BOSTON – No. 15 Northeastern men's ice hockey received goals from three different scorers, along with a combined 22 saves from Ryan Ruck and Jake Theut, to help the Huskies to a 3-1 victory against Acadia in an exhibition contest on Saturday night at Matthews Arena.
Adam Gaudette, Trevor Owens and Eric Williams all scored for Northeastern, while Williams (one goal, one assist) andGarret Cockerill (two assists) recorded multi-point nights. Ruck made 13 saves through the first half of the game before Theut finished off with nine saves in just over 30 minutes of action.
Northeastern jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals from Gaudette and Owens less than four minutes apart in the first period to set the tone for the evening. Sam Fioretti would cut NU's lead to one midway through the second period with a power play tally before Williams regained the Huskies' two-goal cushion six minutes into the final frame.
NU outshot the Axemen 34-23 for the night and won 40-of-29 face-offs, led by an 18-of-27 performance form captain John Stevens. The teams would combine for 114 penalty minutes in a chippy affair, with 78 from Acadia and 36 from the Huskies.
Goal descriptions:
• Gaudette gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead with a four-on-four tally just 3:35 into the game. After Northeastern picked up a loose puck in the defensive zone, Garret Cockerill rimmed it around the boards up to Gaudette in the neutral zone. The sophomore then sped down the right side and ripped a shot five-hole to beat Williams for the score.
• The hosts went up by two with 12:37 to play in the first period when Trevor Owens beat Williams glove side. The play began when Dylan Sikura took a long feed from Owens in the defensive zone and went in on a breakaway. Williams made the big save, but Sikura gathered his own rebound and spotted Owens joining the rush. Sikura fed him with a pass and Owens buried it top shelf.
• Acadia cut the deficit to 2-1 midway through the second period with a power play conversion from Samuel Fioretti. With the Axemen moving the puck around the zone, Matthew Pufahl fired a shot from the point that got knocked down in front. Boston Leier, however, found the loose puck and dished it to Fioretti on the tap-in past Ruck.
• Following a two-minute five-on-three power play for Northeastern six minutes into the third period, Williams extended the Husky lead to two with a slap shot from the right dot. Williams began the play himself by holding the puck in the attacking end and waiting for reinforcements. He found that in Cockerill, whose one-timer from the slot was knocked down by an Axeman defenseman. Cockerill picked up his own rebound, though, and fed Williams for a rocket that beat Williams over the glove.