AMHERST — A season ago, it took a highly-touted Huskies team eight tries — until November 23rd, 2024 — before they notched their first Hockey East win.
This year, it came in their first opportunity. On Friday night, Northeastern stormed into Mullins Arena and played sixty minutes of hard-nosed, confident hockey, doing enough to keep No. 11 UMass at bay in a wire-to-wire, 4-2 victory.
You would’ve been forgiven for lowering your expectations after last weekend’s home loss to an unassuming Army team, especially considering how young and relatively inexperienced this Northeastern roster is compared to most of their Hockey East foes. An underwhelming first period sunk the Huskies a week ago, as they simply couldn’t dig themselves all the way out of an early, self-inflicted hole.
There were signs of life, though. Against Army, Northeastern dominated the second period and parts of the third before a late, fluky, against-the-run-of-play goal ultimately resigned them to their fate. In the postgame presser, head coach Jerry Keefe emphasized repeatedly the necessity of starting strong, especially against opposition you’d expect to beat.
And, while Friday’s opponent wasn’t one you’d traditionally expect this iteration of the Huskies to beat, they heeded Keefe’s word. It took less than two minutes for Northeastern to get on the board, as they turned an energetic start into a point shot from Jack Henry that caught a piece of Griffin Erdman on its way to the net, beating Minutemen goaltender Michael Hrabal to quiet the Mullins Center and give the away side a 1-0 lead.
Northeastern continued to press the issue, taking advantage of a bevy of failed UMass breakouts and errant passes to pepper Hrabal’s net. For a significant chunk of time, the Minutemen couldn’t even gain a foothold, with the Huskies hemming them in their zone for minutes at a time. In the end, though, it came to nothing — Matthew Perkins and Jacob Mathieu both rang the post, but all of Northeastern’s dominance, including a 12-3 shot discrepancy, only resulted in a one-goal gap on the scoreboard.
Starting fast would be the story of the night for the Huskies. A minute and twelve seconds into the second period, with a loud Mullins Center behind their Minutemen, Joe Connor took the puck away from UMass defenseman Owen Murray. With nothing but open ice between him and Hrabal, Connor deked from forehand to backhand before lifting the puck over an outstretched glove, doubling Northeastern’s lead.
As the period wore on, the ice slanted more and more in UMass’s favor. A number of smart stops by Husky tender Lawton Zacher kept it at a two-goal margin for more than ten minutes before UMass broke through. A weird, disconnected play in Northeastern’s offensive zone gave way to a half-chance for the Minutemen. It ended up being a no-chance and a full-chance all at the same time, as junior forward Bo Cosman’s mishit centering pass fluttered off-line.
Unfortunately for Northeastern, that fluttering puck took a deflection off Husky defenseman Jo Lemay, wrong-footing Zacher and settling in the cage behind him. The goal was Cosman’s first in three years at the college level, and teammates and fans alike erupted just as much for the milestone as for the in-game importance.
Refusing to wilt in the face of pressure, it would be Northeastern who drew next blood. Four minutes after the Cosman goal, a nifty flip from Tyler Fukakusa sprung freshman forward Giacomo Martino. It felt like a mirror image of Connor’s breakaway as Martino bore down on net, but the freshman opted for the inverse set of moves, faking to the backhand before slamming a forehand past Hrabal. The moves might’ve been different, but the result was the same, and NU’s two-goal lead was restored at 3-1.
The remainder of the second stanza went without incident. Less than two minutes into the third, though, Northeastern defenseman Dylan Compton went to the box for a hit to the head, and a game that’d been even-strength for 42 minutes had its first special teams opportunity.
It came and went. UMass’s power play couldn’t quite click into gear, and the teams went back-and-forth before a questionable interference call on Lemay put UMass back on the man advantage with a touch over 12 minutes to play. This time, they made it count, as sophomore forward Mikey DeAngelo won back a faceoff before thirty seconds of zone time culminated in a scramble in front of the net. With Zacher sprawling, junior forward Jack Musa poked it home, making it 3-2.
The final 11:30 felt like an hour. Zacher made a number of wonderful saves, including an impressive point-blank stop on freshman forward Elias Zimmerman. To the Huskies’ credit, though, they didn’t just sit and soak up the UMass pressure, instead creating opportunities including a beautiful feed to Vinny Borgesi who would’ve sealed the game without a mind-blowing save from Hrabal.
With 1:11 to go, Hrabal departed for the extra skater, but Fukakusa won two faceoffs in a row for Northeastern. On the second one, the puck came to Borgesi, who played a sweet touch pass off the high wall to feed Dylan Hryckowian. Hryckowian’s long shot grazed the post, but the Huskies collected the rebound, and Hryckowian’s second attempt five seconds later found nylon, setting off the fire alarm for most of the 8,412 UMass fans still inhabiting Mullins.
All in all, it was a resounding, necessary win for a team that likely would’ve dropped a contest like this a season ago. In a part of the season where games are scheduled few and far between — Northeastern doesn’t have a two-game week in the entirety of October — getting a confidence-boosting win, and a Hockey East win at that, is absolutely massive.
“We had a job to do tonight,” Keefe said postgame. “We weren’t dwelling on last week at all… we came in and executed the way we need to execute. I think we go out in the first 20 minutes and give this group a lot of belief… I thought we played winning hockey all night, and our goaltender was excellent.”
On the UMass side, the script felt more like what Northeastern endured last weekend. Against a lesser-thought-of opponent, at home, they just didn’t come out with any intensity, and paid the price.
“Rough first period for us tonight,” said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. “We didn’t look like the team I usually see from UMass… the group seemed really tired for some reason. A lot of guys didn’t have legs, which was really shocking… [I] don’t want to make excuses, Northeastern played very well.”
Legs or no legs, UMass was no match for the Huskies on Friday night. Up and down the roster, from the top line to the bottom, everyone made contributions, and Northeastern needed every bit of it. Yes, it’s only one game, and this inexperienced team still has plenty to prove, but they took a big — and desperately needed — step forward on Friday night.
Northeastern will be back in action Saturday in an exhibition contest against Harvard. Puck drop will be at 5 pm, with Zeno Minotti, Max Schwartzberg, and Jackson Goodman on the call from Matthews on Sports+.
Jacob Phillips is the Sports Director for WRBB Sports. He’s been covering Northeastern athletics for over two years, focusing primarily on men’s basketball. Follow him on Twitter here and Instagram here.