By: Josh Brown
BOSTON – On five different occasions No. 16 Northeastern held a lead over No. 18 Quinnipiac this weekend. Quinnipiac battled back each and every time.
With just 37.8 seconds remaining in overtime on Saturday, Bobcats’ forward Alex Whelan snuck a shot over the shoulder of Ryan Ruck to complete a weekend sweep of the Huskies in front of 1,719 fans at Matthews Arena.
The loss spoiled a career high 43-save performance for Ruck, who played for the first time since opening night against Sacred Heart.
After being outshot by Northeastern by a 41-16 margin on Friday, the Bobcats peppered Ruck with 46 shots on Saturday. The Huskies only mustered 26 shots on Quinnipiac goalie Andrew Shortridge.
Northeastern (2-2-1) struck first on a Dylan Sikura goal at the 16:46 mark of the first period. With the Huskies skating five-on-three, Sikura collected a long rebound off of a Garret Cockerill one-timer and fired it into the open net.
Although Chase Priskie would answer with just over six minutes remaining in the second period, the Huskies were quick to regain the lead. Just 2:34 after the Priskie goal, sophomore Grant Jozefek took a pass from Sikura and shot a wrister past Shortridge (24 saves).
Priskie would knot the score up once again just 1:33 into the third period. The senior defenseman took a feed from Tanner MacMaster and roofed it over the shoulder of Ruck. Despite a flurry of opportunities for both teams in the period’s final 18 minutes, neither could find the back of the net.
Although Quinnipiac controlled possession for most of overtime, it looked like the two teams were destined for a draw. But with just 37.8 seconds remaining, Whelan netted the game-winner to send the Bobcats home happy.
Northeastern will open up Hockey East play next weekend, when they take on UMass Lowell in a home-and-home series. WRBB will have complete coverage of both games, with coverage beginning 15 minutes prior to puck drop.
https://soundcloud.com/joshua-brown-462337903/madigan-after-quinnipiac-saturday