http://www.nunews.neu.edu/nu-news/Issues/110100/s2.html
Huskies pull off OT upset
By Mike Trocchi
News Staff
11/01/00
This time, the Huskies just refused to let it slip away.
After coughing up late leads last year against Boston University, Harvard and
New Hampshire, this year’s edition of the Northeastern men’s hockey team didn’t
flinch.
And after Saturday’s 5-4 overtime shocker over No. 1 Wisconsin, fans would be
wise to mark this win on the calendar.
It’s a weekend like this, a win over the Badgers coupled with a Hockey East win
at UMass-Lowell, that fans and pundits look back on and say, “That’s where it
all started.”
Matthews Arena came unglued on Saturday night after freshman forward Scott Selig
sneaked the game winner past Wisconsin goalie Graham Melanson. A crowd of 4,033
might need Prozac after the highs and lows it experienced.
Up 4-2 with under two minutes to go, the Huskies found themselves in overtime
with the best team in the nation. Hearts were aflutter with fear and angst
before Selig sent home the winning goal.
The Huskies (4-1, 1-0 Hockey East), maturing before everyone’s eyes, kept their
cool.
“We just told them, hey we gave up a crummy goal. What are you going to do?”
Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder said. “It’s our building. It’s overtime. Let’s
take it to them a little bit.”
The line of Selig, Graig Mischler and Mike Ryan has been taking it to teams all
throughout this young season. This time, it was Selig’s turn for the glory. Off
a Jim Fahey rebound, Selig pushed the puck past Melanson on a deflection. “We
knew the goalie was giving up a lot of rebounds,” Selig said.
And rebounding was the theme of the night.
Sophomore Joe Mastronardi opened up the scoring at 1:12 of the first period and
the Huskies held the lead off two goals by Ryan (seven goals, two assists on the
season) and one by freshman Trevor Reschny to hold a 4-2 lead.
But Northeastern luck struck (it must be something to do with the Red Sox having
played on this campus) and the Huskies performed the hockey equivalent of Game
6. Goals by Wisconsin’s Danny Heatley on the power play and Jeff Dessner’s goal
at 19:45 of the third, a shorthanded goal, sent the game into overtime.
But senior Graig Mischler said the character of this year’s team pulled everyone
through. “We’ve been through it a lot,” Mischler said, of blowing late leads.
“[But] we don’t have much time left. You either sit there and sit on your heels
and worry about it or you go out there and take it to them.”
The Huskies are now off to their best start since a 4-0 start in the 1993-1994
season. And, yes, that was the last season Northeastern went to the NCAA
tournament.
But don’t tell that to Crowder or any players. They know that after last
season’s late collapse, the schedule is meant to be treated as a marathon and
not a sprint.
“We’re trying to keep everything in perspective,” Crowder said. “We’re not
getting too far ahead.”
On Friday night, in a 5-2 win over UMass-Lowell, the Huskies stayed focused
after jumping out to a 3-0 lead. This was the more important of the two games,
the team insisted.
It was Crowder’s first win in Lowell since he coached the Riverhawks in 1996.
Buoyed by Chris Lynch’s (five goals, two assists) hat trick, the Huskies put an
end to their streak of futility in Lowell.
“I told them all week we had one game this week,” Crowder said.
It was an important conference win and coupled with the Wisconsin win, NU is now
No. 12 in the US College Hockey Online ranking, its highest ranking since Jan.
1998 when the Huskies debuted at No. 10. The Huskies are now 5-0-3 over the last
year — plus against teams ranked No. 1 or 2.
“I didn’t inform them until after the game that there was a game tomorrow,”
Crowder joked.
Now Northeastern must come down from a weekend high and prepare for its toughest
two-game stretch of this young season. The Huskies visit the rarefied air of
Chestnut Hill to take on Boston College on Friday night and then host 2000
Hockey East champion Maine on Saturday at Matthews.
“We want to win big-time games,” Selig said. “We want to concentrate on Hockey
East.”
Mischler hopes this weekend is another turning point on the road to success. “We
showed big strides in playing as a team and not giving up,” he said.
And don’t talk to him about rankings. “I really don’t care,” Mischler said. “If
I start worrying about that, then I won’t be worrying about the most important
thing, which is winning the next game.”
