Photo courtesy of NHL.com
By: Josh Brown
BOSTON – The No. 11 Northeastern men’s hockey team sent the winningest class in program history out in style on Friday evening.
The Huskies potted eight goals and netminders Cayden Primeau (29 saves) and Jake Theut combined to pitch a shutout as Northeastern downed New Hampshire, 8-0, in front of 2,521 fans at Matthews Arena on senior night.
Dylan Sikura and Patrick Schule led the offensive attack, each potting two goals in the victory. Brandon Schultz, Adam Gaudette, Lincoln Griffin and Biagio Lerario added a goal each and senior captain Nolan Stevens dished out two assists.
The victory improves Northeastern’s record to 20-8-5 overall and 14-6-3 in Hockey East. It is just the seventh time in program history that the Huskies have reached the 20-win milestone.
New Hampshire turned to all three of its goalies in the massacre. Danny Tirone was pulled midway through the game after allowing three goals on 18 shots. Backup Mike Robinson did not fare much better, allowing five goals in just 20 minutes. Sophomore Joe Lazzaro pitched a shutout in the last eight minutes for UNH.
Northeastern scored its first two goals just over five minutes apart midway through the first period. Schultz scored his second goal of the season on a feed from Biagio Lerario at the left dot and Schule got his night started on a redirection in front of the net on an Austin Goldstein bid.
The Huskies widened the gap to four with a pair of second period goals. Schule netted his second of the game at the 11:04 mark after turning a UNH turnover into a breakaway opportunity that he sent five-hole and Gaudette scored his NCAA-leading 28th goal of the season with 1:08 left in the period on a rocket from the high slot.
After Dylan Sikura scored two power play goals just 1:09 apart in the third period, Lincoln Griffin and Biagio Lerario put the cherry on top with goals at the 9:41 mark and 11:51 mark of the third period respectively.
Northeastern will be playing for the No. 2 seed in the Hockey East Tournament when they take on the Wildcats at the Whittemore Center on Saturday night. WRBB will have complete coverage, with pregame beginning at 6:45 p.m.