By: Dan McLoone
NORTH ANDOVER – It wasn’t the result they had in mind, but the No. 8 Northeastern hockey team picked up a valuable Hockey East point to head into the holiday break, skating to a 1-1 tie with Merrimack at Lawler Rink on Saturday afternoon.
Merrimack played a near-perfect first period, holding Northeastern to just five shots on goal. The Warriors (4-9-4, 2-6-2 Hockey East) got on the scoreboard with 5:19 left in the frame, as Brett Seney sent a faceoff win over to Jace Hennig, who fired a shot five-hole past Cayden Primeau (29 saves) for a 1-0 lead.
The Huskies (10-5-2, 8-3-1 HE) picked up their offensive game in the second period, and the rush paid off when Adam Gaudette potted his 12th goal of the year on a power play tally with just under seven minutes left to even the score at one. Both teams created numerous chances in the third period and overtime, with Northeastern firing 16 shots on Craig Pantano (32 saves), but neither netminder allowed another puck to find the back of the net.
The game saw the debut of transfer forward Brandon Hawkins, who tallied 58 points over two seasons at Bowling Green. With the point, the Huskies head into the two-week holiday break sitting in second place in Hockey East, just a point behind Boston College. Northeastern is back in action on December 30, when they host AIC at 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena. Full coverage of the game will be presented starting at 6:45 p.m. on WRBB.
https://soundcloud.com/joshua-brown-462337903/madigan-after-mc