BOSTON — As Cristophe Tellier buried the rebound past the diving reach of UNH goalie Jacob Whale, you could practically feel the weight lifted from Northeastern’s bench.
For most of Saturday’s contest with New Hampshire, the Huskies were plagued with many of the same issues as Friday’s 4-1 loss, which coach Jerry Keefe described as “the worst game we’ve played this year by far.”
As a one-goal deficit persisted into the middle of third period, the prospect of a weekend sweep — and the hard reality that would have come along with it — was beginning to loom.
Instead, Tellier’s score allowed everyone to just take a deep breath.
Behind Tellier’s game-tying goal and a much-improved third period and overtime frame, Northeastern secured a 1-1 tie against UNH on Saturday at Matthews Arena. Dylan Hryckowian’s score in the shootout secured the extra point for the Huskies, who are now 1-5-3 (0-3-3) and have yet to record a Hockey East victory, despite four of their last five games going to overtime.
“I give our guys credit, because we got back in the locker room and we were able to try to stay positive, even though we know it’s tough right now,” Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe said. “We’re not sitting in there pretending [otherwise], but our guys came out and played a hard third period. They stuck to it … whenever you can come from behind the third and you can get two points on the night, that’s big for you.”
With 24 hours to regroup following Friday’s dreadful loss at the Whittemore Center, it was important for both the players and coaches to not allow their performance to carry into the second game of the weekend. For captain Jack Williams, that meant holding everyone on the team accountable.
“We came to the rink pissed off this morning,” Williams said. “Honestly, there was no sugarcoating it. We had a hard video session, hard meetings, and just had to be better. Everybody got held accountable, and I think we responded in a big way tonight.”
For better or worse, Keefe and the Huskies entire program have gotten plenty of experience handling tough early-season stretches in recent years — and in these moments of the season, finding the right balance in messaging is critical.
“After last night we really put an emphasis on just playing the game the right way today, and making sure that our checking game was where it needed to be, and our puck management was where it needed to be,” Keefe said. “The hard part about that as a coach is there’s a fine line, because when you do that, sometimes I feel like guys become a little afraid to make a play, right? And I kind of felt that a little bit tonight, we were playing careful at times.”
Northeastern came out of the gates controlling much of the play in the first period, but ceded the momentum to UNH towards the end of the frame. Then, with two minutes remaining in the opening period, freshman Joe Connor took a five-minute major and game misconduct for kneeing.
While Connor has been impressive offensively, the penalties are a real concern — he’s taken eight in Northeastern’s first nine games. As a team, it was already the Huskies’ fourth major penalty of the season, after they took none all of last year.
“He’s got to be more disciplined,” Keefe said of Connor. “One, we can’t go down again on a major — although PK was much better tonight, so that was something to build on — but we need Joe Connor on the ice. I mean, that hurts when, when you’re missing him. He’s a difference maker for our team.”
While Northeastern killed off the major, they remained shorthanded for the remainder of the night offensively. The second period was largely tiled in the Wildcats’ favor, and the dam broke with sophomore Ryan Comny’s rebound score off a sloppy line change and transition defense sequence by Northeastern.
Resetting ahead of the third period, the pressure was mounting to just score a goal — which Northeastern had not done since Jake Higgins’ score two minutes into the first period on Friday night. But Keefe attempted to keep the message positive.
“The message was, ‘we’re okay here. We’re down by one goal, We have to win a period.’ And I thought the leadership group and the bench was really good tonight, just staying positive and sticking to it,” Keefe said.
Once Tellier buried the rebound score with 12 minutes remaining in the third period — created off Jackson Dorrington’s bomb from the top of the slot — the Huskies looked like a brand-new team. They flooded the offensive zone for the remainder of the period, outshooting the Wildcats 16-8 in the frame and playing a much looser, more confident game.
The Huskies completely dominated the faceoff dot on Saturday, finishing the night 47‑19. They were able to take advantage of that discrepancy to control possession throughout the third frame and especially in overtime.
While neither team could find a way to score in overtime, Keefe and the entire team still took pride in Northeastern’s ability to claw back late and salvage a tie. And, quite frankly, the message cannot be to burn down the building after every game that does not unfold perfectly.
“You want to build off of the positives right now, because we haven’t had a ton of them,” Keefe said. “These games are tough. UNH is a good team. Everybody is. We’ve played overtime in our last five [games] I think, so games are tight right now. You just hope that you keep playing the right way, and you [will] get rewarded for it.”
And even though Saturday was far from perfect, it’s imperative that Northeastern’s players see that process translate into positive outcomes. Williams is hopeful that the finish on Saturday can provide a lift entering next weekend’s series against No. 2 Boston College.
“It’s great right now,” Williams said of the postgame atmosphere in the locker room. “Guys are happy. We’re not satisfied, but we’re happy. It feels good to get that under us, a comeback win — something we haven’t done this year. So that definitely feels good. But we know there’s a lot of work to do. We have a big test coming this weekend, so it’s right back to work.”
Northeastern returns to the ice on Friday to face No. 2 Boston College at Conte Forum. Amelia Ballingall, Zeno Minotti, and Luke Graham will have the call on WRBB 104.9FM.