Box Score

	Bryan Esner assisted on Dennis McCauley's game-winning goal.

Northeastern opened the 2005-06 season with a 5-3 win over the University of Toronto in an exhibition game on Saturday at Matthews Arena. The Huskies got excellent production from their first line of Carter Lee (two goals, one assist), Joe Vitale (one goal, two assists) and Ryan Ginand (two assists). Vitale and Ginand are both freshmen for NU.

"I thought that whole line of Lee, Vitale and Ginand was terrific," said first-year head coach Greg Cronin. "They had consistent flow and control of the puck. [Bryan] Esner's line was also pretty good with [Dennis] McCauley and [Jimmy] Russo.

"It hurt is defensively with [Brian] Deeth being out because our 'D' was tired. But I got to see some flesh of what we might be," said Cronin. Deeth and Toronto's Steve Devine both received game misconducts after a dust-up halfway through the first period.

Toronto struck first in the game when Charles Amadeo got a shot from the edge of the crease by Northeastern starter Adam Geragosian on a power-play at 6:16 in the first. The Huskies struck back to even the score at 12:05 when Lee took a crisp pass from Vitale and netted his first goal of the game. Toronto took a 2-1 lead out of the first when Ray Smegal hit the rebound of an Andrew Smale shot past Geragosian.

Northeastern reeled off three unanswered goals in the second period to take a 4-2 lead out of the second set. Vitale scored at 2:35 to knot the score at 2-2. Then in the 16th minute of the second period, Lee scored on the rebound of a Vitale shot in front of the net and freshman Dennis McCauley scored on a feed from Bryan Esner.

Freshman goalie Doug Jewer relieved Geragosian at 10:33 in the second period and made nine saves while allowing one power-play goal. Geragosian totalled nine saves in 30:33 of work, allowing a pair of power-play scores. Toronto goalie Ryan Grinnell stopped 37 shots.

Toronto pulled within a goal in the third period when defenseman Michael Lymer scored from near the blueline on a power-play at 10:36. The Varsity Blues pulled Grinnell for the final 50 seconds and Brian Swiniarski gave NU an empty-netter at 19:54 in the third period to make the final 5-3.

Both teams drew a multitude of penalties with NU totalling 18 for 52 minutes and Toronto getting 16 for 48. Northeastern went 1-for-8 on the power-play while Toronto went 3-for-9.

The puck drops on Northeastern's regular season next Friday when the Huskies take on North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D. The Huskies play the Fighting Sioux again on Saturday before returning home to host Boston College on Oct. 22 at Matthews Arena.