Northeastern men’s hockey (12-13-1, 7-10 HE) was shut out by the No. 12 University of Connecticut (15-7-3, 9-5-1 HE) 2-0 Feb. 6 in its first game with Bentley Arena serving as a home rink. The team was outhustled, outshot and outfought by UConn.
“We obviously didn’t generate enough tonight, and I think it started with our puck battles,” said head coach Jerry Keefe. “I thought we started the game well, and obviously going down 1-0 … you’ve got to respond, and we didn’t respond. It felt like it was a mountain to come back tonight when it was down 1-0, 2-0.”
The team’s top scorer, junior forward Dylan Hryckowian, was out of the lineup with an arm injury. He was seen wearing a sling.
“I guess you could call it day-to-day. I’ll leave it at that,” said Keefe.
Northeastern started off hot, getting off seven shots to UConn’s one in the first four minutes. However, this momentum shifted when UConn got on the scoreboard.
With 11 minutes remaining in the period, UConn’s sophomore forward Ethan Whitcomb passed the puck between sophomore defenseman Jack Henry and freshman defenseman Dylan Compton. The puck found sophomore forward Ethan Gardula sitting at the crease, who netted it to the right behind junior goaltender Lawton Zacher.
Both teams played sloppily, but UConn outpaced Northeastern in the second half of the opening period.
The second period brought tension as both teams were put on the power play. However, neither managed to find the back of the net.
During Northeastern’s advantage, senior forward Tabor Heaslip had a breakaway, but his shot landed in Zacher’s glove. Zacher collected 22 saves in the game to UConn’s senior goaltender Tyler Muszelik’s 16.
Twenty-eight seconds after the end of UConn’s power play, the team doubled its lead, courtesy of freshman forward Alexandre Blais.
Senior forward Tristan Fraser collected the puck from an attempted pass between senior defenseman and alternate captain Dylan Finlay to freshman forward Matthew Maltias. Fraser passed to Heaslip, who skated into the right faceoff circle before passing to Blais, who sat backdoor and tapped it into the net.
While UConn began to pick up its effort after a sloppy first period, Northeastern dug itself in a deeper hole as the team failed to connect passes, had bad bounces off their sticks and interfered with their own plays. The players looked exhausted as they continuously lost sprint battles.
“We just didn’t have the jump tonight to win puck battles,” said Keefe. “That’s where your offense starts. You have to win battles, and you’ve got to make more plays. We didn’t make enough plays tonight. We had chances to make some plays. We either hit a stick or we bobbled a puck. We weren’t clean tonight offensively at all.”
The only time Northeastern looked promising was when the team connected to one another up the ice. These movements were always ended by a bad pass, an interception or a save by Muszelik.
Within the third frame, UConn outshot Northeastern nine to four.
Northeastern came out fiery, eager to get itself on the board, but none of the team’s attempts found the back of the net.
UConn leveled up its aggressiveness, full body checking NU players to the ground.
In an attempt to defend a UConn breakaway, Henry was called for slashing with 15 minutes remaining in the period. Northeastern killed the penalty.
With 98 seconds left, Northeastern pulled its goalie for an extra skater in hopes of getting on the board. This plan did not work as the clock winded down for UConn to take a 2-0 Hockey East win, outshooting NU 24-16.
“This group needs a spark. We need to find a way to win a big game like that coming back,” Keefe said.
Northeastern will face Harvard University (12-10-1, 10-6 Eastern College Athletic Conference) in the Beanpot Tournament consolation game Feb. 9 at 4:30 p.m. in TD Garden.
“We need to respond on Monday,” said Keefe. “It’s a big game going back to the Garden. We’ve got to pick ourselves up here and go out and play a really good game on Monday.”
The team will return to Hockey East competition Feb. 13 against Providence University (17-7-2, 12-3-1 HE) at 7 p.m. in Rhode Island.
