BOSTON – Northeastern came into night two of Homecoming weekend looking to back up Friday’s 2–0 win and close out the series against Stonehill. The Huskies did just that, leaning on their depth as they skated through a messy and emotional first period before pulling away late for a 4–2 win. The victory pushed them to 7–1–0, the program’s best start since 1980.
Jerry Keefe shuffled his top six before puck drop, sliding freshmen forwards Amine Hajibi and Jacob Mathieu onto the first line while moving sophomore Joe Connor to the second. Keefe has said repeatedly that he views every line as equally important, but he also knew his team needed a spark.
“Just trying to spark things,” he said. “I didn’t think we had been scoring a ton. […] And a big part of that is trying to get Hajibi going a little bit. He’s been playing really good hockey, trying to find more ice time for him.”
The opening minutes did not go Northeastern’s way. On Stonehill’s first shot of the game, a turnover in the neutral zone sent Matthew Romer in alone, and he finished forehand to backhand to beat Lawton Zacher to give the Skyhawks a 1–0 lead.
The Skyhawks kept the pressure up, winning draws, getting inside the Huskies’ defense, and spending long stretches in the offensive zone. Northeastern struggled to settle the puck or get to the interior, and Stonehill’s forecheck forced repeated turnovers.
The game shifted midway through the period when Matthew Perkins took a heavy hit into the boards and left the ice with blood dripping onto the sheet. Perkins did not return for the rest of the game. The play resulted in a five-minute major and a game misconduct on Stonehill’s Matthew Rafalski, handing Northeastern a long power play and a chance to regain control.
The Huskies piled up chances but couldn’t convert. They generated a steady stream of shots from in tight and along the perimeter, creating several dangerous looks, but Stonehill goalie Connor Androlewicz turned aside everything that came his way.
Even though Northeastern didn’t score on the major, junior forward Dylan Hryckowian felt it was a turning point. “We had a good five minute power play,” he said. “Obviously we didn’t score on it, but we gained a lot of momentum after that, and then we got the equalizer right after.”
That equalizer came with 48 seconds left in the first. Hajibi chased a puck behind the net and feathered a backhand centering pass to Hryckowian in the slot, who snapped it home.
The second period opened with Stonehill still on the power play, and Zacher had to make a sharp right-to-left save from point-blank range to keep it 1–1. Northeastern’s zone exits grew sloppy again, and Stonehill continued to win draws, leading the faceoff count 16–6 at one point. But as the period settled in, Northeastern finally began to string together sustained shifts. They cycled deeper, protected pucks better, and forced Stonehill to chase more often.
At 12:01, matching minors created another stretch of 4-on-4. After the penalties expired, Northeastern flipped the game on a power play of its own. Tic-tac-toe passing created space in the slot where freshman forward Giacomo Martino finished from in tight, with Hryckowian and Borgesi on the helpers. It gave Northeastern its first lead of the night and marked the payoff from the work they put in during that long major earlier.
Stonehill answered late in the period on their next power play, with Romer scoring his second of the night from the high slot off a feed from freshman forward Pat Murphy. The goal tied the game again at 2–2 heading into the third.
Keefe liked what he saw throughout that middle frame. “We played way more to our identity,” he said. “I think that was a big reason why we held them to a lower shot total. They were pushing at the end and throwing everything at the net, but I felt like we didn’t play nearly as much in the defensive zone tonight. I think that was a credit to our forwards and our D buying in, holding onto pucks, playing behind the other team’s net a little bit more.”
The third period tightened up as both teams clamped down. Northeastern generated early chances but had trouble connecting in the offensive zone. Stonehill pushed back with long spells of pressure, and even though the Huskies held the edge in shots, the Skyhawks often controlled tempo.
The breakthrough came with 14:01 left in the period when junior forward Tyler Fukakusa sprung Martino with a stretch pass. Martino attacked his defender one-on-one and beat Androlewicz from the slot to restore the lead. It was his second of the night and exactly the kind of play Northeastern needed with the game teetering.
Stonehill pressed hard after falling behind, and the Huskies weathered several long shifts in their own end. Zacher stood tall again, and the faceoff improvement helped, as Northeastern won 7 of the first 9 draws of the period to tilt possession back.
The visitors pulled the goalie with 1:37 left, but Hryckowian intercepted a loose puck in the neutral zone and buried the empty netter with 37 seconds remaining to lock in the 4–2 win.
Afterward, Keefe summed it up simply. “Huge character win,” he said. “That is a good team over there. I don’t care what the record is. They are going to win some games this year. We knew it was going to be a 60 minute effort. Good teams win close games, and they find ways. I like how we responded from last night. That was a great win.”
Northeastern will aim to keep their momentum going as they hit the road to face No. 11 UConn in Storrs, Connecticut. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m., with coverage on WRBB Sports.
Armaan Vij is a third-year student at Northeastern University and a broadcaster and writer for WRBB Sports. He has covered Northeastern hockey, baseball, and rowing both on-air and in print for the past two years. Read all his articles here.