BOSTON — Saturday afternoon’s game was, in many ways, similar to last Saturday’s contest against Boston University. Both games had chaotic second periods. In both, Northeastern netted three goals.
The difference today was the result; Northeastern walked off the ice with a 6–4 win over Dartmouth in their last game of the 2010s. The game was also reminiscent of the teams’ last meeting six years before, in which a furious offensive onslaught yielded an 8–8 tie.
For the first five minutes of tonight’s game, the puck darted around the ice like a wet bar of soap; neither team could hold it for more than a few seconds. But John Picking, who energized the Husky attack every time his skates hit the ice, eventually broke the seal, sneaking around the net and tapping home a gorgeous one-timer off a precise feed from Jordan Harris.
Harris kept the momentum going two minutes later, firing a long pass to Neil Shea out front. Shea shoveled it to Filipe; Filipe flipped it home.
With four minutes remaining in the period, a hooking penalty sent star Dartmouth forward Drew O’Connor to the penalty box. Freshman Husky forward Aidan McDonough, who has as good a nose for power play goals as a squirrel does for nuts, found himself alone at the base of the right dot. Tyler Madden slid him a pass through traffic and McDonough didn’t need to be told twice.
Though the Huskies 11–8 first-period shot advantage seems fairly insignificant, the quality of the shots shows the Husky dominance that pervaded the period. The Big Green forced a few attempts in the area of Northeastern netminder Craig Pantano, but few seriously threatened the fifth-year transfer’s territory.
The second period was a different story. The momentum swung less than a minute in, with Dartmouth’s Jeff Losurdo swooping in off the rebound to notch his third goal in as many games.
Eight minutes later, the Big Green dropped a sledgehammer, scoring two goals in 13 seconds to even the score. First Daniel Warpecha stuffed the puck in through traffic. Then Sam Hesler flung one home off the rebound after an ill-advised do-or-die reach by Neil Shea gave Dartmouth a three-on-two against Pantano.
“It was more in the neutral zone where we were turning pucks over, getting three or four guys caught on one side of the ice, and they counter,” Northeastern head coach Jim Madigan said of the Dartmouth burst. “That top line of O’Connor, [Quin] Foreman, and [Will] Graber are really good and they transition pucks quickly. We just got to make sure in the neutral zone we manage pucks a lot better and we gave them a little bit too much in that regard today.”
A three-goal lead built over an entire period had been torn to pieces in nine minutes. Within eight minutes, it was fully restored.
McDonough — apparently not content with just one power play goal on the afternoon — slammed home another off Zach Solow and Ryan Shea’s assist. Shea — apparently tired of his goal–assist ratio leaning so far in the assist direction — scored a power play goal of his own a few minutes later when a scrambling Dartmouth defense let him get a running start to the front of the net.
When Tyler Madden stuffed home a rebound two minutes later for his 13th goal of the season, it completed the Huskies’ second three-goal second period in as many games.
The only third period scoring was a goal halfway through from Dartmouth’s Ryan Blankmeier. The Big Green tried to turn up their intensity and make a last-minute comeback, but that intensity only caused them problems.
With 80 seconds left, Dartmouth defender Jack Cameron went down on a puck chase and slammed into the wall underneath the boards. He remained writhing on the ice for a bit, then went immediately to the locker room with what Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet described as an upper-body injury that will sideline him for a while.
The ensuing scuffle yielded penalties, leaving the Big Green down two goals and two skaters. Northeastern calmly exhausted the clock.
Though hustle certainly factored plenty in a game chock full of puck chases and scrambles, the game was ultimately won and lost with advantages. Northeastern turned six power plays into three goals while negating all three of Dartmouth’s power plays.
“You can see the angling and the aggressiveness,” Gaudet said after the game. “That’s their trigger points where they decide to be aggressive. Sometimes it’s up-ice, a lot of the times it’s on a bobbled puck.
“They’re really quick. Their angling was really good and they got into lanes and took things away from us; I was really impressed with that . . . maybe we can steal a few things from Madigan.”
Three Huskies extended point streaks. Filipe’s goal brought his streak to five games, Solow’s three assists extended his to seven, and Ryan Shea’s goal and assists gave him a nine-game stretch. The win boosted Northeastern to 11–5–2 (6–4–1 HEA) and dropped Dartmouth to 4–4–2 (4–2–1 ECAC).
Northeastern will have a 19-day break before traveling to Connecticut for a January 3 matchup against the UConn Huskies. WRBB will not broadcast the game, but will upload coverage to the website.
WRBB will also publish various online content throughout Northeastern’s winter break. Our next broadcast is the January 2 basketball game against Elon. Milton Posner and Matt Neiser will call that one, with coverage beginning at 6:45 PM EST.