After a strong first period, the Vermont Catamounts lost an early 1-0 lead and were defeated by the Northeastern Huskies, 3-1, in Hockey East action at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Friday night.
Senior Colin Vock scored the only goal for Vermont while freshman Justin Daniels, senior Kyle Kraemer, and junior Wade Macleod scored for Northeastern.
“Obviously it was a big road win for us, I thought we played a pretty high-percentage game,†Northeastern coach Greg Cronin said.
The first period quickly turned in favor of the Catamounts at 24 seconds when Vock took the puck close to the crease and sent a wrister behind freshman goalie Chris Rawlings, giving Vermont the 1-0 lead.
The Catamounts had chances to increase their lead as the rest of the period unfolded but were unable to score again.
One of Vermont’s best opportunities was when freshman Tobias Nilsson-Roos took a shot from the left circle, and Rawlings fell after making the stop. Players crowded around the net, trying to take advantage but couldn’t get the puck to cross the goal line.
The Catamounts also had a late power play opportunity to wrap up the first when sophomore Alex Tuckerman went to the penalty box for contact to the head elbowing at 16:22. Vermont kept the puck in the offensive zone for the majority of the power play, but didn’t add to the lead.
“The first period they had us on our heels,†Cronin said. “They controlled the play for a long stretch of the first period but I thought we held our poise and our composure, I think our goalie played well and we had to kill two power plays and I think that gave us some help too, our penalty kill did a good job.â€
As quickly as the Catamounts took the lead in the first, Northeastern came back to tie in the second. Just 54 seconds into the period, Daniels got the puck to the edge of the crease and slid the puck low past sophomore goalie Rob Madore.
The Catamounts tried to come back soon after when junior Jack Downing got the puck to junior Wahsontiio Stacey in front of the Northeastern net and Stacey shot a one-timer but couldn’t get it past Rawlings.
Instead, the Huskies took the 2-1 lead at 10:50. Madore made the save on a shot from freshman Jake Newton but Kraemer was close to the net and found a way to loosen the puck and score.
“I thought they played really smart with the lead,†Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon said. “We had to play a completely different game after that second goal, it deflated us a little bit, our guys tried to rally but they just kept it simple.â€
Vermont freshman Chris McCarthy got the puck close to the net in the third period as the Catamounts tried to forge a comeback. McCarthy almost got the puck to cross the goal line as the crowd roared and got to their feet thinking that the game was tied. McCarthy’s effort did not count though and time continued to run out on the Catamounts.
Vermont pulled Madore in the final minute but this ended up working in the Huskies’ favor as Macleod slid the puck across the ice. Vermont players couldn’t get to the puck quickly enough to stop it from going into the empty net and cementing the 3-1 lead for the Huskies.
Madore finished the game with 13 saves compared to 18 for Rawlings.
This game was the first of a two night series that the Huskies and Catamounts will play against each other at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Saturday night.
