BOSTON -- Looking to head into the holiday break on a high note, the No. 16 Northeastern men's ice hockey team travels to Burlington, Vt. for a midweek showdown with Vermont at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
The Huskies are riding a five-game unbeaten streak into Tuesday's tilt (3-0-2), which is tied for the sixth longest such streak in the nation, with four of those games coming against conference opponents.
Redshirt junior goaltender
Clay Witt has carried the load for Northeastern, earning the start in nine of the team's last 10 games. The Brandon, Fla. native is coming off a 52-save performance on Dec. 6 against No. 4/4 Providence, marking a career-high in saves for Witt as well as tying for the third most saves in a game in program history.
He also has at least 30 saves in seven of his last eight outings, and is sixth in the nation with a .940 save percentage and tied for 16th in the country with 405 saves.
At the other end of the rink, sophomore
Kevin Roy continues to put up numbers for the Huskies, leading the team with 12 goals and nine assists. Roy is one of 11 players in the nation with at least 12 goals this season, and he is tied for fourth in the nation with 0.75 goals per game.
Freshman
Mike Szmatula (six goals, 12 assists) has also had a scalding start to the season, and is third in the nation and leads Hockey East in rookie scoring with 1.12 points per game.
Szmatula leads a crop of 12 NU rookies who have tallied 18 goals and 44 assists this season, which is fourth in the nation in freshman scoring. The 44 helpers from the Husky rookies are the most among any freshman group in the country.
Senior
Braden Pimm has four points (two goals, two assists) in his last three games. The Fort St. John, British Columbia native has come up big in special teams situations this season, with six of his eight goals coming in odd-man situations. He is tied for fourth in the nation with six special teams goals this season (five power play goals, one shorthanded goal).
A win against Vermont would …
• Be NU's 884th victory all-time and extend its unbeaten streak to a season long six games.
• Snap Northeastern's three-game losing skid against the Catamounts.
• Move Northeastern into a tie for fourth in the Hockey East standings heading into the holiday break.
• Mark the first time since the 2008-09 season that NU won 10 games before January.
The all-time series with the Catamounts
Tuesday marks the first of three meetings with Vermont this season for the Huskies, who will host the Catamounts for a pair of games at Matthews Arena on Jan. 17-18, 2014.
Northeastern is 20-27-5 all-time against Vermont in a series that dates back to 1969. The Huskies dropped all three contests last season after having won the previous four. The most recent meeting saw the Catamounts take a 3-1 victory at Matthews Arena on Feb. 16.
A trio of NU forwards have performed particularly well against UVM. Sophomore
Kevin Roy has two goals and an assist in three games, while seniors
Cody Ferriero (5-4-9) and
Braden Pimm (0-7-7) have been productive in nine games. Junior
Adam Reid has also scored two of his 14 career goals in six games against the Catamounts.
A look at Vermont
UVM sits in sixth place in Hockey East with a 4-4-0 conference record, along with a 8-5-1 mark overall. The Catamounts are riding a five-game winning streak after two wins apiece against Massachusetts and Maine by a total score of 13-6 before a 5-1 victory against St. Lawrence on Saturday.
The offensive leader for UVM is senior forward Chris McCarthy, who has 12 points with eight helpers, both team-highs, and is tied with freshman Mario Puskarich for the lead with five goals. Puskarich leads the team with four goals on the man advantage and 44 shots. He has also tacked on six assists to give him 11 points, second-best on the team. Jake Fallon has also scored in double-digits, with 3-7-10 totals.
Freshman Mike Santaguida has seen the majority of the action between the pipes, going 5-3-1 in nine starts. He holds a 2.32 goals against average and a .923 save percentage. Sophomore Brody Hoffman has posted a 2.01 GAA and .930 save percentage while going 3-2-0 in five starts.
Last time out
No. 19 bolted out to a 3-0 second period lead against No. 4/4 Providence (11-2-3, 6-2-1) only to see the Friars net three third period goals to earn a tie on Dec. 6 at Matthews Arena, 3-3.
