Box Score

Greg Cronin press conference

2010-11 Men's Hockey Digital Media Guide

Northeastern closed out its regular-season series with Massachusetts by skating to a 2-2 draw on Saturday night at the Mullins Center in Amherst. The Huskies are unbeaten in their last five fixtures, marking the first time since Feb. 5 – 19, 2010 when NU put together five-straight wins.

Senior Wade MacLeod accounted for both of Northeastern's goals while linemate Steve Silva helped out on both plays. Sophomore Chris Rawlings, despite not posting another shut out, made 39 big saves to push his record to 7-8-6. UMass goaltender Paul Dainton made 30 stops on the night. The Minutemen outshout Northeastern, 41-32, including a 20-10 advantage in the first stanza and an 8-3 margin in the overtime session.

Northeastern wasted no time hushing the Mullins Center faithful as the Huskies offense went right to work with a quick strike just 35 seconds into the game. McNeely spawned the breakout by chipping the puck off the boards near the red line out to Silva. Silva worked it back to McNeely in close, but Dainton made the pad save. MacLeod hoarded the loose rebound and dunked it for the early 1-0 lead.

The home team responded just over a minute later after Chase Langeraap converted on a backhand wraparound goal at the 1:49 mark. Adam Phillips shifted the puck down behind Northeastern's net and Langeraap did the heavy lifting to cinch the game up at 1-1.

The Minutemen took the upper hand a few exchanges later at 3:26. Colin Shea blossomed the play in by sweeing the puck out of the neutral zone out to Conor Sheary. Sheary left a drop pass in perfect position on the left circle and Michael Periera rounded up the rubber and zipped it top-shelf for the 2-1 advantage.

Both penalty-killing units were on display to cap the first frame. Neither team capitalized, but Massachusetts padded its shot total with the extra-man. The Minutemen outshot the Huskies, 20-10, in the first 20 minutes.

Northeastern drew even thanks to the persistence of the first line of forwards once again at 3:01 of the second period. Silva bucked a UMass forechecker in between the Minutemen's circles, forcing the puck into a dicey spot for Dainton. MacLeod bee-lined to the loose disc and maneuvered around the UMass netminder for his second goal of the evening to button the game back up, 2-2.

Freshman Luke Eibler was called for interference at 17:31 of the second to prevent an odd-man rush from making its way past Rawlings. The Minutemen sustained an attack and posed many threats, but Rawlings made an astute stop at 18:20 on T.J. Syner. Syner had an open look on the right side, but Rawlings kicked his pad out to impede the puck and push the game into the third all square.

After a few power play opportunities unfolded without a score, Silva and Mike Hewkin took respective hooking and interference calls at 12:14 and 13:29 of the third period. The Minutemen went on the 5-on-3 for 45 seconds, but a couple miscues on UMass' behalf allowed Northeastern to come away unscathed from the two-man disadvantage.

Northeastern nearly ended the contest in regulation after MacLeod jostled the puck loose from UMass at the blue line. McNeely swooped in and charged Dainton unattested, but the puck sailed just inches over his glove to force the extra frame.

In the overtime period, UMass dominated the pace of play, but Rawlings was able to plug up the Huskies' net in crunch time.

Northeastern returns home to host Merrimack in a pivotal Hockey East match-up before making its way to the TD Garden for the first round of the 59th annual Beanpot Tournament on Monday, Feb. 7 at 5 p.m. The Huskies will reunite with Harvard after clipping the Crimson, 3-0, on Jan. 19 at Matthews Arena.

Game Notes
• Wade MacLeod continues to re-write history in Northeastern's all-time scoring annals. The Coquitlam, B.C. native has tallied 52 goals and 65 assists for a total of 117 points in 135 career games. MacLeod is currently tied for 27th with legendary forward Randy Bucyk (1980-84 • 60-57-117) and Les Chaisson (1970-73 • 46-71-117).

• Wade MacLeod has scored two goals in one game eight times in his career. The last time the senior netted a pair was just two weeks ago against Vermont on Jan. 15, 2011. MacLeod now has 31 multi-point career games under his belt.

• Steve Silva notched his third multi-point game of the season and 13th of his career with the two assists.

• The last time the Huskies strung together an unbeaten streak of five games was last season when NU went on a five-game victory stretch from Feb. 5 – 19, 2010.