Northeastern men’s hockey (12-12-1, 7-9-0 HE) fell to the Boston University Terriers (12-13-2, 8-10-0 HE) in the Beanpot semifinals Feb. 2 in a shootout. The loss will count as a tie in both teams’ records as shootouts are only used to see who will advance to the next round.
“I thought our guys played a really solid game, put ourselves in a position to win a game in the third period,” said head coach Jerry Keefe. “In overtime, I thought we had some looks. I just feel for the guys in the room, because I know how much it means to them.”
Nine minutes into the first period, junior forward Dylan Hryckowian scored the first goal of the game on a power play.
From the right of the net, freshman forward Amine Hajibi passed to senior defenseman and captain Vinny Borgesi above the circles. Borgesi passed to Hryckowian in the left faceoff circle, and he sniped the puck past sophomore goaltender Mikhail Yegorov.
“He’s a kid that won’t be denied,” Keefe said. “He’s taken such a huge step … Everything in his game has gotten a little bit better. He’s always been a heck of a player. Now, for my money, he’s one of the top players easily in college hockey.”
Four minutes later, junior forward Andy Moore received a kneeing penalty, giving the Terriers a chance to level the score. BU only took four shots in their two minutes with the advantage and could not find the back of the net. Northeastern has found consistent success in penalty kills this season, currently ranked ninth in the country with a .859 penalty kill percentage.
Despite this, the Terriers still managed to outshoot the Huskies 11 to eight in the opening period. The closest attempt by BU was a shot by sophomore forward and alternate captain Cole Eiserman, which junior goaltender Lawton Zacher managed to deflect off of his shin pad and send above the boards with just over a minute left in the period.
“He’s a big game goalie, you can see that,” Keefe said. “He did everything he could to tune in. He made a couple of big saves there, second effort saves.”
The Terriers found the equalizer less than two minutes into the second period.
Freshman defenseman Charlie Trethewey skated from the right side to the left along the blue line before sprinting down toward the net. He attempted a shot that deflected off the skate of freshman forward Jonathan Morello and found the back of the net past Zacher.
Northeastern quickly bounced back, with freshman forward Jacob Mathieu scoring his first Beanpot goal.
Mathieu received a pass in the neutral zone from sophomore defenseman Jack Henry before passing to Hryckowian in the offensive zone. Hryckowian passed back to Mathieu, who fired the shot into the back of the net.
Seven minutes into the period, the Terriers equalized once again. This time it was sophomore forward Nick Roukounakis who lit the lamp for BU.
Roukounakis dispossessed Moore in the neutral zone before skating down the ice with freshman forward Ryder Ritchie for a two-on-one with senior defenseman Dylan Finlay. Roukounakis shot above Zacher’s shoulder for an even scoreboard.
By the end of the second period, Northeastern and BU had 19 and 22 shots on goal, respectively. Both had multiple opportunities to get ahead, but none set off the buzzer. Mathieu had a breakaway opportunity for another goal, but the puck hit Yegorov’s pads.
The third period provided no clarity for the winner, meaning the DogHouse went shirtless for overtime, affectionately dubbed ‘No T-OT.”
With two minutes left in overtime, a Terrier smashed into Zacher, sending the goal off its poles. Zacher stayed on the ground for a few minutes with the Northeastern athletic trainer coming onto the ice, but the goaltender was able to get up and skate around, returning to the net for the rest of the game.
“Yeah, he’s banged up,” Keefe said. “Give him credit for staying in there. I’ve got to be careful what I say there. Obviously, I’m not too thrilled about or in agreement with the non-call … Especially when a goalie gets banged up in overtime and then has to go into a shootout. That’s pretty unfortunate that that call wasn’t made.”
With 33 seconds left, junior defenseman and BU captain Gavin McCarthy fired a shot that seemingly scored, sending Terriers fans and the bench into celebration. However, McCarthy was called for interference and the goal did not count, putting Northeastern on the power play. The Huskies failed to score, sending the game into a shootout.
Although Zacher was “banged up,” he was still between the pipes for the Huskies in the shootout.
“We had to wait and see what the trainer had to say,” Keefe said. “Obviously, he didn’t want to come out. We’re not going to take him out if he doesn’t want to come out in that situation.”
First up for the Huskies was freshman forward Giacomo Martino. His goal was saved by Yegorov. Junior forward and alternate captain Jack Harvey scored the first attempt for the Terriers.
Next was Hryckowian, who tied the shootout. Zacher kept the Huskies alive with a save onby a shot from Eiserman. Mathieu was the last Husky to go, and his goal was saved. Sophomore defenseman Cole Hutson scored the last goal for BU, clinching the win.
Northeastern will face the Harvard University Crimson (12-9-1, 10-5-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) Feb. 9 at 5 p.m. for the consolation game at TD Garden. Last year, the Huskies fell to the Crimson in the consolation game 4-3, taking last place in the tournament.
In the meantime, Northeastern will take on the University of Connecticut Huskies (15-7-3, 9-5-1 HE) Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in Bentley Arena. The teams faced each other in November, where UConn swept Northeastern 4-2 and 4-3 in overtime, respectively.
