By: Dan McLoone
DURHAM, N.H. – The Northeastern men’s ice hockey team dropped their third-straight game on Thursday night, allowing the game’s last four goals and dropping a 5-3 game to the University of New Hampshire.
Northeastern took an early lead, as UNH goalie Danny Tirone fell down on the ice just 4:18 into the game, leaving a wide-open net for Zach Aston-Reese to fire the puck into from the blue line. John Stevens extended the lead three minutes later, poking home a centering pass from Eric Williams on the power play for his third goal of the year.
Brendan Van Riemsdyk cut the lead in half just 10 seconds later, slotting a puck past Ryan Ruck to make it 2-1. Aston-Reese netted his second goal of the game six minutes into the second period, good for his nation-leading 21st of the season.
It was all downhill from there for the Huskies, as Jason Salvaggio scored during 4-on-4 play late in the second period to cut the Northeastern lead to 3-2. It was the first of four unanswered goals for the Wildcats, as heavy offensive pressure in the third period led to freshman Patrick Grasso scoring with 6:37 left in the game.
With both teams looking for a fourth goal, Marcus Vela found paydirt with just 2:04 left to give UNH their first lead of the night. Grasso netted his second of the evening on an empty netter in the last seconds of the game to add to the comeback.
Northeastern falls to 7-10-4 overall and 1-8-2 in Hockey East play. The two teams will be back in action on Saturday at Fenway Park as the second game of the Frozen Fenway series, with puck drop scheduled for 5 p.m. Full coverage will be available on WRBB.