The Northeastern Huskies and the UMass Minutemen met twice this past weekend, once on each school's home ice.
Friday night, at Matthews Arena, Northeastern defeated the Minutemen 2-1 with goals from unlikely heroes.
The game's first goal was scored by UMass’ Marc Concannon at 11:54 seconds of the first period. Scott Crowder was credited with the assist as he intercepted a Husky pass in the neutral zone and set up Concannon on a breakaway.
At 14:13, just a short while later, David Strathman scored his second goal of the season to tie up the game for the Huskies. Dan Nycholat and Chad Costello were credited with the assists.
The Huskies were cycling the puck around in the UMass zone when Costello passed to Nycholat at the point and Nycholat fed Strathman, who made a move towards the goal and scored top shelf.
The game would remain tied for almost all of the second period. It wasn’t until Kyle Kraemer scored his first goal of the season with just 15 seconds before the second intermission that the Huskies finally took the lead.
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Kraemer was assisted by Joe Vitale and Nycholat. Nycholat moved the puck to Vitale via the boards and Vitale got the puck to Kraemer, who was able to walk right in on Paul Dainton and beat him high on the far side.
The goaltending was great for both sides, Dainton was beat twice by the Huskies but he made 33 saves in the losing effort. Brad Thiessen earned his 14th win of the season, stopping 28 shots.
Saturday night, the action moved to the Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. This time, the Minutemen would emerge victorious, earning a 3-1 victory.
Alex Berry scored both of UMass’ first period goals. The first, an even strength goal at 7:19 was assisted by Martin Nolet. The second goal came on the power play at 13:30 and was assisted by James Marcou and Chris Davis.
At 9:45 of the second period, PJ Fenton would score UMass’ third goal of the game. James Marcou and Justin Braun assisted on the power play goal.
In the third period, the Huskies looked like they were getting back in the game when Kyle Kraemer scored on the power play at 11:40. It was his second goal in as many games, and also his second of the season.
With the weekend split, the Huskies moved up a spot in the USCHO.com/CSTV Division I Men’s Poll.
They also moved into a tie for 15th with Princeton in the Pairwise Rankings. If the Huskies hope to make the NCAA tournament, they will need some more wins to climb out of bubble territory.
After the weekend, Hockey East is getting crowded. The University of New Hampshire is clearly in the lead with 32 points, but beyond that, just six points separate second from seventh. Northeastern is currently tied with Providence College in third with 24 points.
Northeastern plays a home-and-home series with Boston University this coming weekend. BU is currently tied in fifth with the University of Vermont just one point behind NU and PC.
Around the league this weekend, PC is playing a home-and-home series against Merrimack College. UVM will play two games at UMass Lowell. UML is currently sixth in HE with 20 points.
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