BOSTON — Confidence was coursing through the Northeastern locker room as the Huskies prepared for a Friday night rematch against the Boston College Eagles. After a convincing 4-1 victory 24 hours prior at Conte Forum, they had one objective back on home ice: complete the sweep of a ranked rival.
The Huskies didn’t just seize this opportunity — they dominated it.
In front of a packed house at historic Matthews Arena, Northeastern stifled the Eagles’ offense and rode a 32-save shutout by junior netminder Lawton Zacher to a 3-0 victory on Halloween night, notching their fourth consecutive win over a ranked opponent.
If Thursday’s road win didn’t open eyes around Hockey East, Friday’s dominant display at Matthews announced that this young, unranked, and often overlooked Northeastern team could be the real deal.
It was a slow start once the puck dropped as both teams put up a defensive wall in a cautious opening frame. Through the first four minutes, neither team recorded a shot on goal.
While the period lacked offense, there was no shortage of penalties, a theme common throughout both games this weekend. At 9:05, the start of a long night in the penalty box began when freshman forward Giacomo Martino was whistled for tripping, handing BC their first power play.
The Eagles couldn’t capitalize on the man-advantage, as Northeastern’s penalty kill continued its strong play from Thursday night.
“The PK, that has been huge for us, on both nights, just locked in,” said Northeastern head coach Jerry Keefe.
The penalties didn’t stop there. At 7:57, BC’s Landan Resendes went to the box for hooking giving the Huskies a brief power play opportunity. Just a minute later, at 6:55, Northeastern senior captain Vinny Borgesi joined with a slashing minor, creating a 4-on-4. Before the Huskies could catch their breath, junior defender Joaquim Lemay joined with his own slashing minor at 6:00, creating a dangerous 5-on-3 spell for Boston College.
With Northeastern’s top defenders off the ice, the Huskies would face their biggest test. Zacher would be at the front of it all, and between his prowess between the pipes the defensive unit throwing bodies in front of shots and clearing pucks, they survived the pivotal minute and three seconds.
“Five-on-three, you just kind of got to sell out a bit, right?” Keefe said. ”We have great sticks, we blocked shots, positioning… That was a huge momentum shift for us.”
That momentum carried the Huskies through the remainder of the period. A scuffle with 35 seconds remaining sent BC’s Ryan Conmy to the box for slashing, giving Northeastern a power play to start the second.
With the man advantage to open the frame, the Huskies capitalized quickly, finally breaking open the scoring in a contentious game. Just over a minute into the frame, the puck bounced off the net into mid-air, where sophomore forward Amine Hajibi picked it up and flipped it past goaltender Louka Cloutier, to put the home side on the board.
The penalty parade continued. A whistle at 14:37 for too many men on the ice sent Tyler Fukakusa to the box, who leads the Huskies with the best plus-minus record of +7. Again, though, Northeastern would survive the kill.
At 6:10, Northeastern doubled its lead. Dylan Finlay fired a shot on net that found sophomore forward James Fisher at the front of the crease, who buried it past Cloutier for his second goal of the weekend.
“[Finlay] took a shot and it dribbled out to the front of the net, and I just drove hard and found my stick,” Fisher said.
Less than two minutes later, at 4:58, tensions boiled over. A post-whistle escalated into a brawl, a pivotal moment in the game. BC’s best shutdown defenseman, Drew Fortescue, was ejected with a game misconduct for direct contact to the head. When the dust settled, Joe Connor headed to the box for a two-minute roughing minor, and both teams received additional misconducts, including 10-minute penalties for the Huskies’ Dylan Hryckowian and the Eagles’ Will Skahan. The fallout resulted in a five-minute power play for the Huskies.
Despite playing a man down, BC generated chances, but Zacher continued to make impressive saves. The Huskies held their two-goal lead heading into the final period.
The third frame continued to look like the scrappy and physical hockey that defined the entire weekend. Both teams battled through the opening minutes in a back-and-forth affair, but Northeastern would put the game away at 15:47.
Freshman forward Jacob Mathieu fired a shot from center ice to Fukakusa, who quickly passed to Martino in front of the goal. Martino potted the rebound off Cloutier’s right pad to give the Huskies a comfortable 3-0 lead.
The chippy play continued, even with the game virtually in hand. Junior Eli Sebastain was sent to the box for roughing, but once again, the Huskies’ penalty kill survived. Just three minutes remaining, BC pulled Cloutier for an extra attacker, but couldn’t solve Zacher.
As the horn sounded, the Huskies had completed their goal of a sweep against the No. 11 Eagles with a 3-0 shutout.
“It’s always nice for me to get two victories, you know, on the weekend, especially against a very good opponent,” Keefe said. “We’re getting contributions from everyone up and down the lineup right now.”
Zacher’s 32-save shutout capped off a weekend that announced Northeastern as a force in Hockey East.
For BC, this weekend was a wake-up call.
“Northeastern had an outstanding weekend, especially defensively,” said Eagles head coach Greg Brown. “We weren’t able to generate enough chances on the inside.”
BC managed just one goal across the two-game set.
Northeastern improves to 5-1-0 on the season and will look to extend their winning streak when they host Stonehill on Friday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. WRBB will be on call on Sports+.
Isabelle Chardavoyne is a second-year student at Northeastern University. She is an aspiring journalist and broadcaster for WRBB.