UNH Sweeps Northeastern

UNH's Casey Thrush
#1 Star vs Northeastern

For the second weekend in a row, the UNH Wildcats swept a 2-game series with a Hockey East opponent. With a 4-1 victory over Northeastern on Saturday night at the Whittemore Center, coupled with a 3-0 win at Matthews Arena on Friday, UNH has improved it's Hockey East record to 4-2-0 (6-5-1 Overall).

Until UNH broke the game open midway through the third period, the battle was more evenly matched than the previous evening. Northeastern played a tighter game in all three zones and each team registered 32 shots on goal.

Following a scoreless first period, senior Nick Sorkin continued his torrid scoring by putting UNH on the board with 7 minutes left in the second. Sorkin knocked in a rebound off a slap shot from Trevor van Riemsdyk. It was Sorkin's 7th goal of the season which leads the team. He is the third leading goal scorer in Hockey East.



Junior Casey Thrush scored his first goal of the season less than a minute after Sorkin's goal. Thrush banged home a loose puck following a shot from the top of the slot by defenseman Justin Agosta. The goal proved to be the game winner.



After Northeastern scored its lone goal of the night early in the third, Matt Willows put the Wildcats back up by 2. The goal was set up by an amazing sequence of moves by Trevor van Riemsdyk at the blueline. TvR kept the puck from sliding beyond the blueline twice then fed a soft pass to Willows streaking down the slot.



Grayson Downing closed out the scoring on a power play with 2 minutes left in the game. Dalton Speelman fed freshman Tyler Kelleher in front of NU goalie Derick Roy. Kelleher banged two quick shots and Downing cleaned up the rebound.

#1 UNH Star - Casey Thrush
In addition to scoring the game-winner, Thrush registered 5 shots on goal and played his best game of the season. In this sequence early in the third period, Thrush storms into the NU zone, fires a shot from the slot, and follows with a backhander that nearly beats Roy.



#2 UNH Star - Casey DeSmith
Over his last four games, junior netminder Casey DeSmith has allowed only 2 goals. In the 4-1 win over NU, DeSmith made 31 saves including these beauties:



#3 UNH Star - Trevor van Riemsdyk
TvR's assists on the Thrush and Willows goals added to his league leading totals. He now has 3 goals and 10 assists which is the most among Hockey East defensemen.

Next weekend, UNH travels to Providence College for a pair of games. PC currently is in 1st place in Hockey East with a record of 5-1-0. UNH is in third place with 8 points.

Box Score