Northeastern scored five times in the first period and kept the pedal to the metal en route to a 9-0 demolition of Connecticut.
Zach Aston-Reese recorded a hat trick, but was one-upped by teammate Kevin Roy who registered a Texas hat trick (four goals). Clay Witt stopped all 27 shots he faced for the shutout.
Two of Northeastern’s goals came on the power play; its penalty kill was perfect in all five UConn chances.
Aston-Reese accomplished his trick all on deflections, an appropriate tribute to his team’s emphasis on getting to the net.
“It was good for our special teams,” he said. “We didn’t give them a power-play goal, got our power play going, and all the lines were rolling. It was a feel-good night.”
Northeastern extended its undefeated streak to seven games and has now lost only once since Dec. 3.
“When you look at how good we’ve been, it gives us a lot of confidence,” Roy said. “We know we can beat any team any night, but we also want to have the right level of confidence and not be too confident and lose a game because we’re above ourselves. Our level is perfect right now. We’ve just got to keep it rolling.”
With the win, Northeastern delivered the first salvo in the weekend Battle of the Huskies — a sportswriter’s nightmare in which both teams use the same nickname. The Huskies face off against each other on Saturday afternoon at 3:30, a game moved up to try to beat the impending snowstorm.
“We’ll enjoy this game for two hours,” NU coach Jim Madigan said. “By the time we get to Hartford, our focus will be all on tomorrow.”
Even with the lopsided loss, UConn remains 2-2-2 in its last six — certainly no embarrassment for Hockey East’s newest team — but the drubbing marks its second blowout in as many weeks. Last Saturday, Providence similarly punished UConn 10-1.
“You can have one performance like that and say it’s an aberration, but when it’s two out of the last three [games], that’s something we’ll have to take a look at,” UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh said.
“We’re clearly not a team that’s inundated with a lot of skill and can win 8-7 games. We’re a team that prides itself on playing strong, sound, fundamental hockey and good defense and protecting our goaltender. We really didn’t do a great job of that tonight.”
UConn goaltender Rob Nichols, a major factor in the team’s success earlier this year, played all 60 minutes and absorbed all nine goals.
“There are times where you pull the goalie,” Cavanaugh said, “but we pulled him last week in a very similar game, so I wanted him to fight through it.”
Aston-Reese got it started at the 2:48 mark of the first on a deflection of a Colton Saucerman shot from the point, then followed that up with a carbon copy-goal eight minutes later on a power play.
Two minutes later, freshman defenseman Garret Cockerill recorded his second goal on a shot from the right faceoff circle.
Roy got his first at 17:01 on a wrister from the left wing, and Mike Szmatula scored short-handed to make it 5-0, completing the first-period destruction.
UConn thought it got on the board with 13 seconds left in the period with multiple players whacking at the puck from the doorstep, but video review reversed the signaled goal.
Midway through the second, Aston-Reese completed his hat trick of deflections off a Szmatula shot.
With 18 seconds left in the period, Roy added his second goal, the first of three straight for the star, with the last two coming at 4:50 and 12:16 of the third.
