The No. 6 men’s hockey team spent its Thanksgiving at the RPI Holiday Tournament in Troy, N.Y., where the Huskies lost 5-3 in the opening round to No. 9 Princeton (10-2, 7-1 ECAC) and then won the consolation game 5-1 against RPI.
The Huskies were down by two goals after the first period Friday against Princeton, and while goals from senior forward Ryan Ginand and junior forward Chris Donovan tied the game at two in the second, the Tigers responded with two more, making it 4-2.
Freshman forward Alex Tuckerman netted one in the third, but Princeton added an insurance goal and the game ended 5-3 – the fifth goal being an empty netter. The Tigers scored goals at even strength, on the power play and short handed.
The next night Northeastern faced the tournament host RPI (2-10-1, 1-4 ECAC) in the consolation game.
Senior forward Rob Rassey put the Huskies on the board in the first, and Donovan tallied his second goal in as many games to send the Huskies to the locker room up 2-0.
Ginand scored a short-handed goal seconds into the second period. Sophomore forward Tyler McNeely collected a goal on an odd-man rush midway through the period, making it 4-0.
With four minutes left in the second, RPI collected its first goal of the night, but with less than a second left in the period, freshman forward Steve Quailer netted the Huskies’ fifth goal of the night, backhanding the puck in after sophomore forward Steve Silva won a faceoff in the RPI zone.
The third period saw no scoring, but a test of Northeastern’s power play. The Huskies, at one point, killed a 6-on-3 after RPI pulled its goaltender and the penalty kill ended the night a perfect 7-for-7.
Junior goaltender Brad Thiessen posted 34 saves Friday and 25 saves Saturday.
Northeastern is now 10-3-2 (7-2-1 Hockey East), and is the third team in the country to reach the 10-win mark, behind Air Force and Notre Dame. The Huskies return home Friday to play Maine at Matthews Arena at 7 p.m. These two teams met earlier this season when the Huskies swept both games at Maine (Oct. 24 5-0, Oct. 25 2-1).
– Danielle Ossher, News Staff
