Box Score

Greg Cronin's postgame comments

2010-11 Men's Hockey Digital Media Guide

Freshman Jamie Oleksiak was the hero at Tsongas Center on Friday night, putting away the game-winner with 13.6 seconds left in overtime to thurst Northeastern to a 3-2 victory over UMass Lowell. The 6'7 defenseman's victorious bulls-eye marks Northeastern's first triumph after trailing through two periods.

Senior captain Tyler McNeely and junior Mike McLaughlin accounted for the Huskies other goals in the second and third stanzas, respectively, to aid in the come-from-behind victory.

The River Hawks outshout Northeastern, 39-34, while sophomore Chris Rawlings turned in another sterling performance with 37 stops to anchor the Huskies defensive corps. UML's Marc Boulanger stopped 31 shots in the losing effort. Rawlings evens out his record to 9-9-6 while Boulanger slips to 0-10-1.

UMass Lowell sustained the initial pressure from the start, but Northeastern gained the first power play of the contest after Maury Edwards took a hooking call at 6:46. The Huskies worked the puck around the top, but the River Hawks did a good job of clogging the middle and sweeping out anything tossed towards the cage.

David Vallorani put the first jolt into the game by oddly enough off both pipes, knocking it off the right post and over the left. After an official review, the call on the ice stood and the shot did not count. The River Hawks were denied another grade-A chance after Rawlings snuffed out an unattested wrist shot from the slot off the twig of Ryan Blair with about five minutes to go in the initial frame.

Northeastern finally pounced on a loose puck in front of Boulanger at the 9:40 mark of the second period thanks to heads up play from McNeely. A scrum in the corner jarred the puck out to Wade MacLeod as he had plenty of time to make a move. Boulanger snuffed out MacLeod's deke, but McNeely was hiding on the far post and buried the loose garbage for the 1-0 lead.

Michael Budd buttoned the game back up, 1-1, at 15:58 of the second on a rebound goal in front of Rawlings. Michael Scheu triggered the chance with a tight shot in close and Budd dunked it back in similar fashion to McNeely's goal a few exchanges prior.

Northeastern overcame a Drew Daniels hooking call at 17:40 of the second, but UMass Lowell was able to attack once the Huskies returned to even strength. Shayne Thompson wrangled the puck out of the neutral zone and wheeled it down the right side with one hand. Thompson tried to cross up freshman Luke Eibler and got a weak shot off, but Budd zoomed in from behind and bumped the puck back over at 19:36 for the 2-1 edge to close out the second.

The Huskies wasted no time cinching it up to 2-2 on a great transition play from rookie Rob Dongara to McLaughlin at 2:44 of the third frame. Even though Justin Daniels took a penalty at 1:05 to start the third, Dongara induced the turnover and motored it down the left side with his defender in pursuit. Dongara sought out his center at the last moment in the corner and made a perfect pass to McLaughlin in front of the net for the easy tip in to tie it up with the short-handed goal.

Each squad had an opportunity with the extra man through the middle of the third, but a late interference penalty to Oleksiak at 17:51 gave UML the upper hand to close out the contest, but NU's penalty kill kept the prime looks to a dull roar to force free hockey.

The door opened for the Huskies at 2:51 of overtime after Eibler drew a boarding call from Scheu behind UML's net. As time nearly expired Eibler shifted over to J. Daniels on the left circle. J. Daniels's head fake gave him time to set up Oleksiak with the one-time wrist shot on the opposite dot to clinch victory at 4:47 in overtime.

With the victory and a Maine loss, the Huskies leap frog the Black Bears in the standings and are now in fifth place through Friday's results.

With two more league points in hand, Northeastern now turns its attention back to the 59th annual Beanpot Tournament. The Huskies are in search of their fifth Beanpot title and first in 23 years (1988). Northeastern will play its 14th Beanpot championship bout, but it will be just the third time the Huskies have met Boston College in the finals. Monday's game time is set for 7:30 p.m. at the TD Garden and will be broadcast live on NESN.

Game Notes
• Northeastern's victory over UMass Lowell marks the first three-game sweep of any Hockey East opponent this season. The Huskies never lost to Massachusetts in their regular-season set, but skated to a draw on Jan. 29.

• The win against UMass Lowell also marks the longest winning streak in program history against the River Hawks. Northeastern has never defeated UML four-straight times, but put together six three-game winning streaks in the 99-game series.

• The Huskies are now 32-30-3 in games played in between Beanpot tilts.

• Wade MacLeod's assist puts him in a tie for 24th all-time in Northeastern scoring history with Dave Buda (1985-89). MacLeod has tallied 52 goals and 69 assists for 121 points in 138 career contests.

• Tyler McNeely broke a career-best by assembling a six-game point streak with NU's first goal of the game. McNeely has touched upon a five-game spurt twice in his career. The Burnaby, B.C native has notched seven points (3-4-7) within the current streak. Wade MacLeod matched his career-best with a six-game stretch as well, turning in nine points (3-6-9) during that time. Steve Silva is riding a four-game point streak for the first time since his freshman season with five points (2-3-5).

• Mike McLaughlin has scored goals in consecutive games four times in his career. The Seaforth, Ont. native netted a pair in Monday's Beanpot tilt against Harvard. Rob Dongara has posted assists in consecutive games twice in his rookie campaign thus far.

• Mike McLaughlin scored Northeastern's second short-handed goal of the season. McLaughlin scored the Huskies other short-handed goal against New Hampshire on Oct. 22, 2010.

• Northeastern's victory marks the first time the Huskies have come from behind after trailing through the first 40 minutes of regulation. It also marks the first overtime victory for NU in seven tries.