Northeastern men’s ice hockey (16-17-1, 11-13 HE) defeated the No. 16 Boston College Eagles (19-14-1, 13-11 HE) 4-2 March 7 in the final game of the regular season. This victory marked the Huskies’ fourth consecutive win over the Eagles, including the sweep in October and the upset in the Hockey East quarterfinal last season.
The Huskies showed their resilience after coming back from a 2-0 deficit in the second period, scoring four unanswered goals. Freshman forward Giacomo Martino scored half of Northeastern’s goals, further proving his ability to find the back of the net.
The Eagles came out hot, getting themselves on the board less than three minutes into the game.
Senior defenseman and captain Vinny Borgesi was sent to the sin bin at two and a half minutes for interference. On the first possession with the advantage, senior forward and captain Andre Gasseau won the faceoff against freshman forward Jacob Mathieu. Junior forward Ryan Conmy picked up the puck and passed it back to senior defenseman and captain Lukas Gustafsson, who sniped the puck into the net from inside the blue line.
Despite the Eagles outshooting the Huskies 11 to 10, Northeastern had several close chances to find the equalizer.
As the clock ticked, tensions boiled between the rivals, and BC racked up two penalties. The first was on junior defenseman Nolan Joyce six minutes into the game for tripping, and the other was on freshman defenseman Luka Radivojevic for slashing in the final four seconds of the period. The Huskies failed to capitalize on the opportunity.
Boston College doubled its lead on a Northeastern own goal with 17 minutes remaining in the second period.
Joyce received the puck in the neutral zone before entering the offensive zone and sent the puck across the ice meant for freshman forward Oscar Hemming. Freshman defenseman Dylan Compton tried to intercept the pass, but the puck bounced off his stick and through Zacher’s legs into the goal.
Five minutes into the period, freshman forward Jack Pechar cut the deficit, scoring the third goal of his collegiate career.
Freshman forward Matthew Maltais drove the puck down the offensive zone along the right board before curving at the goal line, then passed to Pechar in front of the net, which was surrounded by three defenseman. Pechar controlled the puck before hitting it backhanded into the net.
The tension between the teams brought out some interesting tactics, including Zacher kicking the puck behind his own net as he did not have enough time to grab his loose stick. The puck was kicked back to a Boston College player, who passed to his teammate in front of the goal, but Zacher saved the attempt.
With three minutes remaining in the second period, freshman forward Landan Resendes was sent to the box for roughing, putting Northeastern on its fourth power play of the night. The Huskies tied the game a minute later.
Borgesi attempted to pass to junior forward Dylan Hryckowian, but the puck bounced off his and his defender’s stick to Martino. Martino shot, but it was swatted away by an Eagle defenseman. Senior defenseman Austen May sent a one-timer pass back to Martino, who slotted it in the upper right corner.
With 13 minutes remaining, freshman forward Amine Hajibi found the back of the net to put Northeastern ahead for the first time in the game.
BC’s junior defenseman Aram Minnetian went around his own net and tried to pass through his defensive zone to the neutral zone, but Mathieu intercepted the pass, drove down into the Husky offensive zone and took a shot, which hit off freshman goaltender Louka Cloutier’s pads. Hajibi sent the one-timer straight into the back of the net for a 3-2 scoreboard.
The Huskies shut down a Boston College power play with junior forward Tyler Fukakusa in the sin bin for holding.
Twelve minutes into the final period, Northeastern added another one to the lead.
Hryckowian won the footrace against Radivojevic to collect the sitting puck behind BC’s net. He went around the goal and entered the offensive zone before passing the puck to a sprinting Martino, who scored his second goal of the night.
With less than three minutes remaining, Hryckowian had a one-on-one with an Eagle before beating his opponent and sliding the puck through Cloutier’s legs. The refs called the play as no goal for goalie interference despite Hryckowian not touching the netminder. Head coach Jerry Keefe chose not to challenge the call because he already used his timeout, and calling the challenge and losing would mean a penalty for Northeastern.
The Huskies had several close chances with an empty net for the Eagles, but no one could take advantage with Cloutier on the bench.
The Huskies will open the first round of the Hockey East tournament March 11 against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (14-19-1, 8-15-1 HE) at BC’s home rink, the Conte Forum, at 7 p.m.
The last time these two teams met was in January, where Northeastern swept the weekend 4-0 and 5-2, respectively.
