Huskies fight back to tie RIT 3-3

Northeastern University men’s ice hockey took to the road last weekend, heading to Rochester Institute of Technology and storming back from a three-point deficit to tie the home team 3-3 in front of a crowd of more than 8,000 spectators.

After an entirely scoreless first period, RIT drew first blood less than a minute into the second frame. The hosts scored two more goals before the end of the period, seeing two in succession from third-year forward Erik Brown.

But the Red and Black refused to go down without a fight, and third-year forward Lincoln Griffin snuck one through to the back of the net at the tail end of a Husky power play with just three minutes left in the frame.

NU hit the ice for the final period with a new vengeance to score. Halfway through playing time, fourth-year defenseman Garrett Cockerill found the back of the net off a pass from third-year forward Adam Gaudette. After RIT was called for having too many men on the ice, fourth-year forward Dylan Sikura buried the game equalizer on a NU power play.

The teams battled it out in a five minute overtime period, which was unsuccessful in breaking the draw, ending the game 3-3.

“We got going [in] the third period with our backs against the wall, so I like how we responded,” head coach Jim Madigan said.

First-year goaltender Cayden Primeau saw a full 60 minutes of playing time and stopped 24 of the 27 pucks sent his way. The match against RIT was Primeau’s third collegiate appearance.

“I thought [Primeau] made some real good saves when it was 3-0 to keep us in it, and then in the overtime he made a couple of good saves too,” Madigan said. “I thought he responded really well; he was our best player.”

Overall, Northeastern outshot RIT 44-27, but was unable to net a game-winning point.

The Huskies return home to Matthews Arena this Friday and Saturday night to host Quinnipiac University in back-to-back games.