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Northeastern vs. Merrimack
Matthews Arena marks the site for the first 2012-13 Hockey East contest of the young season. No. 19 Merrimack makes its way back to Saint Botolph St. for the first time since Nov. 5, 2011 where the Warriors won, in overtime, by a final score of 3-2. Ryan Flanigan scored 1:57 into the extra session to keep recent history on Merrimack's side. The Huskies have not beaten Merrimack since Dec. 4, 2010 and have not defeated MC at home since Dec. 5, 2009. The last time the Huskies beat MC, NU spoiled Merrimack's unbeaten home record (4-0-1) in the first part of 2010-11. Three of the last four contests against Merrimack have gone into overtime. The Warriors own a 2-0-1 mark in those instances. Over the course of the last 10 games, Northeastern trails, 4-5-1. MC's Mark Dennehy is 6-11-4 all-time against Northeastern. Like last season, NU and MC close out the regular season series early on Nov. 3.

The Merrimack Minute
Merrimack jumped right into action to start the 2012-13 season and made a statement victory on the road on Saturday, Oct. 6. The Warriors defeated 2012 Frozen Four finalist and fifth-ranked Union College, 4-1, at Messa Rink in Schenectady, N.Y. Merrimack's win marks the first time MC has beaten a team ranked in the top five nationally on the road under Mark Dennehy and is the first in program history on the road since beating UNH in Durham on Dec. 13, 2003. Sophomore Josh Myers found the back of the net twice as Rhett Bly and Kyle Singleton joined in the scoring with a goal apiece. Junior goaltender Sam Marotta takes the reins from the accomplished Joe Cannata and picked up his first victory of the season with 33 saves and a .971 save percentage. Four of MC's top five scorers from last season graduated, but the Warriors do return Mike Collins, Jordan Heywood, Connor Toomey and Josh Myers.

Northeastern Season Openers
Northeastern has enjoyed success in its first games of the regular season since the inception of the program, putting together a mark of 45-28-7 (60.6 percent) in 80 opening games. In last season's opener, Braden Pimm provided the last seconds heroics, scoring a goal with two seconds left in regulation at home against Massachusetts to force a 3-3 draw.

Hockey East Home Openers
Wednesday's season opener against Merrimack is just the fourth time in Northeastern history the Huskies have started off the season hosting a Hockey East contest. In the three previous occasions, Northeastern has amassed a 2-0-1 mark. On Oct. 24, 1986, Northeastern topped Providence, 4-3, and on Oct. 19, 2007, the Huskies came away with an overtime triumph over the Friars, 3-2. Last year, NU tied UMass, 3-3, on Oct. 7, 2011.

Starting Off In Hockey East
Northeastern has opened the season seven times against Hockey East clubs. NU is 4-2-1 in those contests, with victories against Boston University (Oct. 26, 1985), Providence (Oct. 24, 1986 and Oct. 19, 2007) and Boston College (Oct. 31, 1989). The two losses came against Boston College (Oct. 10, 2006) and Providence (Oct. 8, 2010). The one draw occurred last year against UMass (Oct. 7, 2011). Three of those games have been at Matthews Arena, including both PC contests and last season's game vs. UMass.

Opening with Merrimack
Head coacWednesday's opener marks the first time since Nov. 11, 1982, that Northeastern has started the year against Merrimack and the fourth time in program history. NU leveled the Warriors on Nov. 11, 1982, 12-4. The season prior, Northeastern beat MC, 8-4, on Nov. 10, 1981. The first time the two teams opened against one another, Merrimack won, 5-3, on Nov. 28, 1978.

Recapping the Exhibition
Northeastern started the season in exhibition style on Oct. 7, 2012, against St. Francis Xavier at Matthews Arena. The Huskies lost, 4-3, despite holding a 3-1 advantage in the second period. Sophomore blue liner Josh Manson tallied his first goal in a Huskies' sweater midway through the first frame and assistant captain Ludwig Karlsson and veteran Garrett Vermeersch picked up where they left off last season, scoring NU's other two goals. Captain Vinny Saponari (0-2-2) joined Karlsson (1-1-2) as a multi-point scorer on Sunday. Three NU netminders saw time in the scrimmage with senior Chris Rawlings getting the start. Rawlings stopped five-of-six shots. Rookie Derick Roy started the second period and made 11 shots while surrendering two goals. Fourth-year backstopper Bryan Mountain stopped six-of-seven X-Men attempts. The Huskies went one-for-three on power play opportunities.

