AMHERST – Entering their second matchup of the weekend against No. 19 UMass, the Northeastern Huskies turned to freshman goaltender Sam Caulfield in the wake of an injury to senior goaltender Lawton Zacher. Looking to bounce back from a 4-1 loss Friday night, this time, they found themselves on the winning end of the same scoreline.
Caulfield stood strong in net, stopping 34 of the 35 shots he faced to secure his first NCAA win. His only major miscue came in the second period, when he gave the puck away to junior forward Cameron Dunn behind the net. Fortunately for Caulfield, the turnover was not costly for Northeastern.
“[Caulfield made] big key saves for us at the right times,” said Northeastern head coach Jerry Keefe. “I thought he looked extremely strong in there, and he looked confident.”
Northeastern’s first goal came on a shot from sophomore forward Giacomo Martino that deflected off the skate of sophomore forward Miguel Marques and into the back of the net. It marked the second consecutive night that the transfer from Maine opened the scoring for Northeastern.
Despite struggling against UMass’s forecheck late in the frame, the Huskies held on to their 1-0 lead as the period came to a close, with Caulfield stopping 14 shots in his first 20 minutes.
Northeastern faced disciplinary struggles all night, highlighted in the first period with four minor penalties. Two of those neutralized their own power play opportunities, turning five-on-fours into four-on-fours and leaving the Huskies just 1:25 of ice time on the man advantage.
The trend continued throughout the second period as well, with Northeastern successfully killing a bench minor assessed at the end of the first period and a holding penalty against senior forward Eli Sebastian.
After getting hit with a second bench minor for too many men on the ice, the Huskies’ penalty woes eventually caught up to them, with sophomore forward Gavin Cornforth tying the game on the power play with a shot from the doorstep.
Northeastern’s biggest break came minutes later, going on a two-man advantage following an interference minor on sophomore defender Charlie Lieberman and a spearing major and resulting game misconduct on freshman and top-line center Egor Barabanov.
Northeastern capitalized on their 5-on-3 opportunity, as sophomore forward Jacob Mathieu set up sophomore forward Amine Hajibi with a one-timer to give Northeastern the lead.
Caulfield’s aforementioned puck-handling miscue came during the latter half of Northeastern’s five-minute power play, as he attempted to ditch the puck in the trapezoid. Dunn, bearing down, grabbed the loose puck and attempted a wrap-around, but sophomore forward Joe Connor was able to knock the puck off his stick on the backcheck to preserve Northeastern’s lead and bail out Caulfield.
UMass ramped up its offensive attack in the final two minutes of the second period as they got back to even strength. But Caulfield remained composed, helping Northeastern hold on to their 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
The Huskies added insurance on their lead halfway through the final frame, as senior forward Tyler Fukakusa located freshman forward Dawson Sharkey with a one-timer for his first collegiate goal in the waning seconds of their sixth power play.
Northeastern limited UMass’ opportunities in the final minutes of the game, interrupting their zone entries and forcing the Minutemen to retreat back into their own zone. The Huskies put the game out of reach with an empty-net goal by Martino.
“I thought it was a great team win,” Keefe said. “I thought we closed that out the right way, and just played a good winning brand of hockey there in the third period.”
Northeastern improves to a 2-1-0 record overall, but remains 0-1-0 in Hockey East play since Saturday’s matchup was a non-conference game. The Huskies will have more time for some of their injured players to recover, as they face Harvard next Friday in an exhibition game before resuming regular season play the following weekend.
The Huskies are back in action on Friday, October 23, with a 4:00 p.m. matchup against Harvard. Max Schwartzberg and Kabir Singh will have the call on WRBB Sports+.
Kabir Singh is a third-year student at Northeastern University. He is a hockey writer and broadcaster for WRBB Sports. Read all his articles here.