PROVIDENCE, RI — Monday afternoon’s loss to yet another lesser opponent (Harvard) in the Beanpot consolation game was the dagger in Northeastern’s season, or so many thought. The Huskies were cast off and pronounced dead by many in the college hockey community, particularly the three thick skulled hosts of WRBB Sports’ Hockey East This Week radio show. However, coming out of the first game of the weekend against No. 7 Providence — a series those hosts called a sure fire beat down — Northeastern is three points richer in the Hockey East standings after beating the Friars 4-2 on Friday.
It has been an up and down season for the Huskies, to say the least. After beginning the campaign 8-1 and rising all the way to eighth in the NPI standings in late October, the second half of the year has been less than pretty for Northeastern.
With only two wins in 2026 and riding a six-game losing streak, the Huskies headed to Providence. The Friars, ranked seventh in the nation and atop Hockey East, came in looking to extend their win streak to ten. With the Huskies missing their best player and top scorer Dylan Hryckowian for a third-straight-game, it looked like a simple test for Providence on paper.
After John Mustard scored on the breakaway to make it 1-0 Friars midway through the first, it seemed that the Huskies was once again on the way to yet another loss. However, the new-look first line without Hryckowian stepped up when they were most needed.
Freshman Giacomo Martino got the scoring going on the powerplay to tie it up at one, sophomore Joe Connor split the defence to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead, and freshman Jacob Mathieu potted two in the third to thrust the Huskies to the upset they so desperately needed.
“[That was] a really good team win that this team really needed,” said head coach Jerry Keefe, “We needed this type of win, we really did.”
The Huskies had been reeling and were faced with the haunting fact that they only had seven games remaining on the year heading into Friday. Keefe had harped during the losing streak that the team needed a game, a win, that would help Northeastern “get their swagger back.” A victory over the best team in the conference should help in that category.
Luke Graham is the Digital Content Manager for WRBB Sports. He has covered Northeastern hockey and baseball with WRBB both on-air and in print for three years. Read all his articles here, and follow him on X here.