After an elongated Thanksgiving break, the NYU hockey team was back this weekend with a pair of away games, first facing off against Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire before heading over to Boston to take on Northeastern University for the second time this year. They lost to Keene to a 5-3 decision, but the Violets learned from the loss and clung on 3-2 against Northeastern on Sunday.

In Saturday’s game, though NYU was the first on the board thanks to freshman forward Kohl Donovan’s sixth goal this season, their consistent penalization got the better of them. Sophomore forward Mason Gallegos doubled the NYU lead at 13:09 of the first before things turned around for the Keene State Owls.

A pair of power play goals for Keene in the second had them even with the Violets, though the penalty minutes were anything but, with the Violets far more penalized on the frame than the Owls.

KSC moved ahead early in the third, but NYU answered back with freshman forward Scott Mulligan netting the Violets’ third goal of the game. A fourth Keene goal at 11:33, scored on freshman goaltender Patrick Cavanaugh, put the nail in the coffin for the Violets, before KSC really punctuated things with an empty-netter in the final minute of the game to secure a 5-3 win.

Things got spicy in Boston during NYU’s second matchup of the weekend against Northeastern on Sunday afternoon. Northeastern got on the board first, though it came after a successful Violet kill. After another successful kill and a change of period, NYU got on the board thanks to sophomore forward Keaton Baum’s sublime effort on the power play. Northeastern answered back but when they got put away for slashing, the Violets scored their second power play goal of the night to tie things at two. Baum also earned this one, for his second of the night.

Another kill later, Baum was good for his third of the night with just under three minutes left in the second.

Going into the third up by only one, the Violets had to keep on top of their penalty kill. They stayed strong through a number of calls they were less than happy about. With a pulled Northeastern goaltender, tensions were high to come away from the weekend with at least a split record. The scramble came out in the Violets’ favor, and they took Northeastern 3-2. Hattrick earner Baum believed the Violets learned the right lessons from their loss.

“[Saturday] we came out with the right mentality and were dominating 5-on-5 but the penalties in the second killed us,” Baum said. “Today my teammates made some really nice plays to help produce the goals. I was just in the right place at the right time to score them. I think we took some steps in the right direction this weekend and our team continues to get closer to one another, which is key.”

The Violets will be back at their ever-faithful Chelsea Piers Sky Rink this Friday at 8:30 p.m. to take on Marist College before wrapping up their calendar year against Rider University on Sunday, Dec. 11 at 4 p.m.

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Dec. 5 print edition. Email Rachel Ruecker at [email protected].