BOSTON - Northeastern University wears around a reputation that's very different from the Hub's other Hockey East members.

It doesn't have the history of superstars and stud recruits like Boston University boasts. Neither does it play with the perennial pizzazz and flair featured by Boston College.

Instead, the Huskies are viewed as a humble bunch, the hard-working sort who lug their lunches to the rink in a regular old brown paper bag and play for a program that grew up on grit and guts.

Last night the University of New Hampshire beat Northeastern at its own game.

Scoring four unanswered goals to erase a third-period deficit, the Wildcats went to Matthews Arena and won for just the second time in eight tries, leaving with a 7-4 victory and a weekend sweep that vaulted them into second-place in the Hockey East standings.

"It was a great weekend of hockey,"UNH Coach Dick Umile said. "A real battle back-and-forth between two evenly matched teams, and I'm just happy with the way we came out in the third period. The guys stayed with it and found a way to win it."

Of UNH's seven scores, four were purely the product of effort and energy. Two came on rebounds, one was pushed in from a pileup in the crease and another was released while the shooter was having his legs swept out from underneath.

"Nice goals are hard to come by,"sophomore Brett Hemingway said. "Otherwise it's basically just crash and bang on the road. Go as hard as you can, get the puck to the net, and if you're lucky enough to get a rebound you've got to put it away. The game plan for us was to get as many shots as possible, crash the net and hopefully put in our rebounds. Luckily we did."

There were a couple of clean goals, from Robbie Barker and Mark Kolanos, and an empty-netter from Josh Ciocco, but it was the extra-effort that made the difference. Hemingway's went as the game-winner, and it was as ugly -and effective - as any of the other tallies.

With the score tied 4-4 and 12 and a half minutes remaining, Preston Callander and Sean Collins each had hacks at the puck before it wound up in a four-player pile just outside Keni Gibson's crease. Hemingway was one of the players along the ice, and he alertly whacked at it, punching the rubber through the rubble and putting the 'Cats ahead, 5-4.

"This is a tough building to win in, and we knew coming into the weekend that this goalie was hot and we had to get to the net," Callander said. "The only way we were going to score goals was to get to the net."

UNH continued to attack the cage, and with 2:25, Daniel Winnik added an insurance goal by roofing a wrister over Gibson's right shoulder as his skates were swept out below him. By the time Ciocco's empty-netter crossed the line with nine-tenths of a second left, the 'Cats (8-2-1, 5-1-0 Hockey East) could already celebrate their fourth straight win.

"It's a good feeling in the locker room," Hemingway said of his team, which is 4-0 in one-goal games and now has two third-period comebacks to its credit. "We're winning a lot of close games, which has been big for us. A lot of third-period victories. We had trouble with that last year a little bit, and this year we've seemed to adapt."

As is usually the case against the Huskies, however, it wasn't easy. A fast and furious first period ended with UNH on top, 2-1, thanks to a pair of scores from a third line that has been a big part of the 'Cats' early-season success after entering September as a three-part question mark.

Radja started the play from behind the net, throwing a pass to the point for Chris Murray, who sent an ice-hugger toward Gibson. The goalie made the initial stop, but he left a juicy rebound for Ciocco to whack into the empty cage for his fourth goal this season. Last year he had zero.

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