DENVER, Co. — Northeastern traveled nearly 2,000 miles West to take on the defending national champions, and for 60 minutes, they experienced firsthand what makes Denver a championship-caliber team.
Pioneers’ captain Carter King brought the big crowd at Magness Arena to life with a tic-tac-toe transition goal five minutes into the opening period, and No. 1 Denver never looked back in a 5-2 win over Northeastern in their home opener on Friday night.
Though the Huskies strung together some encouraging offensive sequences and in particular received solid production from their second line, hanging with a team of Denver’s quality requires stellar top-to-bottom execution and detail — and Friday’s performance was far from that.
“You get away with lacking details when you’re playing a team that maybe isn’t as talented as you are, but obviously, Denver is as talented as we are, and probably has more talent than we do,” said Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe. “You can’t go out there and not be on the same page. It’s early in the season and there’s 15 new players [on Northeastern’s roster], but it’s not an excuse. It’s just reality. So it’s our job to teach and learn from that, and get everyone bought in.”
Northeastern was outshot 45-17 — including 15-3 in the first period — and without a phenomenal night by goaltender Cameron Whitehead, the game could have gotten much further out of hand.
From start to finish, Denver was the more physical, detailed, and speedy team in all three zones. The Huskies struggled to adjust to the Pioneers’ team speed, and the Pioneers’ slew of dynamic creators — namely eye-popping sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium — created tons of space to operate in the offensive end.
“Our execution on the forecheck was not where we needed it to be,” Keefe said. “[Neither was] our execution in the neutral zone, with our soft angles and keeping our speed, and our backcheck execution wasn’t where it needed to be.”
Offensively, the Huskies’ biggest bright spot was the second line of Cam Lund, Ryan McGuire, and Joe Connor. After struggling to find a rhythm and cohesion in the exhibition at Quinnipiac and season opener against Stonehill, the trio did a far better job executing on breakouts and generating consistent offensive pressure which led to scoring chances.
The line was responsible for the Huskies’ second period goal which cut Denver’s lead to 2-1, with a well-executed odd-man rush between Connor and Lund leading to Lund’s first goal of the season. McGuire also excelled defensively and in the faceoff dot, where he was 12-6 on the night.
“I thought they created some good chances, and I thought they were the biggest threat for us tonight,” Keefe said of the second line. “I thought [McGuire] did a lot of really good things, a lot of small things in the game, whether it’s faceoffs or playing physical and checking well. And I thought Joe and Lundy showed off their speed.”
The Huskies already entered Friday down top defenseman Jo Lemay due to an injury, and then lost defensive anchor Jackson Dorrington after he took a huge hit early in the third period. While Keefe was optimistic that Dorrington would return for Saturday’s rematch, his absence late put even more pressure on young defenseman Jack Henry, Seth Constance, and Nolan Hayes against a challenging opponent.
“It’s a good experience for some of those guys to be put in that situation,” Keefe said. “Even the older guys that are new, they are still trying to get used to our system and things like that. So the more experience the better, especially against a really good team.”
Northeastern was perhaps not as far off from the Pioneers as the final shot count indicates, but they will have to be much sharper across the board in Saturday’s rematch — a challenge they are ready to embrace.
“We’re not here just to play Denver, we’re here to beat Denver,” Keefe said. “That’s why we play. We want to be a top team in the country too, and you have to earn that right. So this game isn’t going to define us…but if we’re a good team, we’re going to learn from it and be better.”