Tonight at Matthews Arena at Northeastern, NU defeated North Dakota 6-4.
 
Early on, UND had the edge, beating NU to the puck and simply beating NU.
 
The defensive pair of Naumenko and Bombardir did very well as Northeastern
was neither able to muster much offence against them nor stop the UND driven
by their breakouts.
 
Freshman sensation Landon Wilson showed his talent as he was clearly UND's
best forward and even scored on a very pretty play.
 
Early in the second period, it was 4-1, North Dakota, and it was looking
bleak for Northeastern.
 
Northeastern then exploded for 4 goals in the second to take a 5-4 lead.
 
UND's goaltending was very suspect, coughing up juicy rebounds and once even
allowing a goal in off of the pads (should never have happened).
 
After a strong first half, Wilson, Bombardir, and Naumenko seemed to disappear
in the second half of the game.  The only time Wilson was noticed again was
when he sent Aube of NU sailing over the boards into the UND bench with a
massive check late in the game.
 
NU goalie Mike Veisor was clearly the better goaltender as he came up with
the big saves when needed, especially in the last 2 minutes of the game.
 
Strong NU Performances:
  In addition to Veisor, Francois Bouchard, Mike Taylor, and Dan Lupo had good
games while Jason Kelly very quietly shored up the defensive end.
 
Bad NU Performance:
  If Northeastern intends to go with #3 Danny McGillis on defense this season,
and I mean give him ice time too (like he got tonight), they will be in a lot
of trouble.  The boy really wanted to give UND a breakaway/steal in his own
end tonight.  UND was unable to capitalize on his cross-ice passes in his own
end with an opponent playing the passing lane, but someone will.  He also took
forever at the point to wind up for a slap-shot.  The lost and dazed look is
something you would expect from a freshman, not a sophomore.  NU is in a lot
of trouble if they do not straighten him out.
 
 
Power-Play:
  This area stood out very much tonight.
  First of all, NU rushed the puck up all night at will when they had the
power-play.  UND tried to forecheck, but NU just made the attempts look
silly all night.  Although Northeastern did not capitalize on as many power-
plays as one would think, almost all of the play during them was in the UND
end with NU having control.
  On the other side, UND seemed to have some success early on when they
stacked men in front of the net (one in front, one in the slot, etc).  NU
reacted eventually, but not before they got into trouble with the UND players
screening as they pleased.
 
The physical battle that was predicted never really materialized as there
was only light hitting with the occassional heated political debate.
 
 
Overall a good game to watch with NU's comeback exciting for the home crowd
of 1,800.
 
I do not have the shots on goal or scoring summary.
 
The season has begun!
 
 
Tony  BU'92'93
Ogre (T-minus 1 day and counting)