frame, the Catamounts stole the puck, and sophomore forward Massimo Lombardi made his way down the ice to Northeastern’s net. Left one-on-one, Whitehead could not make the save. The Catamounts took the lead 3-2.
After reclaiming the lead, it was full speed ahead for the Catamounts. Only seven seconds later, Vermont hit the net again. Assisted by sophomore forward Jens Richards from behind the net, Miotto took the one-timer shot to extend Vermont’s lead to 4-2. Northeastern head coach Jerry Keefe challenged the call for offsides, but the officials confirmed the goal.
Keefe then switched Whitehead at net for graduate student goaltender Connor Hopkins, but Northeastern continued to crumble. Bergmanis stole the puck from behind Vermont’s net, took it down the ice and passed to Lombardi, who scored his second goal — and the Catamounts’ third — in just 68 seconds.
Down by three, the Huskies had two power play opportunities in the period, and although they could not catch up to the Catamounts in that time, they did not give up.
With less than three minutes left on the clock, Borgesi passed the puck across the ice to sophomore forward Cam Lund, who swiped it into the net from behind the goal line, squeezing it past Carriere. Vermont’s lead was trimmed to two.
On top of the goal, Miotto was called for slashing, giving Northeastern another two-minute power play. But one minute later, Northeastern was called for delay of game, bringing it to four-on-four. Another Vermont player, Richards, was taken off the ice ten seconds later for tripping. Keefe pulled Hopkins to give the Huskies a five-on-three advantage, and they capitalized. Borgesi passed the puck to Lund, who smashed it in, getting his second goal of the night. It was a one-goal game with only just over a minute left.
Unfortunately, the Huskies could not pull off the comeback, and the final score stayed 5-4.
On Saturday, despite Hopkins finishing the game for Northeastern, Keefe put in his usual starting goalie, Whitehead. Neither side could get anything going early on, but Whitehead proved why he is Keefe’s go-to, making huge saves for the Huskies.
Vermont got a power-play advantage in the sixth minute when D. Hryckowian was called for slashing, but Northeastern kept the score 0-0.
In the ninth minute, Northeastern was saved by the referee’s whistle just a second before the puck slipped out from under Whitehead’s glove and junior forward Timofei Spitserov knocked the puck into the net. Spitserov tried to plead his case to the referees, but it was clear the whistle blew before the shot got in. The score remained 0-0.
While no one could score in the first period, Vermont controlled the game’s pace. The Huskies took only five shots on goal compared to the Catamounts 15. The puck stayed in Northeastern’s zone for most of the period, and when the Huskies got the puck, they were slow to transition.
Northeastern came into the second period with newfound energy, which carried through in the score. In the third minute of the frame, Borgesi passed the puck behind him to Choupani, who shot through two Vermont players and found the net. The Huskies took the lead 1-0.
A minute and a half later, D. Hryckowian extended the lead for Northeastern. Sophomore forward Jack Williams, behind the net, freed the puck from under two Vermont players and passed it to Lund in the corner. Lund passed to D. Hryckowian, who got a clear shot off and into the net, extending the lead to 2-0.
The Huskies got an opportunity to score again in the ninth minute of the period when Vermont freshman defenseman Jack Malinski was called for tripping, but Northeastern could not convert. The Catamounts earned a power play a few minutes later but remained scoreless. The second period closed out with the Huskies still on top.
Vermont finally got on the board in the third minute of the third period. Richards passed the puck behind the Huskies’ net to Spitserov, who shot toward Whitehead. His initial shot was blocked, but he skated into the crease and scored on his own rebound.
A few minutes later, Northeastern got a power play when Catamounts freshman defenseman Eli Barnett was called for tripping. The Huskies had several good looks at the net, with Campbell and D. Hryckowian both inches from missing, but couldn’t extend their lead.
With a minute left in the game, Vermont’s interim head coach Steve Wiedler pulled Carriere to make it a six-on-five game. But Wiedler would soon regret it. With nine seconds left, J. Hryckowian stole the puck and passed to Fontaine, who had a wide-open path and net in front of him. The empty-net goal made the final score 3-1 in favor of the Huskies.
Northeastern has five more games to improve their transitions and puck control until the most anticipated time of season: the Beanpot, which starts Feb. 5. Next Saturday, the Huskies are back at Matthews Arena to play University of Massachusetts Amherst (12-6-3, 5-4-2 HE) at 4 p.m.
Editor’s note: This article was updated Jan. 19 to correct the spelling of a player’s name.
