Northeastern men’s hockey (11-9, 6-6 HE) broke a five-game losing streak with a 4-0 win over the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (11-9, 5-5 HE) Jan. 16. The Huskies finally found their aggressive side, no longer committing unnecessary penalties to put them a man behind.
The Huskies found their first goal eight minutes into the opening period.
From the inside of Northeastern’s blue line, senior defenseman and captain Vinny Borgesi passed across the ice to freshman forward Amine Hajibi at the red line. He dropped the puck back to junior forward Matthew Perkins, who passed back to Hajibi at the opposite faceoff circle. The puck found sophomore forward Griffin Erdman at the back post, who tapped it in.
The Huskies kept up the momentum on all sides of the ice. On the defensive end, sophomore defenseman Jack Henry used his glove to push out a flying puck, keeping Northeastern ahead by one.
The Wildcats outshot the Huskies 18-17. Both teams earned a power play, with UNH’s freshman defenseman Conner de Haro and Northeastern’s junior forward Andy Moore both in for cross-checking.
Northeastern earned its second goal of the night a minute into the second period, courtesy of junior forward Dylan Hryckowian.
Hryckowian raced down the ice on a breakaway, splitting the defenders on a diagonal pass to freshman forward Jacob Mathieu, who shot at the boards behind the net for Hryckowian to hit the one-timer.
The Huskies continued to pressure UNH’s defense, forcing the Wildcats to make mistakes and keeping the puck on their side of the ice.
Northeastern tipped the scales for faceoffs, winning 27 to UNH’s 25. The Wildcats are ranked ninth in the nation in faceoff wins at .533.
At the beginning of the third period, UNH took seven shots in six minutes, but none found the back of the net.
Junior goaltender Lawton Zacher saved 26 shots in the game and had his first shutout since Nov. 7 against Stonehill College. Meanwhile, UNH’s senior goaltender Kyle Chauvette earned 23 saves.
Seven minutes into the final period, Mathieu notched a goal of his own.
Borgesi passed along the inside of the blue line of the offensive zone to freshman defenseman Dylan Compton. He shot the puck for Mathieu to get his stick on the end of it for a deflection.
Fourteen minutes into the period, Hryckowian was sent to the box for hooking. While UNH took three shots, Perkins managed to bring the puck down the ice and take a shot which, was gloved by Chauvette.
With less than three minutes left in the game, Moore netted the final and fourth goal for Northeastern, cementing the team’s win.
Hryckowian drove behind UNH’s net and tried to swing the puck in, but it hit Chauvette’s pads for Moore to lift the puck into the net.
The Huskies will face the Wildcats again Sunday, Jan. 18 at 4 p.m. in Boston University’s Walter Brown Arena.
