Vermont Bests Huskies In First Game of Series

On a night where Northeastern outshot their opponent and played a relatively clean game, their offense only mustered a single goal and they dropped the first of a two-game series to the Vermont Catamounts 3-1.

Vermont came into Matthews Arena having won only one game in Hockey East play all season and in desperate need of some points to get them back into playoff contention.

The Catamounts got first period goals from Anthony DeCenzo and Jack Downing and the Huskies were never able to fully get back in the game.

The Huskies did outshoot Vermont by a total of 33-25, but junior Catamount goalie Rob Madore stood tall in net, saving all but one of the Huskies shots, a power play goal by senior forward Steve Silva in the third period to cut the lead to 2-1.

That was the only goal the Huskies could get with the man-advantage, going a total of 1-6 on the night.

Soon after the Huskies got on the board, getting themselves within striking distance and igniting the Northeastern fans, the Catamounts responded with a power play goal of their own. Forward Sebastian Stalberg wristed one past Huskies goalie Chris Rawlings as he was being screened and that was all Vermont needed to take care of the Huskies on Friday night.

“I said to the team after the game I thought everybody in the room contributed in one way or another to make a special play tonight,” said Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon. “Whether it was a shot block, a back check, taking a hit to make a play, or making an offensive play, it was different guys at different times that stepped up and I thought that was a good sign for us.”

The Huskies only committed three penalties for a total of six minutes spent in the box and went 40-21 from the face-off circle but it wasn’t enough.

“I thought Vermont played a real smart road game,” said NU head coach Greg Cronin. “I thought our power play could have been more productive. We had some chances and we just couldn’t bury them. It was frustrating because I thought we had a lot of chances and we didn’t score.”

The Huskies’ record drops to 5-10-4 overall and 5-7-3 in Hockey East while Vermont improves to 4-11-4 overall and 2-7-3 in Hockey East.

The two teams will play again tomorrow night at Matthews Arena, with the puck dropping at 7:00 pm. The game can be heard live on WRBB with pre-game starting at 6:45.