BELFAST, Northern Ireland - After falling in the first round of the inaugural Friendship Four in 2015, the Northeastern men's hockey team (10-4-2, 6-3-1) rang the Belpot this evening after a thrilling 4-3 victory over Colgate (6-6-4, 3-2-1 ECAC) in the championship round of the 2019 Friendship Four. Senior Ryan Shea was named the Player of the Tournament after posting two points on the night and finishing the weekend with five points off two goals and three assists.
The Huskies came out firing in the first, pouring in three goals in just under a minute to take an early lead over the Raiders. Jayden Struble struck first for Northeastern, beating the Colgate defenseman on the left side to light the lamp. Just 13 seconds after Struble's tally, freshman Matt DeMelis broke through the defense to tip in the second of the night off the backhand to give Northeastern the 2-0 lead, before Tyler Madden fired in a shot off his own rebound to close out the Huskies' scoring run.
After the Raiders cut the Northeastern lead to 3-2 with a set of goals, the team's remained within one until the final moments of the game. With just 56 seconds left in the contest, junior Zach Solow knocked the puck loose in the Colgate zone to senior Shea, who pushed in the empty-net game winner to win the Belpot.
Tonight's meetings between the Raiders and the Huskies marks the second time the teams have met on the ice in Belfast. In 2015, the teams met in the consolation round, when Northeastern trounced Colgate, 7-1.