DURHAM, N.H. - Sophomore forward Stiven Sardarian (Saint Petersburg, Russia) scored two goals as the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team defeated No. 17 Northeastern University, 4-1, on Thursday night at the Whittemore Center at Key Auto Group Complex.
Junior goaltender Jakob Hellsten (Ljusdal, Sweden) earned the win in net in his Wildcat debut.
This is UNH's third win over a nationally ranked opponent this season as the Wildcats also defeated No. 1 Boston University, 6-4, on Oct. 13 and No. 4 Quinnipiac 5-4, on Oct. 21.
The Wildcats improve to 3-1-0 (2-0-0 Hockey East), while the Huskies fall to 2-1-0 (0-1-0 Hockey East). UNH's 3-1-0 record is its best start to a season in six years when the Wildcats went 4-0-0 to begin the 2017-18 season.
UP NEXT:
- UNH will meet Granite State rival Dartmouth (0-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) in Durham presented by Dunkin' on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. There will be trick-or-treating in the lobby and the UNH Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will be collecting non-perishable food items with the donations going to the Cornucopia Food Pantry in Durham.
- Go to UNHWildcats.com/Tickets.or call the ticket office at (603) 862-4000 to catch the most exciting family entertainment in New Hampshire.
Score: New Hampshire 4, #17 Northeastern 1
Records: UNH (3-1-0, 2-0-0 Hockey East); Northeastern (2-1-0, 0-1-0 Hockey East)
Location: Durham, N.H. (Whittemore Center at Key Auto Group Complex)
Date: Friday, Oct. 26, 2023
Attendance: 3,613
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The first period went scoreless as UNH outshot the Huskies 9-5.
- Junior forward Liam Devlin (Needham, Mass.) gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead at 10:25 in the second period when he redirected a beautiful backward pass from freshman forward Ryan Conmy (Alexandria, Va.) past the left pad of Cameron Whitehead. Freshman defenseman Brendan Fitzgerald (North Reading, Mass.) recorded the secondary assist.
- The Huskies quickly responded at 12:27 when Micheal Fisher fired a slap shot to the back of the net. Cam Lund and Jack Williams recorded assists.
- Sardarian capitalized on his own rebound to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead at 5:29 in the third period. Freshman forward Nick Ring (Abington, Mass.) and junior defenseman Colton Huard (Foothill Ranch, Calif.) set him up with the assists.
- Sardarian continued his success at 7:50 in the third period when he stickhandled the puck to the top of the blue line before sending a wrist shot past Whitehead giving the Wildcats a 3-1 lead. Fitzgerald and sophomore forward Kristaps Skrastins (Grobina, Latvia) tallied the assists.
- Junior forward Connor Sweeney (North Andover, Mass.) wrapped around the back of the net and passed the puck up to senior defenseman Nikolai Jenson (Cold Spring, Minn.) who scored the last goal for the Wildcats at 11:06 in the third period. Senior forward Nick Cafarelli (Middleton, Mass.) recorded the secondary assist.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- UNH outshot Northeastern 25-16.
- The Wildcats went 0-3 on the power play while the Huskies went 0-1.
- Hellsten recorded 15 saves to earn the win in his UNH debut, while Cameron Whitehead tallied 21 saves.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
- Fitzgerald recorded his first collegiate point with his two assists.
- Devlin, Conmy and Sardarian extend their point streak to four games.
- The two goals are a career best for Sardarian, while the game winner is the first of his career.
- Ring recorded his first collegiate point with an assist.
- The last time the Wildcats started a Hockey East season 2-0-0 was 2017-18.
- The last Wildcat win over Northeastern was a 5-4 overtime defeat of the Huskies on Jan. 11, 2020, as Northeastern had won seven straight in the series entering tonight's contest.
