by Joe Barbito
BOSTON, MA – In a Beanpot final rematch at Conte Forum, it was head coach Jerry York and the Eagles who laughed last, defeating the Huskies 3-1 on Senior Night at Conte Forum.
It was one of the roughest games Northeastern played this half of the season, and certainly their worst post-Beanpot contest.The Huskies were only able to manage 22 total shots, and in the first period – which was arguably their best – they allowed the Eagles to accumulate 14 shots on goal. The first twenty minutes came and went without either team lighting the lamp.
Scoring would eventually open at 3:06 of the first period when senior forward Austin Plevy netted his 4th of the year. Fellow senior forward Liam Pecararo went hard at work in the offensive zone and managed a shot on junior goaltender Joseph Woll, which barely trickled past the St. Louis native. The puck, then resting on the other side of Woll, was jammed home by Plevy. Pecararo earned his 17th assist of the season and his 8th point in three games. Junior defenseman Jeremy Davies picked up the secondary assist for his 24th of the year.
Fittingly enough for a senior night, senior defenseman Casey Fitzgerald equalized things exactly three minutes later. Lurking just inside the blue line, Fitzgerald was the recipient of a perfect pass from sophomore forward Chris Grando, which he then turned into a beautiful seeing-eye wrist shot that torched sophomore goaltender Cayden Primeau.
The game-winning goal came at 6:04 of the third period. Northeastern had been floundering defensively all evening, and the Eagles jumped at a sloppy turnover in the Husky end of the ice. Freshman Jack McBain was the initial shooter on a sequence that saw sophomore defenseman Michael Karow put a secondary chance through the crease. Freshman forward Marc McLaughlin found a loose puck outside the crease with Cayden Primeau viciously out of position trying to defend against Karow, and the Husky defense was nowhere to be found.
The puck was then deposited in the back of the net.
Junior forward David Cotton ended up picking up his 19th of the season on an empty net goal with 32 seconds remaining in regulation.
After the results of tonight’s contests, the Huskies remain tied for third with Lowell as the Riverhawks fell 1-0 to New Hampshire. In the Pairwise, they are at #13 at the time of this article’s release.
The Huskies will be back in action tomorrow night at Historic Matthews Arena as they try to split the weekend with Boston College. Joe Barbito and Adam Doucette will be on the call.