HAMDEN, Con. - The Northeastern University men's hockey team kicked off the 2025 calendar year with a big 5-1 victory over #18/17 Quinnipiac on Saturday afternoon at M&T Bank Arena. The Huskies tallied two goals in the second period and three in the third, paced by a hat trick from sophomore Dylan Hryckowian and four points (1g, 3a) from captain Jack Williams. Netminder Cameron Whitehead stopped 35 of Quinnipiac's 36 shots on target.
- The Huskies came to life in the second period with two goals in the span of just two minutes. The first of the two came 10:48 into the period after a successful Huskies penalty kill - Jackson Dorrington passed the puck the length of the ice to Ryan McGuire, who just escaped the penalty box, and netted the opening goal of the contest on a one-on-one with the goaltender.
- Just over two minutes later, Cam Lund skated the puck into the zone, flipped it back to Jack Williams, and Williams fed Dylan Hryckowian in the left faceoff circle who fired a one-timer into the net for the 2-0 lead.
- Northeastern tallied another to begin the third period - a flurry of chances finally concluded with Hryckowian netting his second of the night from the goalie's glove side just 31 seconds into the final frame.
- With a power play opportunity 11 minutes into the period, Quinnipiac pulled its goalie for the 6-on-4 advantage, but a faceoff win by Griffin Erdman to Jack Williams gave Northeastern a short-handed empty net goal to lead 4-0.
- On a breakaway 15:34 into the third period, Dylan Hryckowian completed his hat trick with a pair of shots from the left of the crease - the first was saved, but he buried his own rebound for the 5-0 lead.
- The Bobcats got a late power play goal in the final two minutes to get on the scoreboard. Goaltender Cam Whitehead finished the night with 35 saves, stopping several dangerous scoring chances from QU, tallying his highest save total since November 8th against Providence (36).
- Northeastern's penalty kill stood tall, stopping four of QU's five power play advantages in the contest.
- The hat trick is the first of Dylan Hryckowian's career, and the first hat trick of Northeastern's 2024-25 season.
- It's the second time the Huskies have tallied five goals in a game this season, the first time was the season opener against Stonehill, also a 5-1 victory.
- The win marks the second victory over a ranked opponent for NU on the season after defeating #3 Boston College at home in November, 4-2.
Northeastern returns home to Matthews Arena to kick off a home-and-home series with the UMass Minutemen next Friday, January 10th at 7 p.m. in the team's annual Skating Strides game. That game can be seen on NESN and ESPN+.
