Three weeks ago, things looked bleak for Northeastern men’s hockey.
A home loss to lowly Army raised questions about the talent level of the team, and with an inexperienced roster staring down a gauntlet of a schedule, it felt as though the worst was yet to come.
Well… the worst is still yet to come, I guess.
Why? Because after taking down (then) No. 11 UMass, surviving No. 7 Denver, and marauding into Conte Ice Forum and beating No. 11 Boston College, things haven’t looked this good in a long time.
Thursday’s contest in Chestnut Hill presented a rare midweek opportunity for the Huskies. It’s hard to think of a better place to get it, too; even as a rainy, bleary night may have kept some fans out, by the time the puck dropped, there was a lively, energetic crowd in their seats looking for their Eagles to turn around what’d been a slow, 0-2 start to the season at home.
This one started relatively slowly, with neither side doing a whole lot of threatening the goal in the opening minutes. There was a fair bit of threatening each other, though, as some tensions spilled over into early scuffles that did nothing but raise the temperature of a busy Conte.
BC’s junior defender Nolan Joyce went to the box for a cross-checking minor just 2:42 in, but the Huskies failed to generate much in the way of opportunities on the power play, putting just one shot on BC junior goaltender Jan Korec’s cage, which he turned aside.
Once the teams returned to even strength, the Eagles’ forecheck began to work into the game, forcing Northeastern into several sloppy breakouts that became BC rushes. Nothing came of it outside of a breakaway by forward Will Moore, but as has been the case for weeks, junior netminder Lawton Zacher was up to the task, closing down the angle and smothering the freshman’s wrister in his chest pads.
A trip on sophomore forward Ethan Fredericks seconds later led to another man-advantage for BC, but Zacher worked heroics again, navigating some netfront chaos to emerge unharmed.
Four minutes later, junior forward Eli Sebastian’s forecheck interrupted an Eagles breakout, as their clearance attempt took a bounce directly into the path of Northeastern sophomore forward James Fisher. From above the right circle, the unmarked Fisher’s one-time slapshot beat Korec to the glove side, stunning Conte and giving the Huskies a 1-0 advantage.
It’d only be 43 seconds before they’d be stunned again.
A clean Northeastern breakout led to a three-on-two rush, and freshman forward Giacomo Martino beat BC senior captain Lukas Gustaffson cleanly to the left before dropping it off to the trailing Vinny Borgesi, who returned to the same well Fisher had drawn from moments before. Borgesi’s snapshot sailed over Korec’s glove, crashing off the crossbar and in to double the Huskies’ lead with 2:57 left in the frame.
Maybe Borgesi felt bad, or generous, because his next action would be to take a migsuided(and maybe embellished) crosschecking penalty in a non-danger setting near his own blue line. Sophomore forward Teddy Stiga won the ensuing faceoff back for the Eagles; the puck made its way to senior forward Oskar Jellvik, whose floated pass took a strange deflection off Stiga before rolling slowly through Zacher’s pads and into the corner of the net at the 1:42 mark.
It wasn’t the prettiest goal, but it was coming, and it brought some energy back to a muted Conte. It seemed to wake up the Eagles’ offense, too, as they applied pressure with vigor as the period wound to a close. That pressure wouldn’t result in a tally on the scoreboard, but it would give the Eagles another power play, as Northeastern junior forward Tyler Fukakusa gave away a hook with two seconds left.
The second period started with the Huskies killing off the Fukakusa penalty. Minutes later, junior forward Matthew Perkins had a chance from the right circle, but a sprawling, five-alarm save from Korec kept him out. Perkins’ name popped up again, though, this time for two penalties within four minutes. Northeastern killed off the first one without a sweat, but the second— which actually began as a four-on-four — wasn’t as straightforward.
With the man advantage, another netfront scrum led to another Stiga chance, but Zacher stood tall again. By the time Perkins’s second penalty had been killed off, the second period had ticked under three minutes, and the game moved without incident to the third.
