STORRS, Conn — Northeastern continued their streak of games against nationally-ranked Hockey East opponents on Friday, playing the other Huskies in the conference; No. 9 ranked UConn. Northeastern’s trend of the season — losing to said Hockey East opponents — also continued, as they fell 5-2 in the opening game of the home-and-home weekend series.
The game opened as many games in the 2024-25 season have for the Huskies, they found themselves at the will of UConn’s offense. While Northeastern was outshot 10-1 through the first 10 minutes of action, they were able to keep the score knotted at zero for most of the first period.
But, they eventually allowed the first goal off the stick of UConn’s Joey Muldowney late in the first period, after he followed up on a rebound in front. UConn later extended their lead to two mid-way through the second period thanks to a powerplay goal from Jack Richard.
However, Northeastern quickly showed some life as Cam Lund was sprung on a breakaway by a crisp stretch-pass from Dylan Hryckowian to cut the deficit to one less than 30 seconds later. Lund was Northeastern’s only scorer – potting both goals in the loss. The second score came early in the third period, after the forward stuffed in a rebound as well to beat freshman goaltender Calum Tung.
A Hudson Schandor score late in the second had already put Connecticut up by two once again, and following Lund’s second goal Northeastern was unable to close the gap any further. Two goals from Ryan Tattle, including an empty netter with 1.2 seconds remaining, sealed the win for UConn on their senior night.
Throughout the contest, the Huskies’ defense was unable to keep up, allowing 33 shots on goal. It should be noted that Northeastern’s D-core was limited due to the unknown absence of junior defender Vinny Borgesi.
Following the loss, Northeastern head coach Jerry Keefe was not made available to speak to the media, so it will remain a mystery why Borgesi was not present on the Huskies bench and what his status for Saturday will be. That being said, it is worth noting that he may not have even traveled with the team. This marks the second game in February the defender missed, the other being the Beanpot consolation game three weeks ago.
The two Husky teams will match up again at Matthews on Saturday night. WRBB will have live coverage from the contest from Matty Wasserman, Luke Graham, and Kabir Singh. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.