The Merrimack hockey team continued its early season success this past weekend against Northeastern, battling to a 1-1 tie and a 3-2 overtime victory to remain undefeated and earn a No. 4 ranking.

The weekend home-and-home series started on Friday night in front of a sold out crowd at Merrimack.

The Warriors struck first around the 14th minute of the second period on a goal by Rhett Bly, his first of the season. However, the Huskies responded less than one minute into the third period on a goal by Justin Daniels, his fifth of the season. That goal was the final score in the game as neither team could manage to put the puck in the back of the net for the victory.

The two teams provided another thriller on Saturday night when the series moved to Northeastern.

The Huskies commanded the game early on with two first period goals by Mike McLaughlin and Rob Dongara, respectively. But Merrimack didn’t let the game slip away and came back to tie the game on two power play goals by Mike Collins, his fourth and fifth of the year.

In the extra period, Ryan Flanigan scored on a short-handed attempt and gave the Warriors the 3-2 win. The win leaves the Warriors (7-0-1, 5-0-1 HEA) as the only team in the NCAA without a loss.

Merrimack will travel to Boston University on Friday in a battle of Top 20 Hockey East foes.

Riverhawks rip BU

UMass-Lowell put on an offensive clinic at the Terriers’ expense Saturday night, crushing BU, 7-1, in front of a jam-packed Tsongas Center crowd.

The then-No. 12 Terriers (3-3-1, 2-2-1 HEA) got on the board first just 16 seconds into the game on Corey Trivino’s fifth goal of the season. The goal came on a quick tip-in off a shot by Adam Clendening.

The Riverhawks (3-3-0, 1-2-0 HEA) however did not concede another goal and scored seven unanswered goals themselves to notch the impressive win.

The scoring was highlighted by freshman Scott Wilson, who scored his second goal of the season less then two minutes into the second period to put the UML up 3-1. Wilson also added two assists to help earn him HEA’s Rookie of the Week award.

Just 11 seconds after Wilson scored his goal, Daniel Furlong put the Riverhawks ahead, 4-1, on his first goal of the season. Derek Arnold scored the game-winner in the sixth minute of the first period on a power play goal and also added on an even strength goal early in the third period for his fourth of the season.

The 7-1 victory marks the first time the River Hawks have knocked off BU at home since 2007.

UML travels to Maine for a pair of games against the Black Bears this weekend.

Providence Sweeps UVM

Providence made easy work of Vermont at home this weekend, defeating the Catamounts, 5-2 and 5-1, and improving to 4-3-1 and 4-2-0 Hockey East.

Friday’s game didn’t start well for the Friars as they let up a goal to Connor Brickley 1:37 into the game. But the squad responded well after the early goal, scoring the next three unanswered including the game-winning tally by Tim Schaller on a short-handed attempt.

The goal was Schaller’s second of the evening and he later added another in the third period for his first career hat-trick. Schaller came into the game having scored only once previously on the season.

Saturday went just as well as the night before as the Friars took care of the Cataounts again, this time by a score of 5-1.

Schaller added another goal to bring his weekend tally up to four and earning him HEA Player of the Week honors.

Providence also received a standout performance from senior goaltender Alex Beaudry. He let only three shots by him all weekend making 62 total saves in the two games.

The weekend sweep of Vermont puts the Friars in third place with eight points in Hockey East play.

Cameron McDonough can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_McDonough.