by Patrick Milne
ORONO, Maine — The No. 12 Northeastern men’s hockey team scored a 3-2 victory over Maine at Alfond Arena Saturday night, using a strong start to propel them to victory.
Coming off a disappointing loss to Merrimack without scoring a goal the previous weekend, the Huskies came out hungry in the first period. Brandon Hawkins opened the scoring for Northeastern after receiving a great backdoor pass from defenseman Jeremy Davies. A few minutes later Tyler Madden, back from the World Juniors tournament, danced through the Maine defense with some silky-smooth moves, allowing Patty Schule to come in put it in the empty net after the Maine goaltender Swayman was able to make the first save on Madden. Maine, obviously frustrated by the quick hole they dug themselves, took a 5-minute major for head butting after the whistle. On the power play, Matt Filipe was able to put one home to extend the Huskies’ lead to 3-0. The rest of the first period saw a couple more power play chances, but Northeastern was unable to capitalize.
The second period, was a much different period than the first. Maine cleaned up their play, and stopped taking penalties. Northeastern seemed to dominate control of the puck, but were unable to generate many dangerous scoring opportunities. Some errant passes by Northeastern gave Maine some strong opportunities on quick counter attacks and they were able to put one past Cayden Primeau, also back from the World Juniors Tournament, on a shot from a fast break opportunity.
The third period played out similarly to the second. Northeastern continued to control the puck in the Maine zone most of the time, but Maine still had threats on their fast break counter attacks. The Huskies’ defense and Cayden Primeau were able to hold strong until a late tripping penalty on Biagio Lerario gave the Black Bears the chance they needed. Maine’s power play quickly scored to make it a one goal game, as Primeau made a great first save, but the rebound squirted free and was popped into the net. With over three and a half minutes left and the Maine crowd buzzing at home, there was still plenty of time for Maine to send it into overtime. However, the Northeastern defense stepped up big and Cayden Primeau made his best glove save of the night in order to keep their lead and get the much needed 2 points from this victory.
Northeastern faces off against Maine for the rematch Saturday night at 7:00 pm