They took care of business when it mattered.
The Northeastern Huskies traveled up to Burlington, Vermont to play the #9 University of Vermont Catamounts over the weekend, winning on Friday night, while tying a non-conference matchup Saturday. The non-conference game was due to the Wildcats traveling down to Matthews Arena earlier in the year, defeating the Huskies 6-2 in that matchup.
Derick Roy got the start in net both nights for Northeastern (8-11-4, 4-7-2 Hockey East), stopping 50 of the 53 shots he faced on the weekend. Mike Santaguida was between the pipes for Vermont (15-6-2, 7-4-1 Hockey East) on Friday with Brody Hoffman getting the nod on Saturday.
Northeastern drew first blood on Friday via Hobey Baker candidate Kevin Roy.
Roy had a breakaway going down ice and was able to beat Santaguida over his glove to net his ninth goal of the year, and give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
Vermont would answer later in the period, on a power play goal from the fourth ranked unit in the nation on the man advantage.
Mike Paliotta one-timed a pass from line-mate Alexx Privatera past Roy for the equalizer.
Torin Snydeman put the Huskies up 2-1 in the second period when he was able to find open ice, and roof the puck over Santaguida for the lead.
Northeastern would tack two more on the third, one from Mike McMurtry which beat Santaguid five-hole, and another from Mike Szmatula who cleaned up a rebound in the slot. Vermont would have no answer, with the Huskies coming away with the 4-1 win.
Vermont would come out firing on Saturday, taking a 1-0 lead just minutes into the game when Brady Shaw scored 5-on-3 for the early goal.
Northeastern would answer with 5:13 left in the period off a Mike McMurtry tip on a Matt Benning slap shot from the blue line to tie the game at one.
The Catamounts took a 2-1 lead in the second period, again on the power play, off of a Colin Markison goal. Markison redirected a shot by Paliotta into the back of the net.
Again, the Huskies would answer tying the game on yet another Kevin Roy goal. Roy had a clean break going down ice, and with no hesitation shot it over the glove of Hoffman and into the back of the net.
Both teams had several chances in both the third and overtime, ending the non-conference tilt in a tie.
Northeastern will host Notre Dame on both Friday and Saturday, with complete coverage on WRBB.