Junior goaltender
Clay Witt kept Northeastern in the game throughout the evening, making a career-high 52 saves, tied for the third most in a game in program history.
Mike Szmatula,
Kevin Roy and
Braden Pimm all scored for Northeastern, which was outshot 55-26 in the game. The Friars were 1-of-5 on the man advantage and won 42-of-79 face-offs while NU went 0-of-4 on the man advantage.
Witt comes up big against Providence
Redshirt junior
Clay Witt etched his name in the Northeastern record book on Dec. 6 when the NU netminder made 52 saves against Providence. It marked a new career-high for the Brandon, Fla. native, and is tied for the third most saves in a game in program history (George Demetroulakos vs. Boston University on Feb. 21, 1980).
The last time a Husky goaltender made at least 50 saves in a game came on Feb. 4, 1991 when Tom Cole made 51 stops against Boston College.
Witt is a two-time Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honoree, and is sixth in the nation with a .940 save percentage. He has made at least 30 saves in seven of his last eight outings, and is 7-3-2 this season.
That didn't take long
Freshman
Mike Szmatula gave Northeastern a 1-0 very early against the Friars on Dec. 6, scoring his sixth goal of the season just seven seconds into the game. The goal was two seconds shy of tying the NCAA record for fastest goal to start a game (five seconds; four times, most recently on Mar. 11, 2005 Alaska-Fairbanks vs. Bowling Green).
Szmatula's goal was also the fastest Northeastern has scored to start a game since the 1979-80 season, and the quickest to start any period since Jan. 15, 2000 (Mike Jozefowicz, second period at Massachusetts).
Northeastern has now scored in the first minute of a period twice this season:
John Stevens scored eight seconds into the second period against Western Michigan on Nov. 29.
November to remember
After getting off to a rocky start to the month, the Huskies bounced back to salvage a 4-4-1 mark in November, including a 3-0-1 mark in the final four games. NU's four November victories marked the first time since 2008-09 that the Huskies won at least four games in the month.
Nov. 30's win also gave NU nine victories on the season, tying last year's total. It took the Huskies 28 games to win nine contests last year.
It's all about the hardware
NU's Shillelagh Tournament championship on the weekend of Nov. 29 marked the first time in team history that the Huskies have captured a tournament title in November, and the first time that Northeastern won an in-season tournament since the Mariucci Classic in 2011.
Better late than never
Northeastern scored twice in the third period on Nov. 30 to complete the comeback against Notre Dame. The Huskies have 20 goals in the final period, which is tied for 10th in the nation.
Head of the class
The Northeastern rookie class has tallied 17 goals and 44 assists in 16 games this season, which is tied for fourth for the most points for a freshman class in the country. Eight different NU rookies have tallied a point this season.
Freshman
Mike Szmatula is second on the team with 18 points this season (six goals, 12 assists), and is third in the nation in rookie scoring with 1.12 points per game. If Szmatula finishes the year first on the team in scoring, it would mark the third straight season that a freshman has led NU is scoring (
Ludwig Karlsson in 2011-12,
Kevin Roy in 2012-13).
Sophomore surge
Sophomore forward
Kevin Roy has 29 goals and 26 assists in 45 career games with the Huskies. On Nov. 22, Roy became the 56th player in program history to record at least 50 points in their first two seasons in college hockey, and first since Wade MacLeod and Tyler McNeely in 2008-09.
Roy is averaging 1.2 points per game since arriving at Northeastern last season, and leads the team with 21 points (12 goals, nine assists) this year.
Witt blanks the Warriors
Junior goaltender
Clay Witt had a strong weekend between the pipes against Merrimack on Nov. 22-23, making a combined 67 saves in two wins. On Saturday against the Warriors, Witt made 38 stops (one shy of tying a career-high) to earn his first career shutout, the first for a Husky since
Chris Rawlings blanked Massachusetts on Nov. 30, 2012.
Witt also made one of the best saves of the season on Kyle Singleton in the first period with a diving post-to-post save to preserve the Northeastern lead. The save was honored as the top play on the NCAA Plays of the Week.
