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ROCHESTER, NY — For the third season in a row, Rochester Institute of Technology settled for a tie in the Tigers’ annual Brick City game at Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester.
RIT opened a 3-0 lead midway through the contest, but No. 14 Northeastern chipped away and earned a 3-3 tie in front of 8,835 orange-clad fans.
Erik Brown had a pair of goals for the Tigers, while Northeastern got goals from three different players and 24 saves from freshman Cayden Primeau.
After a scoreless first period, RIT staked rookie goaltender Logan Drackett, who made 41 saves in his college debut, a 3-0 lead with a trio of goals in the first 13:48 of the second period.
Myles Powell got the Tigers on the board just 50 seconds into the second frame. After a Huskies turnover at the Northeastern blue line, Matt Abt’s shot was blocked, but the puck came to Powell, whose wrist shot sailed underneath Primeau’s blocker.
Brown stuck at 5:58 for his first goal of the game when Primeau stopped Mark Logan’s breakaway attempt, but the rebound came to the trailing Brown and he finished for his first of the season.
After Brown’s power play goal at 13:48 made it 3-0, Northeastern was able to get on the board with a big momentum-swinging tally about three minutes later. Just as an RIT penalty expired, Lincoln Griffin converted a nice setup by Zach Solow to cut into the Tigers’ lead.
Northeastern carried the play in the third period, outshooting the Tigers’ 16-8 with 12 of those shots coming on their four power plays.
“I thought we were opportunistic through the first two periods to get that lead, but then we didn’t play very smart,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “The thing they excel at, (Adam) Gaudette and (Dylan) Sikura in particular…is their power play. And we kept putting them on the power play.”
Northeastern had eight opportunities with the man advantage, converting once, but that one time was the game-tying goal from Sikura with 3:40 left in regulation. After Drackett made a pair of point blank stops, the Huskies maintained possession with Sikura putting it home from a tight angle.
The Huskies dominated in shot attempts, 80-25, but RIT had all the chances in overtime, outshooting Northeastern 3-0.
“It’s a lesson learned for us,” said Northeastern coach Jim Madigan. “We told our kids that this a very good hockey club, and letting them know how big of a game this was for them. We have enough skill on the team where our kids think they’re going to get three or four or five goals, and it just doesn’t happen like that.”
Wilson and Madigan both had praise for Drackett, who made several key stops, including all 16 in the first period.
“We were getting some good looks,” said Madigan. “We were shooting the puck wide and they were getting in front of a lot of shots. And their goalie made a lot of really good saves. We had a lot of quality shots. But you have to find a way to get three goals against good goaltenders, and there’s a lot of good goaltenders in our league.
“I wanted to see what (Drackett) would do in this environment”, said Wilson. “Just a gut decision. We’re not ready to award anyone the number one position yet. But this has given us food for thought.”
