Northeastern Edges UNH 2-1 For First Hockey East Win

UNH's Kyle Smith
Scores First Goal of Season

In the home-and-home series between UNH and Northeastern University, each team earned their first Hockey East Conference win of the season. On Friday night at the Whittemore Center, UNH jumped out to a 3-0 lead but Northeastern whittled the lead down to nothing with strong play in the second period. UNH won the game on freshman defenseman's John Furgele's first NCAA goal in the third period.

At Mathews Arena tonight, all three goals were scored in the third period. UNH got on the board first on Kyle Smith's first goal of the season. Shortly after, Northeastern tied the game on a goal by Ryan Rosenthal. NU's game winner came midway through the final stanza on Nolan Steven's first NCAA goal.

Goal-by-Goal Breakdown

Kyle Smith (from Matt Willows & Casey Thrush)
2:02 of Period 3 - UNH 1, Northeastern 0
~ Alternate Captain Casey Thrush blocked a shot and Captain Matt Willows gathered the loose puck and raced up the left side of the ice.
~ Willows and junior Kyle Smith entered the NU zone on a 2-on-1 break. Willows feathered a cross-slot pass to the wide-open Smith who buried it past Northeastern goalie Clay Witt.





Ryan Rosenthal (from John Stevens & Nolan Stevens)
3:32 of Period 3 - UNH 1, Northeastern 1
~ A little over a minute after UNH's goal, the Stevens-Stevens-Rosenthal line got NU on the board.
~ A rush up ice by Andrew Poturalski was broken up just over the redline. Collin MacDonald did a good job back-checking but freshman Nolan Stevens made an outstanding play knocking the puck away from MacDonald.
~ Nolan's older brother John collected the puck, skated across the slot, and wristed a shot that UNH freshman goalie Adam Clark saved with his chest. However, the puck rebounded just out of Clark's reach and Rosenthal slipped it under Clark's stick.




Nolan Stevens (from John Stevens & Mike Szmatula)
8:21 of Period 3 - Northeastern 2, UNH 1
~ The game-winning goal was scored by freshman Nolan Stevens just seconds after UNH had killed off a NU power play. Sophomore John Stevens, Nolan's older brother, dug the puck away from the half-wall to Clark's right.
~ J. Stevens passed to Mike Szmatula below the goal line who skated behind the UNH net and fed it back to John to Clark's right.
~ John made a play with his brother Nolan that they must have practiced countless times. John centered a pass to Nolan open in the low slot. Nolan beat Clark over his glove.






Northeastern earned their first win of the season. Their overall record is 1-8-1 and in Hockey East, they are 1-4-1. Goalie Clay Witt made 35 saves. UNH drops to 4-6-0 overall and 1-3-0 in Hockey East. Adam Clark made 31 saves. UNH returns to the Whittemore Center next Friday and Saturday for two games against Providence College.