BOSTON-With six of the seven seniors honored pregame recording a stat on the night, the Northeastern men's hockey team continued its balanced attack with a 4-0 shutout of New Hampshire Friday night to lock up the No. 3 seed in the Hockey East Playoffs and solidify home ice advantage.
The winningest class in program history added another victory to its total as five of the seven Husky seniors tallied a point, while Ryan Ruck notched three saves to preserve the shutout bid in the final minutes of the game.
Junior Biagio Lerario netted the first multi-goal game of his career putting up the first two goals of the night on the scoreboard for the Huskies while Cayden Primeau did the rest between the pipes making 32 saves and picking up his 21stvictory of the season.
With the win, the Huskies (23-10-1, 15-8-1 HEA) have solidified home ice for the Hockey East Quarterfinal round where they will face Maine next weekend beginning on Friday, March 15 at 7 p.m. Make sure to get your 2019 playoff tickets now and for a limited time only, tickets start as low as $10! Season ticket holders, be sure to check your online ticket account for a special offer.
The win on Friday also gives the Huskies 15 victories in conference play for the second straight year, and just the fourth time in program history.
Seniors Lincoln Griffin (A), Brandon Hawkins (A), Liam Pecararo (G), Austin Plevy, Ruck (3 saves), Patrick Schule (A) and Eric Williams (A) were each honored in a pregame ceremony prior to the game.
The Wildcats (12-13-9, 8-10-6) had a few close calls in the game, including one early on in the first period as a shot scooted behind Primeau along the goal line, off of the opposite pipe and back out into play.
The Huskies eventually got on the board first in the second period when Lerario put back Jordan Harris' initial shot attempt for his second goal of the season, and one that gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
Less than three minutes later Lerario made it a 2-0 game in favor of NU and in doing so notched his first career multi-goal game, getting some help from seniors Williams and Hawkins to make it 2-0.
Pecararo made it a 3-0 game, advantage Huskies, sending in a perfect pass from Tyler Madden that crossed right in front of the goal to boost the Huskies' advantage. Jeremy Davies initiated the goal feeding a pass right to Madden from the blue line.
John Picking made it a 4-0 game in the third period when he sent home his second shorthanded goal of the year, and the Huskies' seventh, with some help from Ryan Shea and Griffin.
With that assist, Griffin tallied his 20thpoint of the season, becoming the seventh Husky to reach the 20-point plateau this year.
With those four goals tonight, the Huskies extended their goal scoring streak to 15-straight unanswered goals vs. UNH dating back to the second period on Feb. 22.
