Lowell blew open a close game with a five-goal period on route to a 7-2 victory over HockeyEast rival Northeastern. Sophomore goalie Marc Robitaille kept his Northeastern Huskies close as they entered the third period trailing by just a goal at 2-1. Lowell improves to 4-2 (2-1 HockeyEast) and Northeastern drops to 3-3 (2-1 HockeyEast). Lowell forwards Greg Koehler and Neil Boulanger had two goals each and Chris Bell had a goal and two assists. Riverhawk coach Tim Whitehead said he was pleased with "three strong periods of hockey, a good team effort throughout. Robitaille was strong, I was very impressed with him." Whitehead was especially pleased with the effort of his "second unit * comprising Bell, Boulanger and Brad Rooney up front with Kevin Bertram and Anthony Cappelletti on the blueline. "They were definitely our best unit tonight, which is a good sign for us. We've had some success on [the second unit], but it was nice see them tonight because they were just shooting the puck quickly."
The first period was close checking and Northeastern wasn't able to do anything on either of its two power-plays. It wasn't until late in the period that sophomore Greg Koehler got Lowell on the board with his first of two goals on the night. During some strong Lowell pressure, senior captain Mike Nicholishen took a shot from the point, which Koehler re-directed through his legs and the puck carried through a screen and broke off Northeastern's sophomore goalie Marc Robitaille at the 18:51 mark. The Riverhawks were to only outshoot the Huskies 8-6 in the period but had another 7 that were off the mark.
The second period started with a few good chances. In the first minute, Robitaille tried to dive on a loose puck behind his goal but Lowell was able to get the puck out to Lowell's junior forward Doug Nolan (Quincy, Mass.) who couldn't get it by a Northeastern defenseman. A few seconds later, Northeastern's Billy Newson broke in from the right side but Fillion shut him down from in tight. Lowell was to turn up the pressure at this point. Lowell went on their first power play at 2:34 and Robitaille turned away a few strong chances. At 4:20, Lowell got its second power play and they made this one count. With only about 0:20 seconds left in the man advantage, sophomore defenseman Kevin Bertram took a slap shot from the right point. The puck sailed wide to the right of the net and bounced out to sophomore forward Chris Bell. The Lowell forward put a hard wrist shot on a sliding Robitaille and once again the puck broke off the goalie and into the net at 6:04 giving the Riverhawks a 2-0 lead.
Lowell continued the pressure throughout the period on their way to amassing a shot advantage of 15-3 in the middle stanza. Many of Lowell's chances were on Robitaille's doorstep and the goalie kept coming up with the big saves. Furthermore, Northeastern was able to make one of their few shots count as they scored at 17:22 to cut Lowell's lead to one. On the goal, Husky freshman center Sean MacDonald sent freshman Matt Keating (Arlington, Mass.) in alone on a breakaway. Keating came down the left side and deke'd right, with Fillion going down in a spread-eagle. He slid a backhander into the gap between Fillion's outstretched skate and the right post for his first collegiate goal. Lowell was not able to regain its two-goal lead and the period ended 2-1.
The third period started off with more Lowell pressure much like the second period. Nicholishen was took a nice feed early on from freshman T.C. Harris and broke in around the defense but his shot rang off the post. A Lowell power play at 4:08 was to amount in the eventual game-winning goal. Lowell senior defenseman Chris Libett took a rolling puck off the boards and stepped in from the point position. With the puck still on edge, he took a slapper that may not have reached Robitaille but the goalie went down just the same. The puck bounced out to freshman forward Brad Rooney who was all alone in the slot. He snapped home his third collegiate goal over a sprawling Robitaille and Lowell had a 3-1 lead. Lowell was to make it 3-for-6 on the power-play four minutes later when Koehler put home a rebound off a Nicholishen slapshot. Robitaille's initial save bounced out into the slot where Koehler muscled around a Husky defenseman to put a wrist-shot high into the net at 9:15. The goal put Lowell up 4-1.
