Doggie draw

If there were any lingering questions about the legitimacy of the Northeastern University men’s hockey team, consider them answered.

As No. 1 Boston University can now attest, the No. 4/5 Huskies aren’t dropping out of the race for Hockey East’s regular season title anytime soon. In fact, after a home-and-home series in which it battled the top-ranked team in college hockey to a pair of hard-fought ties, Northeastern finds itself in the driver’s seat to secure the No. 1 seed in next month’s conference tournament.

In extending their nation-best unbeaten streak to 12 games with Friday’s 2-2 draw at Agganis Arena and Saturday’s 1-1 deadlock at Matthews Arena, the Terriers (23-5-4, 14-5-4 HE) bore witness to exactly why the Huskies (20-8-4, 15-5-3) have carved out their perch atop the league standings for the better part of 2008-09.

Rarely this season has a team challenged BU the way Northeastern did this weekend. The Huskies coupled relentless determination with ruthless physicality, ensuring that they would not be shortchanged against the same team that squelched their hopes of a Beanpot Tournament championship two weeks ago.

‘There’s a reason why they’re in first place, and there’s a reason why we’re chasing them,’ BU coach Jack Parker said. ‘We have a long way to go here as far as the regular season. There’s still two big weekends left, but it’s going to be a lot of fun to see what happens here down the stretch.’

‘We know they’re a good team, and now we have tons of respect for them,’ senior co-captain Matt Gilroy said. ‘I’m sure they have the same respect for us. We’re going to have to beat that team down the road, and I can’t wait to play them again.’

Though Northeastern (33 points) maintained its slight edge over the Terriers (32) for first place in the conference standings, it’s a safe bet the Huskies would have extended that lead this weekend had it not been for the efforts of BU freshman goaltender Kieran Millan. Exuding confidence and poise befitting of an upperclassman, the Terriers’ 19-year-old phenom made key save after key save to ensure BU came away with at least one point each night.

A scoreless stretch of 47:39 to open Saturday’s bout ended with a d’eacute;j’agrave; vu moment for the Huskies. Twelve days after BU freshman defenseman David Warsofsky turned the tables on a Northeastern power play to pot the game-winning goal of the Beanpot final, sophomore forward Nick Bonino kickstarted a nearly identical sequence in the third period.

After blocking a Husky shot attempt at the blue line during an NU man advantage, the BU center gathered the puck and took off down the left wing. With Gilroy rushing in to his right, Bonino held the puck long enough to draw Northeastern junior goaltender Brad Thiessen (25 saves) out of the crease and slide a cross-ice pass to the veteran defenseman, who converted into a nearly wide-open net with 12:21 left in regulation.

Facing the uneasy prospect of yielding their first-place standing to BU, the Huskies finally solved Millan (31 saves) almost 10 minutes after Gilroy’s shorthanded marker. NU freshman forward Steve Quailer, the beneficiary of a scrum in front of the crease, stuffed a loose puck inside the left post to send the sellout crowd of 5,407 at Matthews Arena into a frenzy.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘

Friday’s series opener featured a bevy of bone-chilling hits in what was easily BU’s most physical game of the season. Despite a strong first period in which they received goals from sophomore forward Colin Wilson and senior forward Brandon Yip, the Terriers succumbed to the tenacity of the Huskies over the final 40 minutes of regulation.

While limiting BU’s conference-best offense to just four shots on goal in the second period, Northeastern erased the two-goal deficit in the middle stanza with tallies from sophomore forwards Wade MacLeod and Steve Silva.

The overtime period, however, belonged to the two winningest goaltenders in Hockey East, as Millan (20 saves) and Thiessen (22 saves) stood tall by stopping three shots apiece.

Game notes: Yip was assessed a five-minute major and a 10-minute game misconduct for hitting from behind in the final minutes of Saturday’s tilt. The right winger racked up 23 penalty minutes over the course of the two-game series. ‘hellip; Senior forward Chris Higgins was held out Saturday after injuring his left hand on a drive into the boards during Friday’s game. ‘hellip; The Terriers are two points shy of clinching home-ice advantage in the quarterfinal round of the Hockey East Tournament for the fifth consecutive season.