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ORONO – It was a memorable second period for Northeastern University freshman center Greg Costa.
Costa cleared a puck off his goal line with the score tied 1-1 and then capped a three-goal flurry with his first collegiate goal as Northeastern extended the University of Maine’s home woes with a convincing 6-1 men’s hockey victory at Alfond Arena Friday night.
Costa added his second late in the third period to cap the scoring.
It was Northeastern’s first win at Alfond Arena since a 5-3 triumph on Feb. 5, 1998. Maine had gone 10-0-3 in the last 13 meetings against the Huskies in Orono.
The Huskies decisively outskated, outhit and outplayed the Bears throughout and answered a first-period goal by Maine center and co-captain Michel Leveille with six unanswered goals.
“They played unbelievable,” said Maine senior defenseman and assistant captain Mike Lundin. “They’re a good team. They embarrassed us. It was like the varsity playing the jayvee team and working on their skills and snipes [sniping].”
Maine coach Tim Whitehead said the turning point was the “opening drop of the puck. They played as a team and we played as 20 individuals.”
Sophomore defenseman Jacques Perreault’s first college goal in his 39th game tied the score 1:01 into the second period, Chad Costello’s power-play goal broke the tie at the 5:49 mark, and Costa’s tally with 1:24 left gave the Huskies a cushion to take into the third period.
Mike Morris’s goal off an errant Chris Hahn pass 2:58 into the third period sent Maine sophomore goalie Ben Bishop to the bench and Randy Guzior and Costa scored at the expense of freshman back-up Dave Wilson.
Northeastern improved to 9-11-4 overall, 6-9-4 in Hockey East. Maine fell to 15-7-2 and 8-7-1, respectively. The Bears have now lost four of their last five and are 3-5 in Hockey East games at Alfond Arena.
Northeastern is 5-1-2 in its last eight and has outscored its opponents 26-13.
“This was one of our best games of the year,” said NU coach Greg Cronin, whose Huskies avenged a 7-1 loss in Boston on Dec. 9.
Cronin, a former Maine assistant and interim head coach, said that during his Huskies’ recent stretch they have consistently “played as a team” and executed their system, which is an aggressive, pressure-oriented 1-2-2 forecheck.
“We wanted to limit their space,” said Perreault. “They’re a good offensive team, so we had to play the body and not give up any drive-bys [allowing Maine to skate around them].”
Though Maine was clearly outhustled in the first period, Leveille’s screened wrister from the high slot and Bishop’s stellar goaltending enabled the Bears to take a 1-0 lead into the intermission.
Northeastern squandered three two-on-ones and a breakaway.
But Perreault opened the second-period scoring with a wrist shot from the right point that deflected into the short side corner off Bishop’s glove.
“There was a rebound opportunity and I tried to go to top shelf,” said Perreault.
Bishop said, “I didn’t expect him to shoot it high. I thought he was going to put it low to try to create a rebound.”
Moments later, Hahn’s shot from a difficult angle squeezed through the pads of NU goalie Brad Thiessen and was en route to trickling over the goal line when Costa dug it out and tucked it under his goalie’s pads.
“The puck was sitting on the line. Luckily, I got back there on time,” said Costa. “I was just playing my position.”
“That was a huge play,” said Whitehead.
An unattended Costello gave Northeastern the lead for good when he was set up perfectly by Kyle Kraemer at the base of the circle to Bishop’s right and one-timed Kraemer’s diagonal pass past a helpless Bishop, who said he never saw the pass or the shot.
“That was my fault,” said Lundin.
Costa extended the lead with a seemingly harmless wrist shot from the blue line that eluded Bishop’s glove.
“We had talked about getting shots on net,” said Costa.
“It was a knuckle puck that sunk on me,” said Bishop. “It was like a curveball.”
Morris all but sewed up the win when he was gifted a pass by Hahn and coolly stickhandled around Bishop and slid it into the vacant net.
‘”I got caught flat-footed,” said Bishop, who finished with 21 saves on 25 shots.
Guzior jammed home a rebound and Costa finished things off when he was left all alone in the slot and fired a rising wrister past Wilson off a Jimmy Russo feed.
Cronin joked that he was an “imbecile” for not playing Costa sooner. It was Costa’s fifth game.
Each team finished with 30 shots on goal, but Northeastern had an 18-10 edge in high-percentage shots on goal.
Leveille received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a hit from behind on Joe Vitale in the third period. Cronin said Vitale, who skated off the ice with help, is OK.
HUSKIES 6, BLACK BEARS 1
Northeastern (9-11-4) 0 3 3 – 6
Maine (15-7-2) 1 0 0 – 1
First period – 1. Maine, Leveille 13 (Purcell), 10:16. Penalties: NU, Costa, tripping, 6:04; NU, Lewis, obstruction-tripping, 12:35; Maine, Shepheard, interference, 18:12; Maine, Bellamy, roughing, 18:12; NU, Costello, roughing, 18:12.
Second period – 2. NU, Perreault 1 (unassisted), 1:01; 3. NU, Costello 9 (Kraemer, Morris), 5:49 (pp); 4. NU, Costa 1 (unassisted), 18:36. Penalties: Maine, Hamilton, hooking, 5:05; Maine, Leveille, hooking, 12:19.
Third period – 5. NU, Costa 1 (unassisted), 2:58; 6. NU, Guzior 6 (McCauley, Driscoll), 9:18 (pp); 7. NU, Costa 2 (Russo), 13:16; Penalties: Maine, Leveille, boarding, 4:28; Maine, Leveille, game misconduct, 4:28.
Shots on goal: Northeastern 12-11-7-30; Maine 7-10-13-30
Goaltenders: Northeastern, Thiessen (30 shots-29 saves); Maine, Bishop (25-21), Wilson (5-3)
Power-play opportunities: Northeastern 2 of 5; Maine 0 of 2
High-percentage scoring chances: Northeastern 10-8-10-28; Maine 4-7-6-17
Attendance: 5,445
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