After a 4-point weekend in Burlington, the Huskies rescued themselves from elimination in the playoff race. Helping them along the way were highly beneficial results elsewhere in Hockey East – UMass and UNH were both swept, while Providence lost its lone game. Separation has really started to take shape in Hockey East, with the top five pulling away from the rest of the pack. That leaves sixth through ninth place up for grabs. Northeastern now sits tied for seventh with UMass, and the ability to control its own destiny as far as sixth place.
Here’s where we stand after the weekend: Read more…
Alex Faust Hockey Hockey East
We’re entering the home stretch of the Hockey East season, and things do not look good for the Northeastern Huskies. The team currently sits 9th in the standings, 3 points behind 8th-place New Hampshire (who also owns a game in hand over the Huskies) and 4 points behind 7th-place UMass (who owns two games in hand). While making the Hockey East playoffs looks like a bleak possibility at the moment (due to the run of play), Northeastern is far from mathematically out of contention.
Here’s where we stand after the weekend’s games: Read more…
Alex Faust Hockey Hockey East
Chris Rawlings made 38 saves on Saturday (Photo: Hockey East)
BOSTON — It’s a game that UMass-Lowell wants back, without a doubt. With 4:06 remaining in the third period and down a goal (but on the power play), Lowell coach Norm Bazin called a timeout to draw up a play. What astonished the 2,075 in attendance at Matthews Arena was that he sent an extra-attacker unit onto the ice, leaving the net empty. Northeastern promptly made them pay: after Lowell won the ensuing faceoff, the Huskies deflected a cross-ice pass, Steve Quailer picked up the loose puck from in between the circles and fired it straight down the ice into the back of the empty net, making the game 3-1. While hardly sealing the outcome (UML scored on another power play to make it 3-2, threatening several times in the final minutes), that single moment cost Lowell a reasonable shot at defeating Northeastern. As it turned out, Quailer’s goal was the game-winner, vaulting Northeastern to a six-game winning streak and ending a five-game winning streak for the Riverhawks.
Click here for the box score
Our thoughts on the game after the jump… Read more…
Alex Faust Hockey UMass-Lowell
SOUTH BEND, IND. — About 100 Huskies fans were in attendance at the Compton Family Ice Arena this weekend, but most (if not all) would tell you that a sweep over the #2-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish was highly improbable entering the weekend. And yet, here are the Huskies: having outscored the Irish 11-3 over the weekend, they extended their winning streak to five and posted their best string of road games in over two decades. 12 players scored at least one point in Friday’s romp, then a physical, chippy game broke out on Saturday, with the Huskies’ power play coming alive to score the game winning goal on a quick shot from Steve Quailer right off a faceoff. Friday’s box score | Saturday’s box score
It’s Northeastern’s first five game winning streak in two years, and the longest road winning streak since 1990.
Our thoughts on the weekend after the jump… Read more…
Alex Faust Hockey Notre Dame
BOSTON — For the second year in a row, Northeastern’s used its homecoming night to dismantle a conference opponent. Last year, it was a shutout over Providence. This season, the victim was Vermont. The Catamounts, struggling in nearly every facet of the game, stumbled out of the block with the Huskies scoring just 1:35 into the game, off a Ludwig Karlsson deflection from Vinny Saponari. The two would connect again later in the game, with goals added by Steve Quailer and Alex Tuckerman. Another near-flawless performance by Chris Rawlings, combined with a largely stagnant Vermont power play combined to make it an easy night for NU. Click here for the box score
Our thoughts on the game after the jump… Read more…
Alex Faust Hockey, Press Pass Vermont
Steve Quailer scored on a breakway. (Photo: Hockey East)
PROVIDENCE — Offense, defense, special teams, goaltending. You name it, Northeastern excelled in it on Friday night as the Huskies claimed their first road victory of the season, 5-2 over Providence College. It was a night of long-overdue ‘firsts’ for this team: first road victory, first time out-shooting an opponent, first goal for Drew Ellement. But in all, it was the type of game Northeastern had played on multiple occasions this season, only this time it lasted for a full 60 minutes instead of for just two periods. Click here for the Box Score
Our thoughts on the game after the jump… Read more…
Alex Faust Hockey Providence
Tommy Cross scored the game-winner. (Photo: Hockey East)
CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. — It’s no longer a trend for Northeastern. It’s become part of their early-season identity. Another game in which the Huskies started well, but faded in the third period. Cody Ferriero got the Huskies out to a 1-0 lead in the 1st period with a rebound put in inadvertently off his skate, then Kevin Hayes tied the game in the 2nd period off a Braden Pimm turnover directly in front of the net. But it was a last-minute third period interference penalty by Luke Eibler, set up what was the winning power play for BC: with BC peppering the net, Tommy Cross fired a shot from the left side that deflected off a NU defenseman underneath Chris Rawlings, with just 2.8 seconds remaining.
The Eagles put up 36 shots during the game (doubling the Huskies’ output), but Chris Rawlings made 34 saves, in the 7th consecutive game that the Huskies allowed 30 shots or more. As they have every game this year, the Huskies were once again out-shot. Click here for the Box Score.
Our thoughts after the jump… Read more…
Alex Faust Hockey BC
Mike Collins scored two goals in Saturday's game. (Photo: Hockey East)
After Friday night’s 1-1 draw, you couldn’t blame Northeastern fans for at least holding cautious optimism looking towards Saturday’s game to wrap up the season series against the Merrimack College Warriors. What followed was a comeback from two goals down for Merrimack, and a gut-wrenching loss for Northeastern. Merrimack won Saturday’s contest 3-2 on a shorthanded breakaway goal from Ryan Flanigan, the decorated Merrimack senior, leaving the Huskies with one Hockey East point gained on the weekend, and two losses in their season series against Merrimack. Box scores here: NU 1, MC 1 | MC 3, NU 4 (F/OT)
Our thoughts on the weekend after the jump… Read more…
Alex Faust Hockey Merrimack
Mike Borisenok scored two goals in the Wildcats' win (Photo: Hockey East)
DURHAM, N.H. — It was another ugly road effort – the Huskies could only muster 17 shots on net in a 5-2 loss at the Whittemore Center. A power outage on campus caused two delays totaling roughly 45 minutes as the arena lighting failed multiple times during a freak October snowstorm. Clay Witt started in net for Northeastern and made 33 saves, one of multiple lineup changes for Jim Madigan, who has not kept a the same offensive lines for more than one game at a time. Click here for the Box Score
More on what we saw at the Whittemore Center after the jump. Read more…
Alex Faust Hockey UNH
