A home-and-home series between the Connecticut Huskies, and the Northeastern Huskies finished up on Saturday in Hartford, Conn. Northeastern once again dominated UConn from start to finish, beating them soundly 6-1.
Northeastern forward Kevin Roy tallied four goals on Friday night in the team’s 9-0 spanking of UConn and added three assists on Saturday as well.
“Kevin Roy is playing at the top of his game right now,” UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh said. “He was a lot for us to handle at times tonight; well actually all weekend long.”
Northeastern (14-11-4) kicked the scoring off 9:05 into the game. Trevor Owens took a pass at the point and got a shot off from the faceoff dot that went by the arm of Rob Nichols, giving NU the 1-0 lead.
“Anytime you can get four points in a weekend in this league, you’re happy,” said Northeastern coach Jim Madigan. “Every weekend points are at a premium. We’re all fighting for playoff spots, seedings, and trying to move up that ladder.”
UConn (9-15-7) skated hard the rest of the first period keeping the game at 1-0 and playing with a physical edge. A huge improvement, as after the first period Friday they trailed 5-0.
“I thought the game was a much different game than last night; I thought we played a decent first period,” said Cavanaugh. “We were playing a team where if you make a mistake, they finish, they capitalize.”
Northeastern doubled its lead early in the second period. Torin Snydeman slammed a wide-open rebound to the back of the net 2:45 into the period.
UConn forward Shawn Pauly was sent to the box shortly after the goal. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for UConn, as Pauly exited the box and scored, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
“I think we were playing very well at that point,” said Pauly. “We were getting some chances, we were getting some screens. I thought we were definitely playing better than last night at that point.”
UConn had swung the momentum its way for the moment; the Huskies picked up the physical play and were occupying the Northeastern zone. However, Northeastern struck out of nowhere, adding two quick goals to go up 4-1.
“I was really happy with the way we responded in the second period; we knew it was going to be a much closer and tighter game,” said Madigan. “We got up by two, we got a little lazy, and a little relaxed. I liked the way we ended the second period. It gave us a little separation.”
Northeastern added another pair of goals in the third period. Once again, UConn played a solid period with several chances, but Derick Roy (30 saves) held up in net for NU. This marked Northeastern’s sixth-consecutive win.
Nichols (25 saves) has been beaten up over the last week. The UConn netminder has allowed 20 goals in his last four games. Connecticut is 2-3-2 over its last seven games, but has a goal-differential of minus-21 in those games.
