Northeastern men’s hockey (3-1, 1-0 HE) beat the No. 7 Denver University Pioneers (3-2-1, 0-0 National Collegiate Hockey Conference) 1-0 in a tense matchup with five power plays Oct. 25.
“Those are wins that you build on throughout the year,” said head coach Jerry Keefe. “For me, just the third period, we made a commitment to eating pucks and playing hard at the net front and being able to win the walls and win the blue lines. All the things that you have to do to protect the lead. That’s a very good hockey team that we just beat.”
Despite the Pioneers outshooting the Huskies 35 to 14, Northeastern’s 19 blocks and junior goaltender Lawton Zacher kept them in the game.
Northeastern came into this game on the defensive mind. As a team, the Huskies had six clears in the first period.
Despite Northeastern only having two shots in the opening period, the Huskies had a lot of chances to shoot that they did not take. There were two times where a Husky had the puck on a close breakaway with only one defender, and both times, they passed instead of taking a shot.
The best shots of the period were taken when the Huskies were on the power play. Denver’s junior forward Sam Harris was sent to the box for slashing, giving Northeastern the advantage. Freshman defenseman Dylan Compton and junior forward Matthew Perkins had shots for the Huskies, but both were saved.
Denver took control of the puck in the second part of the opening period, but big blocks by Northeastern’s defense kept the scoreboard level.
With less than two minutes to go in the first frame, junior forward Tyler Fukakusa was sent to the sin bin for holding. The Huskies kept up their strong defense and sent the puck down the ice several times. One big block by junior forward Eli Sebastian ended the period.
Less than three minutes into the second period, Northeastern took the lead.
Freshman forward Amine Hajibi collected the puck inside the blue line of the Huskies’ attacking zone. He laid the puck off to sophomore forward Griffin Erdman then sprinted to the back side of the net, to which Erdman slid the puck back to him for a one-time shot. This was Hajibi’s first collegiate goal.
“We knew who we were playing, and it’s amazing to play those type of opponents, and especially win with a crowd like this,” Hajibi said. “It was unbelievable for all of us.”
Zacher collected big saves to keep the Huskies ahead. The first crucial stop of the period was a bounce off him when a lone Pioneer skated toward him. This save set the tone for Zacher and the defense as he continued to not allow any pucks past him.
The transfer from Brown collected 35 saves this game, the most during his time as a Husky. His 25 saves against Holy Cross and the University of Massachusetts Amherst follow.
“He’s a big-game goalie,” Keefe said of Zacher. “He’s a great opponent. He showed up. That was really good to see. He had to make a lot of key saves right in the paint tonight on some second chances. His next effort, his second effort was tremendous tonight. It just gave our team a lot of confidence.”
Tensions began to flare in the second period as Perkins was sent to the box for roughing. Denver was not able to capitalize with the advantage.
Northeastern collected a couple more close shots but was unable to widen its lead.
With 13 seconds left in the period, Erdman and Harris got into a fumble as Harris flipped over Erdman, taking off his helmet. The two were sent to the box, Erdman for interference and Harris for roughing. With both players in the box, the teams played four-on-four for the two remaining minutes with no changes to the score.
Another big save from Zacher came at the end of the period when he got knocked down by Denver’s sophomore forward Jake Fisher, who also fell backward. Meanwhile, the puck was passed from senior defenseman and captain Vinny Borgesi to the boards, but was collected by junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp while Zacher was still on his back.
In the third period, the Pioneers became desperate to score as they took nine shots.
With five minutes left in the final period, the DogHouse began chanting “Stacy’s Mom,” Northeastern’s victory song.
As the clock wound down, the Pioneers emptied their net for an extra attacker with 1:23 to go. Twenty seconds later, Erdman had a shot on the empty goal, but it was blocked by Pohlkamp.
Northeastern will travel across town to face the No. 9 Boston College Eagles (2-2-1, 0-0 Hockey East) Thursday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. The last time Northeastern played Boston College was in the 2025 Hockey East Tournament Quarterfinal, where the Huskies won 3-1. Denver topped BC 7-3 Oct. 24, so the Huskies will look to upset a third ranked team this season with momentum on their side.
“I haven’t really thought too much about BC yet, to be honest with you. We’ll get to work on that tomorrow,” Keefe said. “I just like where our group’s at right now. Everybody’s bought in. You can see it in there. I’ve said it to a lot of people, this is a really good group of kids, and they’ve been really fun to coach.”