At the dot
Freshman
John Stevens has won 51.8% of his face-offs this season, going 197-of-380. His 197 wins are 14th in the nation, and he is one of three freshmen in the nation in the top 15 in face-off victories. As a team, the Huskies are 568-of-1126, while the NU freshmen have the most wins of all rookies (535).
Winner, winner
Three of freshman center
Dalen Hedges' five goals this season have proven to be game-winners, making him one of 21 skaters in the nation with at least three game-winning tallies this season. Hedges is also one of just two freshmen with three game-winners, and matched
Kevin Roy's 2012-13 team-leading total on Nov. 30 at Notre Dame.
Pimm on the power play
The Northeastern power play, currently ranked in a tie for 18th in the nation with 16 goals on the man advantage, has received five from senior
Braden Pimm in 16 games, already exceeding his total from his first three seasons combined. Pimm is one of 18 players in the country with at least five power play goals this season.
Filling the net
While head coach
Jim Madigan has shuffled the lineup a bit through the first half of the season, one line of Huskies have remained intact.
Kevin Roy,
John Stevens and
Braden Pimm have been grouped together on the same line in 14 of NU's 16 games this year, totaling 23 goals and 20 assists along with a combined +7 rating.
On the plus side
Junior captain
Josh Manson has anchored the Northeastern defensive corps through the first 16 games of the season, and is tied for 17th in the nation with a plus/minus rating of +12. The Prince Albert, Saskatchewan native has been an even or a plus in 14 of the team's 16 games so far this year, and is one of just 25 skaters in the nation to be at least +12, and one of 11 defensemen.
Lending a helping hand
Northeastern has tallied 91 assists through 16 games this season, which is tied for 13th in the country and tied for third in Hockey East, sparked by 12 helpers from freshman
Mike Szmatula (tied for 26th in the nation). Szmatula has an assist in eight of the team's 16 games this season, including three games with multi-assist efforts and a career-high three helpers on opening night against Alabama-Huntsville.
Out of the gates
Northeastern's hot start to the season gave the Huskies a 5-0-0 beginning to the year for the first time since the 1988-89 season, and fourth time in program history (1980-81, 1952-53). It also tied a program-record for the most victories in the month of October, matching the 2008-09 squad. Northeastern's two victories against Alabama-Huntsville to star the season gave NU a 2-0-0 start to the season for the second straight year. It's the first time since 1993-94 and 1994-95 that NU has begun consecutive seasons at 2-0-0.
Offensive explosion
After scoring 81 goals all of last season, Northeastern has already logged more than a third of that total in just 16 games. NU is tied for 17th in the nation with 54 goals this season, and its 3.38 goals per game average is 14th in the country. The Huskies' 12 goals on opening weekend were the most goals scored in the team's first two games of the season since NU scored 13 in the opening two games of the 2002-03 season.
Oh brother
Northeastern's 28-man roster features two sets of brothers in Cody and
Nathan Ferriero, as well as Derick and
Kevin Roy. The Huskies are one of just two teams in the nation to have two pairs of brothers on its roster, joining Quinnipiac's Connor and Tim Clifton and Conner and Kellen Jones.
Poll position
Northeastern remained at No. 16 in this week's USCHO.com poll. The Huskies are also receiving votes in the USA Today poll. Northeastern is one of eight Hockey East teams either ranked or receiving votes in this week's USCHO.com poll, and also appeared in the poll during the first nine weeks of last season, highlighted by a No. 14 ranking on Oct. 15, 2012.
O Captain, My Captain
Northeastern head coachÂ
Jim Madigan announced this spring that junior defensemanÂ
Josh Manson will serve as the Huskies' captain in 2013-14. Manson will be joined by classmatesÂ
Dax Lauwers andÂ
Adam Reid as assistant captains.
Manson, a 2011 sixth-round NHL draft pick by the Anaheim Ducks, emerged as a leader during his sophomore season with seven points (three goals, four assists). Lauwers and Reid, meanwhile, contributed five (1-4-5) and 12 (6-6-12) points, respectively, during their sophomore seasons in 2012-13.
