CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Thanks to a historic four-goal performance by junior Cody Ferriero, including a trio of power play goals in the second period, and a five-point outburst from rookie sensation Kevin Roy, the Northeastern men's hockey team (6-9-1, 3-8-1 Hockey East) skated over Harvard, 5-1, on Saturday night at the Bright Hockey Center.
The Huskies managed to shake nearly a 34-year draught of winning a game on Harvard's ice. Northeastern was winless in its last five trips when taking on the Crimson in Cambridge, winning its last outing there on Jan. 12, 1978 (14-5). Saturday marked the Huskies first return to the Bright Hockey Center since a 6-5 overtime loss on Dec. 19, 1999.
Ferriero and Roy headlines the Huskies' victory, accounting for five goals and four assists on the evening. Ferriero's four-goal outburst was highlighted by his trifecta of power play goal just 8:59 seconds part in the second period. Roy followed with his eighth goal of the year and a four-assist outing, marking the first time a Husky's turned that trick since Dec. 2, 2011 at Notre Dame (Ludwig Karlsson).
Ferriero has been prone to scoring in spurts as the Essex, Mass., native tallied a natural hat trick at Vermont on Jan. 27, 2012.
Senior goaltender Chris Rawlings turned away a steady barrage of Harvard attempts, stopping 34-of-35 to elevate to 6-5-0 on the season. HU's Raphael Girard stoned 24-of-29 Huskies' shots. Northeastern outshot the Crimson, 38-35, and converted at a clip of 75 percent (3-for-4) on the power play. NU's penalty killing unit limited Harvard to a 1-for-6 power play performance.
The Huskies dictated the pace of play early on, but a Ferriero penalty put Northeastern in an early hole.
Ferriero was carted off for a high-sticking call at 3:53 of the opening stanza and the Crimson cashed in 32 seconds later on a blast from Brian Hart. Desmond Bergin and Brendan Rempel cycled the puck through NU's zone and Hart finished it off with a rifle through traffic just above the right dot. Hart's benefitted from a screen in front of Rawlings to put Harvard ahead, 1-0.
The Huskies killed off another Ferriero infraction midway through the period and Northeastern kept its foot on the gas to the end of the frame, finally exploding once the second period got underway.
Ferriero's powder keg of power play goals in the second stanza initiated at 1:22 with help from senior captain Vinny Saponari and Roy after Danny Biega and Rempel went off went off for slashing (00:12) and elbowing (1:02), respectively, to create the 5-on-3 NU advantage for 1:10.
Roy cycled the puck from the far boards over to Ferriero at the top of the zone. Saponari accepted the pass to the near post from Ferriero and instead of trying to jam it in traffic, he carefully poked it back to Ferriero where he buried the wrister from the left circle to tie up, 1-1, on his first power play strike of the period.
With Rempel still serving from the original 5-on-3, Ferriero attacked again at 3:02 and put the Huskies up for good, 2-1.
Just as Rempel's penalty was about to expire, Ferriero was in prime position to sneak a Roy attempt past Girard on the near post for his second-straight power play marker of the evening. Junior Braden Pimm was the catalyst for the play, backhanding the perfect pass to Roy. Girard just got a piece of Roy's attempt, but Ferriero cleaned up the mess.
Biega took another penalty (tripping) at 9:59 and Ferriero stayed hot with the man advantage in the second period, accounting for his third power play tally of the frame.
Roy continued to make plays and dished over up to sophomore Ludwig Karlsson at the top of Harvard's deep offensive zone. With all the extra real estate, Karlsson took a big swing towards Girard, but Ferriero made an astute play, deftly stuck out his stick, and tipped the puck over the goaltender's pad at 10:21 of the second period to make it a 3-1 Huskies' lead. Karlsson's tip goal was not only his third-straight power play marker, it also counted as a natural hat trick.
Even though the second period eventually expired, the Huskies were not done lighting up the scoreboard in the third frame.
Senior Garrett Vermeersch took a pass from Karlsson in the far corner and wheeled the disc all the way out to sophomore Josh Manson on the opposite side. Manson skated in and chipped the puck past two defenders out to a swooping Roy along the near post. With Conor Morrison doing everything in his power to keep Roy away from the net, NU's freshman phenom plowed his way through Harvard's goal mouth and shoved the puck past Girard for the 4-1 Northeastern advantage at 5:31.
Ferriero added his fourth about two minutes after Roy's to close out the scoring, 5-1, for the night.
Rookie Mike Gunn cleared out a Crimson possession to Roy on the near boards. Roy quickly relayed the puck over to a flanking Ferriero on his left side. Ferriero felt the hot hand and beat Girard glove side with a sharp snapshot to cap his historical night and help Northeastern to its second road win of the season.
Northeastern maintains its hiatus from Hockey East and plays its first game of the New Year at Matthews Arena against local foe, Bentley, next Saturday night, Jan. 5, at 7 p.m.