Sophomore Skipper
Head coach Jim Madigan enters his second season as head coach at Northeastern and is only one of nine coaches in the NCAA starting up his sophomore go-around. Four of them – Tom Anastos (MSU), Norm Bazin (UML), Rick Bennett (Union) and Andy Murray (W. Michigan) – led their teams to the NCAA Tournament in their first year. Huskies' coaches have amassed a win-loss total of 75-116-14 (.400) in their second seasons. Madigan looks to break the streak of NU coaches posting a losing record in their second season and to become the first since Bruce Crowder recorded a 21-15-3 mark in 1997.
H. Nelson Raymond (1930): 4-6-1
Herb Gallagher (1937): 3-9-1
William L. Linskey (1942): One season
Jim Bell (1956): 10-14-1
Fernie Flaman (1971): 6-20-0
Don McKenney (1990): 8-25-2
Ben Smith (1992): 10-24-1
Bruce Crowder (1997): 21-15-3
Greg Cronin (2006): 13-18-5

Stiff Scheduling
Eight of Northeastern's 13 opponents this season are either ranked or receiving votes in the first USCHO.com poll released on Oct. 1. Boston College is the top-ranked squad in the country, followed by UMass Lowell (No. 6), Boston University (No. 12),  Harvard (No. 17), Merrimack (No. 19), Maine (No. 20), New Hampshire (RV – 64) and Providence (RV – 8). The Huskies earned six votes in the second poll.

Home Sweet Home
Northeastern's 2012-13 schedule is a lot less travel oriented than last season's out of conference schedule. In 34 contests, the Huskies will play half (17) of their games at Matthews Arena, 15 on the road (14 in Hockey East and one non-conference bout at Harvard) and the two Beanpot games at the TD Garden in February. Last season, Northeastern had only 14 home games and traveled on 18 occasions.

Grizzled Goaltending
Senior goaltender Chris Rawlings returns for his senior season, becoming the first four-year netminder since Keni Gibson's tenure from 2001 to 2005. The North Delta, British Columbia, will start his 100th game in three upcoming starts and to this point, has amassed a sterling .917 save percentage and a 2.74 goal against average with a 39-41-15 mark. Rawlings is closing in on several Northeastern career records.  He is currently tied for the most career shutouts with Brad Thiessen (2006-09), totaling nine thus far. His save percentage (.917) ranks second in the NU annals and his total saves (2,823) mark is third. Rawlings needs 29 starts to match Bruce Racine's games played record of 126 and if he manages 19 victories this year, he'll also eclipse Racine's four-year total of 57.

Hello, My Name Is...
The Northeastern men's hockey program welcomes in a formidable class of 12 new student-athletes to the 2012-13 roster as announced by head coach Jim Madigan on Aug. 27. Six forwards, five defensemen and one goaltender help form a new-look Huskies squad to push the roster to 30 skaters. It is Northeastern's biggest incoming class since 2005-06 (13).

Switching Sides
Included in Northeastern's 12-man class are three transfer students, all with college hockey experience. Dax Lauwers will have sophomore eligibility after his stint at Army during the 2010-11 season. Matt Marshall played the last four seasons (2008-12) at Vermont, but missed his senior season due to injury. The Hingham, Mass., native will have one year of eligibility left at NU. Torin Snydeman transfers to Northeastern after two seasons at Sacred Heart. The Groton, Mass., native will have to sit out the 2012-13 season per NCAA rules but will have junior status in 2013-14.

Offensive Returners
Northeastern's offense ranked seventh in Hockey East last season, but the Huskies return a corps of scoring from last year that will help improve those numbers. Northeastern returns five of its top seven scorers from 2011-12 and 66 percent of its total offense. NU lost Steve Quailer (8-17-25) and Justin Daniels (7-10-17), but sophomore Ludwig Karlsson, seniors Garrett Vermeersch and Vinny Saponari and juniors Braden Pimm and Cody Ferriero return as this season's corps of veteran leadership offensively. Those five combined for 46 goals, 64 assists and 110 of NU's 259 points.

Categorically Speaking
Senior centerman Garrett Vermeersch has scored the most career points at Northeastern throughout his tenure as a Husky. The Macomb, Mich., native's 58 points are technically second, overall, but 47 of Vinny Saponari's 70 points were tallied at Boston University. Vermeersch is also the most seasoned Husky, skating in 105 career games, eight clear of Chris Rawlings' 97 showings.

Captain Corps
Senior Vinny Saponari takes over for Mike McLaughlin as the captain of the Huskies in 2012-13. Saponari will be assisted by senior forward Robbie Vrolyk and sophomore Ludwig Karlsson. This will be the second-consecutive season Northeastern has had a sophomore alternate captain (Anthony Bitetto – 2011).

Show Dogs
Northeastern has five NHL draft picks on this year's squad. Vinny Saponari is NU's highest draft pick after the Winnipeg Jets (then Atlanta) took him in the fourth round (94th overall) in 2008. Newcomer Kevin Roy was taken in the fourth round in this year's draft by Anaheim (97th overall). San Jose selected Cody Ferriero in the fifth round (127th) in 2010 while transfer Matt Marshall was picked by Tampa Bay in the fifth round (150th overall) in 2007.  Josh Manson was an Anaheim sixth rounder (160th) in 2011.

Tussle at the Top
Ludwig Karlsson, Garrett Vermeerch and Braden Pimm all scored a career-best 10 goals in 2011-12. That mark tied for the team lead, denoting the first time in program history there was a three-way tie for the team's leading goal scorer.

Huskies Hockey in HD
GoNUxstream will broadcast each and every home men's hockey game free, in HIGH DEFINITION, live at www.GoNU.com/GoNUxstream. Northeastern University was the first school in Hockey East to broadcast a live, HD stream over the internet. The broadcast is complete with live stats, live chat, commentating and sideline reporting.

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