No. 12 Northeastern men’s hockey (8-3, 4-2 HE) fought its way to victory over the No. 18 Boston University Terriers (5-7-1, 3-4-0 HE) in a hostile 3-2 game that saw 14 players sent to the penalty box.
“Great college hockey game overall,” said head coach Jerry Keefe. “You could see the skill level on both teams. Both teams had their chances. I thought both teams played, both goaltenders played really well tonight.”
BU struck right away, scoring 62 seconds into the opening period. Freshman forward Ryder Ritchie passed the puck from the right faceoff circle back to junior defenseman Mick Frechette, who was inside the blue line. Frechette sniped the shot into the upper right of the net.
“Obviously, I thought we had a great first shift, right? We had a couple really good scoring chances right away,” Keefe said. “And then all of a sudden, you know, the puck just finds its way in the net through a screen. But, you know what, we settled in, we got the next goal, made it 1-1.”
Northeastern answered two minutes later. Similarly to BU’s goal, sophomore forward Griffin Erdman passed to senior defenseman Dylan Finlay, who was tucked inside the blue line. Finlay took a shot forward, which bounced off assistant captain and junior forward Andy Moore and into the net.
With 11 minutes left in the period, the Terriers took the lead once again. Senior forward Owen McLaughlin passed to a hustling junior forward Jack Harvey, who was inside the red circle. Harvey passed to wide-open sophomore forward Nick Roukounakis at the back post. He faked a move, sliding the puck past sophomore goaltender Quentin Sigurdson, who started his first game of the season.
The Huskies concluded the first period outshooting BU 12 to nine, but they couldn’t find the equalizer.
The tension between the rivals rose in the second period, where the teams combined for nine penalties overall.
“I just thought we got dragged into a little bit of the emotion of the game,” Keefe said.
Three minutes into the second period, senior defenseman Austen May secured his second goal as a Husky, tying the game for Northeastern. Junior forward Eli Sebastian passed the puck to Finlay. Finlay swung the puck to May on the right side of the ice, and May sent the puck into the net above the right faceoff circle.
Freshman forward Jacob Mathieu’s hooking penalty drew a penalty shot for the Terriers. Freshman forward John McNelis attempted to find a lead for BU, but Sigurdson stopped the shot.
Sigurdson finally looked like his old self this period, stopping 32 shots. One of these shots was a flashback to last weekend’s overtime loss to the University of Connecticut in a breakaway goal, with junior goaltender Lawton Zacher failing to look big out of the net.
“We have all the confidence in the world in Q,” Keefe said of Sigurdson. “Every time that guy’s gone out and played, he’s given us a chance to win in every game that he’s played.”
Zacher did not play against BU due to an injury, but Keefe is hopeful he and senior defenseman Joaquim Lemay will return to the ice next weekend. He added junior forward Matthew Perkins won’t be returning until after winter break.
During these penalties, both Roukounakis and sophomore defenseman Sascha Boumedienne were placed in the box. But even with the two-man advantage, the Huskies were unable to take the lead.
Despite this weakness, Northeastern proved why it ranks 10th in the nation in penalty kills as it did not allow any more goals, and barely any shots on Terrier power plays.
The final period brought more tension between the Dogs.
After another penalty by Northeastern – a tripping by junior forward Dylan Hryckowian – BU started to celebrate a goal. Unfortunately for them, the original call was no goal, and it stood after review.
Although the score was tied, the Huskies only took three shots to BU’s eight in the final period due to repeatedly passing on opportunities where they should have taken the shot.
On a controversial call, both Northeastern’s freshman forward Amine Hajibi and BU’s sophomore defenseman and assistant captain Cole Hutson were sent to the box. Hutson was called for hooking and Hajibi for embellishment.
After the call, the DogHouse chanted, “I’m blind! I’m deaf! I wanna be a ref.”
Northeastern took the lead with 67 seconds left in the game, courtesy of sophomore forward Joe Connor. Freshman forward Giacomo Martino dispossessed a BU player and took the puck behind BU’s net to pass to a flying Connor, who one-timed it into the net at the left faceoff circle, putting the Huskies up 3-2.
In a last-minute attempt, BU took out its goalie for an extra skater for the last 52 seconds of the game. But time winded down with Northeastern on top.
With the clock striking zero, the teams got into the worst fight of the night as the refs tried to pull players off from one another. Due to the brawl, the teams did not shake hands and BU went back to its locker room while Northeastern celebrated its victory.
Both team’s coaches exchanged words, but when asked about it in the press conference, Keefe said, “Honestly, I have no idea. I’m not sure.”
The Dogs will face one another again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. on BU territory at Agganis Arena.