Despite the goalless frame, the period was dominated by the home side, who used six Northeastern penalty minutes to take the upper hand. BC recorded 15 shots on goal out of a remarkable 29 attempts overall, but just couldn’t crack Zacher.
Neither side appeared to take much of an initiative in the third, with the Huskies content to absorb pressure and BC unable to generate high-level offense. With just over 15 minutes remaining, Northeastern executed a clean zone entry, with the puck finding junior forward Dylan Hryckowian behind the net. “Ritzy” fired a pass that glanced off freshman linemate Jack Pechar before finding sophomore linemate Joe Connor, who executed a half-pass-half-shot that sent Korec’s head for a spin and gave Hryckowian a wide-open cage from six feet away. He made no mistake, and the Huskies’ margin stretched to two again.
Maybe people had Halloween Eve plans, because that goal — again, with 15:06 left — began to empty out Conte Forum. It didn’t help the Eagles’ on-ice play, which was increasingly contested in the neutral zone even as Northeastern gifted BC yet another power play on a trip by senior defender Dylan Finlay with 11:27 to play.
With or without the advantage, the Eagles just couldn’t click into gear, firing a number of long-range shots but failing to develop real chances as Zacher turned back puck after puck.
When Korec vacated his cage with 3:44 to go, the Eagles poured on one final push. Stiga and junior forward Ryan Conmy both got on the end of respective passes, but Zacher played miracle worker one final time, turning away both shots before Northeastern regained possession, broke out, and fed a streaking Jacob Mathieu, and the freshman was able to tuck it into an empty net with twelve seconds on the clock.
During the play, Gustafsson needlessly boarding Connor led to a post-goal scrum and an eventual game misconduct for BC’s captain. His status for Friday’s return game at Northeastern is uncertain.
The win marked Northeastern’s third straight, and even more impressively, their third straight over a highly-ranked opponent. The Huskies were outshot in all three matchups, but they’ve combined a defense committed to keeping chances to the outside with otherworldly goaltending from Lawton Zacher. That equation has led to results, even if it hasn’t always looked pretty.
“We thought we did really strong D-work in front of [Zacher],” said Northeastern head coach Jerry Keefe. “We really like that D-corps in front of him, [Zacher] is going to make the first save, and I think our group was committed to defending.”
Zacher’s 40 saves marked the most he’s had since December 29, 2024, when his Brown Bears shut out Long Island, 3-0.
“[Zacher] did a great job,” said Northeastern captain Vinny Borgesi. “We have six guys back there that can move their feet and make plays… we’re doing a good job right now, but at the same time, we’re really confident in Lawton back there.”
As much as Northeastern reaped the benefits of Zacher’s play, BC felt the brunt of its effects. They looked lost for words at times, simply unable to put the puck past a goalie playing at the top of his game.
“[Zacher] played very well,” said BC head coach Greg Brown. “He’s in command of his game, he looked in control, he was out challenging… We had a couple east-west passes for chances, but he still got across and made saves.”
The glaring issue for Northeastern, of course, was penalties. This isn’t a new development for Huskies teams, but one to look out for nonetheless. BC outshot Northeastern 41-23, but the margin was just 26-21 at even strength.
On Thursday, the Huskies showed they can play with the big dogs — or birds, rather — in Hockey East, even while logging triple the penalty minutes; Gustaffson’s 15 penalty minutes, which came with 12 seconds remaining, don’t count here. If they can clean up their act? There’s no telling how good they might be.
Tomorrow is a new day, and BC will certainly want to avenge their home loss, but through five games, it’s apparent that Northeastern has the quality — and the will — to compete in every single game they play, no matter how daunting the opponent.
“[We’re] a lot of guys playing for each other,” said Borgesi. “Playing winning hockey, being a good teammate… everything is for the team.”
Northeastern is back in action on Halloween Friday, with BC coming to Matthews for a return fixture. Puck drop is at 7 pm, with Amelia Ballingall, Chase Alexander, and Kabir Singh on your call on 104.9 FM.
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. He also writes for Mid-Major Madness, and you can find his work here.