BOSTON — After a summer of discontent for Northeastern following a shocking sweep at the hands of Merrimack in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs last spring, the Huskies began to write a new chapter Sunday afternoon, routing Simon Fraser 10-2 in exhibition play at Matthews Arena.
Eight different skaters, including five freshmen, lit the lamp for the Huskies on a day that saw all three goalies – Derick Roy, Jake Theut and Ryan Ruck – get time in net.
“I think we’re going to have enough goals during the course of the year,” said Northeastern coach Jim Madigan, “but I think we’re going to have to focus on our [defensive] zone and making sure we’re taking care of our own zone as we try and score goals.”
Northeastern wasted no time in getting to work.
Just 2:18 into the game, Huskies captain and Hobey Baker hopeful Kevin Roy set the tone for what would end up being an offensive explosion for a Northeastern team that outshot Simon Fraser 63-11.
Collecting a pass from linemate Dalen Hedges, Roy quickly snapped the shot off of the glove of Clan netminder Lyndon Stanwood and found the back of the net.
Just 30 seconds later, the momentum continued.
A Trevor Owens shot, which found its way through traffic and was bouncing around the crease, met the stick of freshman Patrick Schule who poked away at it until it ultimately beat Stanwood, taking the air out of Simon Fraser from that point forward.
Zach Aston-Reese, Mike McMurtry and Adam Gaudette all got on the board as well before the Clan was able to pot its first goal in the third period.
Down 5-0 at that point, Mak Barden collected a pass from Tyler Basham and threw a rocket on net that sailed over the shoulder of freshman goaltender Ryan Ruck, piercing the back of the cage.
Showing a burst of resiliency, similar to last season after Northeastern jumped out to an 0-8-1 start, the worst in program history, freshman Jason Cotton answered back less than two minutes later.
Streaking down the ice with senior Brendan Collier, Cotton took the pass and fired it over the right shoulder of Stanwood.
Freshmen Lincoln Griffin and Eric Williams tallied their own to make it 8-1 before Adam Callegari answered with one of his own with 2:27 left in the game.
“We see that they can score,” said Roy on the impression the freshmen made during the exhibition. “They can make plays, and we need some big guys to come in and help us win.
“It’s a good start and we’ll see come next week when we face a good opponent.”
From that point on, Cotton scored two more, finishing with a hat trick on the day and putting an exclamation point on the victory.
“It was our first test,” said Madigan. “We’ve been working for the last three weeks to get to this point and it’s a barometer for us to start judging ourselves.”
