By: Josh Brown
BOSTON – With Dylan Sikura and Jeremy Davies in Switzerland for the Spengler Cup and defenseman Collin Murphy making his collegiate debut, it was a bit of new look Northeastern line chart on Saturday night against American International College.
It did not matter. Behind goals from Nolan Stevens, Zach Solow and Matt Filipe, the No. 8 Huskies ended 2017 with a 3-1 win over AIC in front of 1,357 fans at Matthews Arena.
The win sends Northeastern into the new year at 11-5-2 overall and 8-3-1 in Hockey East. The mark is the Huskies best start to a season since 2008-2009.
Freshman Cayden Primeau got the start in net for the Huskies, making 24 saves on the evening.
Although neither team found the back of the net in the first period, Stevens wasted no time giving the Huskies the lead early in the middle frame on a power play strike. After Adam Gaudette sent an off-angle shot off the left post, the senior captain deflected the loose puck past AIC goalie Stefano Durante
AIC answered at 14:27 of the second period when freshman sensation Brennan Kapcheck netted his fifth goal of the season. The defenseman deflected a Joel Kocur shot below the left arm of Primeau and into the back of the net.
Northeastern came out firing in the third period, and were ultimately rewarded with the winning goal courtesy of Zach Solow at the 7:17 mark. After collecting a feed from Brandon Hawkins in the neutral zone, the freshman danced his way along the right side boards and created enough space to get a shot on net from below the dot. Although Durante sealed off the angle well, Solow found a sliver of space to slot the puck.
Matt Filipe added an empty net goal to seal the victory.
The Huskies will be back in action next weekend when they take on Bentley in a home-and-home series beginning on Friday night. WRBB will have complete coverage of both games.
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