It’s safe to say that Friday night’s 4-2 loss to Merrimack College, a team chosen dead last in the preseason Hockey East Coaches Poll, was a bad sign for Northeastern men’s hockey.
Or is it?
“In a lot of ways we could be 3-1, instead of 0-3-1,” said NU Coach Bruce Crowder of his team’s winless record. “It’s just one of those things you’ve got to be patient with a bit.”
After an even first period in which Merrimack’s Marco Rosa and Northeastern’s Eric Ortlip were the only goal scorers, the Warriors pounded the Huskies with three second-period scores.
Merrimack’s Nick Pomponio ripped a slap shot from the left face-off circle past NU goalie Keni Gibson just 15 ticks into the second frame. Then, at the 12:30 mark of the second period, Warrior forward Steven Carusco popped a loose puck in from just outside the crease. Two minutes later, at the 14:21 point of the second period, Merrimack’s Rob LaLonde put the Warriors up by three when he scored off assists from Jordan Black and Justin Mills.
“What happened [in the second period] was they scored a quick goal right off the bat and it was one we shouldn’t have given up,” Crowder said. “Then we ended up taking a bunch of penalties, and I think there was a lot of frustration. All four penalties were by freshmen, and we addressed that at the end of the second period.”
In the third period, however, a fired up Husky bunch came out gunning. Northeastern, who peppered Merrimack goalie Casey Guenther with 37 shots in the game, put the puck on net 20 times in the final period.
“As a team, we responded extremely well,” Crowder said. “We really put it to them [in the third period] and were only able to get one, but at the same time, it was an encouraging sign. For us, it was a positive third period, as far as showing us what we can do.”
Guenther, who replaces legend Joe Exter in the Merrimack net this year, played an inspired weekend of hockey, stopping 35 NU shots on Friday before shutting out Providence College on Saturday night.
“He’s obviously trying to make a name for himself on the Merrimack team and coming out of the shadow of Joe Exter, he had a great weekend,” Crowder said. “He went and shutout Providence the next night, so if anybody thought it might have been a fluke against us, he kind of showed everybody it wasn’t with the Saturday game.”
Jon Awe potted Northeastern’s second goal of the game 3:13 into the third period off an assist from freshman Bryan Esner. The dish was Esner’s second assist of the contest.
“He’s going to be a crowd pleaser,” Crowder said of the 5-foot 8-inch forward. “He’s a kid that moves around the pond extremely well.”
Still, Crowder isn’t pleased with the fact that his group has surrendered 18 goals in just four games this year.
“The ‘W’ would have been nice, but at the same time, what we do have to do is get our goaltending position playing better,” Crowder said. “We’re not going to win a lot of hockey games if we’re getting an .820 or .830 save percentage. That’s a thing that we’ve spent quite a lot of time on this week. Obviously you don’t like to have goaltenders go through this, but it’s just something we’ll have to work out. It’s the nature of the beast. That’s a position where you have to have a kid playing well if you want to be successful.”
Northeastern returns to action Friday against UMass-Lowell at Matthews Arena. The puck will drop at 7 p.m.
