NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - In a double overtime thriller, the No. 9-seed Northeastern men's hockey team downed the No. 8-seed Merrimack Warriors, 3-2, in the Hockey East Tournament opening round.
- Both teams went scoreless through the first period with Merrimack outshooting Northeastern, 9-6.
- Only 6:20 into the middle frame, the Huskies struck first thanks to senior Cristophe Tellier's fifth goal of the season. With a two-on-one breakaway in their offensive zone, junior Cam Lund made a sneaky pass behind the MC defender for Tellier to net the puck. Junior Jack Williams earned the secondary on the goal.
- Just over a minute later, the Warriors would tie the game and then add another before the close of the period to take a 2-1 lead.
- The Huskies continued to fight back and their efforts were rewarded at the 7:18 mark in the third period. For his 40th point of the season, Williams buried a one-timer off a rebound that deflected off the netminder's pad from sophomore Dylan Hryckowian's shot in the left dot. Lund earned his second point of the night with the secondary helper.
- Neither team would strike sending the game to overtime. In the first overtime period, Merrimack outshot NU, 14-9, but there was no change in score to force double overtime.
- Junior Jackson Dorrington sent the puck to the net from the Huskies' blueline, resulting in a bounce out to the left dot for a one-timer from Hryckowian for the game-winning goal and his second point of the game. In his first game back, junior Vinny Borgesi added the secondary assist.
- In 84:39 minutes of action, sophomore goaltender Cameron Whitehead made 44 saves for his second career playoff win.
- Sophomore Eli Sebastian led both teams with a career-high five blocks, while Lund recorded a game-high nine shots.
The Huskies are set for a rematch with the Boston College Eagles at Conte Forum on Saturday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m.