Show dogs
Northeastern has four NHL draft picks on this year's squad. SophomoreÂ
Kevin Roy is NU's highest draft pick after the Anaheim Ducks took him in the fourth round (97th overall) last year. San Jose selected seniorÂ
Cody Ferriero in the fifth round (127th) in 2010 while junior
Josh Manson was an Anaheim sixth rounder (160th) in 2011. NewcomerÂ
Matt Benning was selected by the Boston Bruins in the sixth round (175th) at the 2012 Entry Draft.
All eyes on me
Northeastern will take the ice in front of a national audience three times this season, as part of a two-year contract extension between NBCSN and Hockey East, the league announced Oct. 8. NU took on Boston College at Conte Forum on Nov. 1, and will also be on NBCSN for the Huskies' two-game set at Notre Dame on Jan. 24-25.
In addition, NBC Sports Live Extra, NBC Sports Group's live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, and tablets, will stream all league games telecast on NBCSN. All games will be live streamed via "TV Everywhere," the media industry's effort to make quality content available to authenticated customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms. For desktops, NBC Sports Live Extra can be accessed at NBCSports.com/liveextra.
Taking it outside
The Huskies will make their anticipated return to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, as the Huskies face UMass Lowell on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014 as part of Frozen Fenway 2014 festivities. The City of Boston, the Boston Red Sox, Hockey East Association and Fenway Sports Management (FSM) announced the return of Frozen Fenway in a press release on Apr. 25.
"The entire Northeastern family, from our student-athletes, to our coaches and to our fans, is truly gracious for another opportunity to play hockey at Fenway Park," head coachÂ
Jim Madigan said. "I'll never forget my first experience outdoors at Fenway and everyone is very excited to make some new memories. We are also excited to take on a worthy opponent in UMass Lowell."
The matchup between the Huskies and the River Hawks will mark the second time Northeastern has participated in the Frozen Fenway festivities. On Jan. 14, 2012, in front of an audience of 29,601 in frigid temperatures and brisk winds, the Huskies dropped a contentious 2-1 battle to Boston College, the eventual national champions.
Poile named General Manager of U.S. Olympic Team
Alumnus David Poile has been named general manager of the 2014 United States Olympic men's hockey team, USA Hockey announced on Jun. 28.
"Being chosen for this position is a tremendous honor," said Poile. "When you get to represent your country, it's a special feeling. I look forward to working with our management team in fulfilling our ultimate goal of bringing home the gold medal."
Poile, currently the general manager of the NHL's Nashville Predators, played three seasons of varsity hockey at Northeastern from 1967 to 1970. He is 26th on the Northeastern all-time scoring list with 118 points, and he still holds the program record for hat tricks with 11. He was inducted into the Northeastern Hall of Fame in 1987.
Season and individual game tickets now on sale
Season and individual game tickets are now on sale for the Northeastern men's ice hockey team. Starting at just $100, fans can secure a great seat to see the NU men's team take the ice for all of its 14 home games during the 2013-14 season, including nine Hockey East games. Individual game tickets start range from $10 to $20. Log on toÂ
GoNU.com/tickets for more information.
Huskies hockey in high definition
GoNUxstream will broadcast each and every home men's hockey game free, in high definition, live at www.GoNU.com/xstream. 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.
Hang out with the Huskies
Be sure to connect with Northeastern athletics and Northeastern men's hockey on Facebook and Twitter to receive scores and information, interact with fellow fans, access photos and videos, and receive exclusive promotional and ticket offers. Follow NU Athletics, @
GoNUathletics, and 'Like' us atÂ
facebook.com/GoNUathletics. To get live, in-game updates of Northeastern men's hockey, follow @
GoNUmhockey, and 'Like' us atÂ
facebook.com/GoNUmhockey.
The road ahead
The Huskies will have nearly two weeks off before returning to action on Dec. 29 when Northeastern travels to Hanover, N.H. for the Ledyard National Bank Classic. NU will square off with Air Force at 4 p.m.
