BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Vermont Catamounts and Northeastern Huskies battled to a 2-2 tie at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Friday night in Hockey East action. Drew MacKenzie (New Canaan, Conn.) tallied a goal and added an assist for Vermont, but Northeastern goaltender Chris Rawlings made 37 saves as the Huskies came back from a 2-0 deficit to earn the draw.
At 7:01 of the first period, Brett Leonard (South Burlington, Vt.) received a pass from Matt White (McMurray, Pa.). Leonard controlled the puck and sent a sharp pass across the top of the crease to Drew MacKenzie who was waiting on the opposite post. MacKenzie buried a shot in the back of the net with a quick one-timer for his first goal of the season.
Vermont took a 2-0 lead when Chris McCarthy (Collegeville, Pa.) picked up a loose puck off of Sebastian Stalberg (Gothenburg, Sweden) shot midway through the second period. It was McCarthy's fourth goal of the season and MacKenzie picked up an assist on the play.
Northeastern cut the lead in half at 11:13 of the second period when Luke Eibler fired a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that beat UVM goaltender Rob Madore (Pittsburgh, Pa.) above the right shoulder. The goal was unassisted.
Tyler McNeely tied the game at 2-2 just 26 seconds into the third period when he found a loose puck off of an Eibler shot that came from the right point. McNeely collected the puck, turned and lifted a shot that beat Madore glove side. Senior Wade MacLeod was also credited with an assist on the play.
"The third period was obviously our best period." Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon said. "We did a lot of good things, we did everything but put the puck in the net."
"It's very important with a short turn around that we put this game behind us, take the positives from it, know that we skated well and worked hard. We were a better team tonight than we were against UMass."
Each team had good scoring opportunities in third period and in overtime but neither was able to find the game-winner. Both teams picked up their fourth tie of the season and third in Hockey East action. Vermont moves to 1-5-4 overall and 1-4-3 in Hockey East, while Northeastern is 2-7-4 on the year and 2-4-3 in the league.
Madore finished the game with 23 saves for the Catamounts, while Rawlings made 17 of his 37 saves in the third period alone.
Vermont returns to action on Sunday (Nov. 28) when it travels to Boston College for a 4 p.m. game at Conte Forum. The game can be heard on WVMT AM-620 and on the Internet at SportsJuice.com.
NOTES: Mackenzie, Stalberg, Leonard and White all earned an assist for Vermont ... The Catamounts went 1-for-6 on the power play, and 4-4 on the penalty kill ... Vermont out shot the Huskies 17-4 in the third period ... The Catamounts have out shot their opponents 84 to 50 in their last two contests combined.