The Lowell Riverhawks have sealed the fact that they will be Hockey East's Third Place team come the first of the year. In what has clearly been a most rewarding first semester for rookie coach Tim Whitehead, Lowell has once again risen well above and beyond the expectations of the Hockey East world. In ironic fashion, the Riverhawks completed their first half with a weekend sweep of Northeastern, led by last year Lowell coach and Whitehead's former boss - Bruce Crowder. Lowell beat Northeastern on the Huskies home ice Thursday night by a score of 5-3 and completed the sweep last night at home with a last minute goal to win 2-1. The ghosts of Tully forum must have been in an uproar to see Crowder coaching the Huskies and these same ghosts would make their presence heard later on. Last night's hero was tri-captain Neil Donovan (Canton, Mass.) who took a feed from Doug Nolan (Quincy, Mass.) in the corner and skated along the goal line right out in front of the Huskies freshman keeper Marc Robitaille. Donovan beat the goalie as he scrambled to stop the talented senior. The goal came at 19:29 of the third period and broke a 1-1 tie that had stood for nearly 40 minutes ... since Donovan had fed Nolan for the game tying goal at 0:31 of the second period. Donovan clearly earned his first-star honors as the spirited senior rallied his squad with talk of "this means third place" before and during the game. It took the extra effort of this senior to beat a pesky Huskie squad who once again showed off their slick power-play, but this time ... Lowell goalie and second-star Martin Fillion was able to stop 27 of 28 shots on route to his third-straight Hockey East victory. After giving up nine goals in two games to Merrimack and then five to Maine, Fillion has only given up six in his last three games to lower his GAA to 3.33 as he positions himself to re-assume the role as one of Hockey East's premier goalies. Fillion turned away 42 of 45 shots on Thursday night. Northeastern had just four power-plays to only two for Lowell, but it was during these Huskie man-advantage oppurtunities that Northeastern got most of its scoring chances. No goals were scored during any power plays though. Northeastern got on the board first, at 11:28 of the first period as senior Eric Peterson (Burlington, Mass.) fed freshman Todd Barclay on a three-on-one rush and Barclay beat Fillion to the far side with a hard snap-shot from just inside the face-off circle. Nearly a 2-on-0, Lowell defenseman Mike Nicholishen tried to no avail to come across the ice to break up the Huskie attack. But, Peterson fed Barclay to his left and effectively blocked out Nicholishen on his right as the freshman gave the Huskies the lead. Fillion kept Lowell in a one-goal game throughout the rest of the period, especially on a play where he was crashed behind the net. He just scrambled out in front in the nick of time as Northeastern fed their sophomore Brent Thomas out front. Fillion stoned Thomas with his blocker as the goalie struggled to keep his balance and the period ended with the 1-0 score. Lowell came out flying in the second period and it didn't take them long to tie the score. Neil Donovan led a rush as he came down the right side and squeezed between the boards and Huskie defenseman Rick Schuwerk. Donovan then skated down into the lower circle and fed Nolan out front as the forward slid it by Robitaille. Lowell continued the pressure and sophomore Mike Mulligan nearly scored with a feed from freshman Chris Bell on a three-on-one rush. But, Robitaille was able to keep the scored tied until Northeastern went on the power-play twice at 4:15 and 6:55. Lowell continued to struggle from keeping this fast-moving power-play at bay ... but Fillion was equal to the task on everything that the Huskies threw at him. Northeastern had been carrying the play for throughout this time until Thomas was called for roughing out in front of the Lowell net. Offensive zone penalties can really hurt a team's momentum ... and this one did as Lowell controlled the play for the most part during the remainder of this period. Northeastern got another power-play at 16:12 but this one was effectively killed without a shot and the period ended in a 1-1 tie. The third period was tentative and cautious. The first ten minutes was marked by several good scoring oppurtunities by both teams, but for the most part the play revolved around center ice. Then the ghosts of Tully Forum made their presence known and the lights went out! (Some would credit the storm, but I know better!) After a few moments of pitch dark ... the emergency lights kicked in over a stunned crowd. Nearly 20 minutes passes before the were able to resume the game under 100% of the overhead lights but with none of the high-powered lamps down each side. After about another minute of play, the game was stopped again with a problem with one of Northeastern's doors on their bench. This delay was only about 4 or 5 minutes and the Huskies had to play with only one door functional. Crowder seemed to be asking referee Fitzgerald for consolation, but I'm not sure what kind could be offered. (Maybe make Lowell use only one door?) But, Crowder then seemed to say forget it as I'm sure he was anxious to get this game underway. If that wasn't enough ... about another minute later, the scoreboard seemed to think the game was over at 11:57 as it sounded its horn right in the middle of play. Luckily it was center ice play and they just has a face-off. But, two seconds later it went off again. This caused a 3 or 4 mintues delay before play resumed. At this time, all the lights were back on ... but they weren't to stay that way. Gradually, here and there throughout the remainder of the game ... certain lights stopped working as Tully got darker and darker. It was certainly not clear whether they would be able to finish as each light going out was greeted with the chorus of 'oooooo's" from the crowd. There was definitely enough light to continuee play until Donovan scored the game winner with only 31 seconds on the clock. More lights dimmed during the celebration and I think Crowder was told to hurry during his teams subsequent time-out. Actually, Fitzgerald was trying to get this game finished but didn't press the issue after Crowder said he wanted time-out. In any case, Lowell got their victory and the crowd was left to find their way home in the stormy, snowy Billerica night. Scorebaord to follow on INFO_HOCKEY_L later, but I've got a wedding to attend. HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.