It took a few periods for Lowell to solve Robitaille but they finally sent the goalie packing at the 12:00 mark when hard-working freshman forward Neil Boulanger got something for his effort. Boulanger scored his first of two by putting home a nice feed from Bell putting Lowell up 5-1. Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder pulled Robitaille and inserted freshman Dan Calore (Acton, Mass.) The Huskies responded by continuing to generate pressure they had started to apply since Koehler put Lowell up 4-1. After not seeing too much action to this point in the game, Lowell goalie Martin Fillion was up to the task ... stopping everything Northeastern was throwing at him. A Husky power play at the 13:34 mark seemed to be a big help. Although Northeastern was 0-for-5 on the power play at this point, their special team looked to be gelling. Then the worst that could happen for the Huskies did. Rooney and Boulanger broke out on a two-on-one for Lowell. Boulanger got off a hard shot and Rooney grabbed the rebound at the top of the crease. A sure-goal was averted when a Husky defenseman got his stick on the shot and Northeastern regained control behind the net. They tried to bring the puck back up ice and suddenly Boulanger stole the puck, leaving him alone on Calore's doorstep. He put a low wrister by the Husky backup for a short-handed tally at 14:38.
Northeastern came right back and sophomore forward Roger Holeczy led the power-play unit into the Lowell end. He broke over the blueline and let go a mean wrist shot from high in the slot that beat Fillion on his glove side. The goal made it 6-2 but Lowell was to have freshman of their own get his first collegiate goal about 0:30 seconds later. The play developed as Lowell junior Mike Mulligan fed sophomore John Campbell cross ice with a nice pass. As Campbell skated around a Northeastern defenseman outside the blueline, the puck slid into the zone. Calore raced out to the face-off circle to grab it but Campbell beat him to it and tipped it into the corner. Unable to regain it before the goal line, Campbell looked for a following Riverhawk and fed T.C. Harris (Cambridge, Mass.) high in the slot. Harris deposited the puck past a few Huskies and into the empty net.
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<pre>
Scoring Summary 1 2 3 F Shots Totals 1 2 3 F
Northeastern 0 1 1 2 Northeastern 6 3 11 20
Lowell 1 1 5 7 Lowell 8 15 15 38
--------------------------First Period ------------------------------
UML * 18:51 Lowell 1-0 Greg Koehler(6) (Mike Nicholishen, Shannon Basaraba)
Period shots Lowell-8, Northeastern-6 ... Power plays Lowell 0/0, Northeastern 0/2
--------------------------Second Period ------------------------------
UML * 6:04 Lowell 2-0 Chris Bell(3) (Kevin Bertram, Anthony Cappelletti)
NU * 17:21 Lowell 2-1 Matt Keating(1) (Sean MacDonald)
Period shot Lowell-15, Northeastern-3 * Power plays Lowell 1/4, Northeastern 0/2
--------------------------Third Period ------------------------------
UML * 5:14 Lowell 3-1 Brad Rooney(3) (Chris Libett, Chris Bell)
UML * 9:15 Lowell 4-1 Greg Koehler(7) (Mike Nicholishen, Shannon Basaraba)
UML * 12:00 Lowell 5-1 Neil Boulanger(2)(Kevin Bertram, Chris Bell)
UML * 14:38 Lowell 6-1 Neil Boulanger(3)(Unassisted)
NU * 14:59 Lowell 6-2 Roger Holeczy(4) (John Peterman)
UML * 15:31 Lowell 7-2 T.C. Harris(1) (John Campbell, Mike Mulligan)
Goalie Saves 1 2 3 F Minutes Penalties Power-Plays
Robitaille (NU) 7 14 9 30 52:00 Northeastern 9/18 1/6
Calore (NU) - - 1 1 8:00 Lowell 9/18 3/6
Fillion (UML) 6 2 10 18 60:00
Three Stars
1) Chris Bell, UML
2) Jeff Boulanger, UML
3) Greg Koehler, UML
Attendance 1437 Referees Bill Jones, Jim Doyle Linesman Tom Carpenito
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