Game-day information: Game 15 at No. 16 Providence
When	Saturday, Dec. 6, 4 p.m.
Where	Providence, R.I.  |  Schneider Arena  |  Directions
Broadcast and stats	TELEVISION: Cox Sports on OSN  |  Channel Finder Live Stats  |  Video  |  Audio  |  Tickets
Notes and yearbook	Game notes (PDF)  |  2014-15 Yearbook  |  Media Center
Promotions	n/a
Social media	@GoNUmhockey  facebook.com/GoNUmhockey instagram.com/GoNUathletics  Use #GoNU

BOSTON -- With just two games remaining before the holiday break, the Northeastern men's ice hockey team looks to pick up two points in the league standings on Saturday afternoon when the Huskies travel to Schneider Arena for a matchup with No. 16 Providence.
 
Recapping Wednesday's loss against No. 16 Providence
After Northeastern took a 1-0 lead through the first period of play, No. 16 Providence responded with the game's final five goals to defeat the Huskies on Wednesday night at Matthews Arena, 5-1.
 
Ross Mauermann and Trevor Mingoia each had two goals and an assist, while Jon Gillies stopped 26 shots for the Friars. Colton Saucerman scored the lone Northeastern goal, which was outshot 31-27 for the game. Clay Witt made 26 stops in goal. Each squad was 1-of-7 on the power play, while Providence won 37-of-22 faceoffs.
 
The all-time series with the Friars
Providence holds an 80-52-17 record in the all-time series with Northeastern that dates back to 1953 as the teams prepare to meet for the 150th time on Saturday. In recent seasons, however, the series has become more even at 4-3-3 in favor of the Friars in the last 10 games. The Huskies were 1-0-1 last season against PC, which included a 2-1 overtime victory on the road when Providence was ranked sixth in the nation.
 
Scouting Providence
It's been a defensive story for the Friars this season as the team has only allowed 25 goals in 14 games, tied for the fewest in the league. PC is also second in scoring defense, giving up 1.79 goals per game.
 
Jon Gillies is off to a hot start between the pipes in 2014-15. He has a goals against average of 1.80, third in the Hockey East, and has a 1.39 goals against average in conference play. In more than 700 minutes of work, he has made 369 saves and boasts a save percentage of .941.
 
Pacing Providence is Trevor Mingoia, a junior forward with seven goals and seven assists on the season for a team-high 14 points. He's followed closely by Mark Jankowski (one goal, seven assists) and Nick Saracino (four goals, four assists), who both have eight points.
 
Nate Leaman, in his fourth season as head coach, has guided PC to recent success, highlighted by the program's first appearance in the national tournament since 2001 last season.
 
Roy picks up Warrior Player of the Week honors
After scoring the game-winning goal against No. 3 Minnesota last Saturday night, winger Kevin Roy was named the Warrior Player of the Week on Monday. With just 2:36 seconds left in regulation, and his team tied with the Gophers, 2-2, Roy took matters into his own hands, scoring the game-winner to push the Huskies past the Gophers.
 
The Lac-Beauport, Quebec, native is riding a three-game point streak after netting a marker last Friday night against Merrimack and two assists the next night, also against the Warriors. This is the fourth time in the junior's career he has been named the Warrior Player of the Week, and first time this season. Roy is second on the team with 10 points (three goals, seven assists), and boasts a team-high 46 shots.
 
Dominance at the dot
After being held to a 45.7% success rate (107-of-234) in the face-off circle in their first four games (55th in the nation), the Huskies have responded with a 52.9% clip (352-of-665) in their last 10 games, which is eighth in the nation in that span.
 
NU has won more than 50% of its faceoffs in nine of the last 10 games, including a 68% mark on Nov. 22 against Merrimack in which the Huskies won 49-of-72 draws, the most face-off wins in a game for Northeastern since winning 51 against Niagara on Nov. 5, 2010. Mike McMurtry leads the nation in face-off percentage (minimum two faceoff attempts per team game) at 75%, winning 30-of-40 draws, while Nolan Stevens is close behind at seventh in the country (18-of-28, 64.3%). Stevens' brother, John, leads the team and is 30th in the nation with 135 face-off wins this season.
 
Second act
A trio of sophomores have led the charge for the Huskies through the first eight weeks of the season. Dalen Hedges (three goals, nine assists) leads the team with 12 points this season, while Mike Szmatula (four goals, three assists) and Zach Aston-Reese (one goal, five assists) trail close behind early in the year. Last season, the now sophomore class was fourth in the nation in rookie scoring with 125 points (42 goals, 83 assists). Four out of the team's top seven scorers last season were freshmen.
 
Northeastern's grade-A chances
The Huskies may not be finding the net as frequently as they would like through 14 games, but they've made the most of their chances from high percentage areas. Of Northeastern's 26 goals this season, 24 of them have come from the grade-A area (92%).
 
Streaking
Dalen Hedges carries a four-game point streak into Saturday afternoon's game. It's tied for the longest of his career after posting another four-game streak (one goal, four assists) from Oct. 25 to Nov. 7.
 
Shuffling the deck
Looking to spark his club, Jim Madigan and the NU coaching staff have utilized 35 different line combinations at forward, and 16 combinations on defense through 14 games this season. Four Huskies have already made their collegiate debuts (Garret Cockerill, Trevor Owens, Dylan Sikura, Nolan Stevens) while two others have made their Northeastern debuts (Brendan Collier, Ryan Rosenthal).
 
In the last four games, the coaching staff has found some consistency in the lines of Kevin Roy, Dalen Hedges and Mike McMurtry (three goals, nine assists) and Nolan Stevens, John Stevens and Rosenthal (three goals, seven assists). Northeastern is 3-1-0 when those two lines are intact.
 
Power play hitting its stride
After starting the season 0-of-18 on the man advantage, the Northeastern power play has emerged in the last eight games, going 8-of-37 (21.6%), which is 15th in the nation and fourth in Hockey East in that span. NU has received power play tallies from eight different skaters, one of just 10 teams in the country to have done so.
 
Stiff scheduling
There aren't any easy games in college hockey, just ask the Huskies; Northeastern began the regular season with six of its first seven games against teams that made the NCAA tournament last season. To top that, each of its first 10 games come against team who are either ranked or receiving votes in the USCHO.com preseason poll, including a pair on the road at No. 6 Colgate in early October.
 
It's the first time since the 2005-06 season that NU has started the season with three straight games against NCAA tournament teams from the season before, and the first time in program history that the Huskies play six of their first seven games against national tournament teams. In all, NU will square off against eight teams from last season's NCAA tournament field, the most for NU since 2004-05. So far this season, Northeastern's opponents in its first 10 games are a combined 56-36-6 (.641).
 
Jumping into the rush
Freshman defenseman Garret Cockerill has found himself in the middle of the Husky attack early on in his Northeastern career. The Brighton, Mich. native has logged more than 21 minutes of ice time in 12 of his 13 games this season, including a season-high 25:07 at Quinnipiac on Nov. 2.
 
On Oct. 24 against UMass, Cockerill collected his first collegiate point with the secondary assist on Torin Snydeman's first period goal. Later in the frame, he also assisted on Dalen Hedges' tally. Cockerill potted his first collegiate goal on Nov. 1 against QU with a power play tally in the second period. On Nov. 14 at New Hampshire, NU defensemen accounted for five of the Huskies' eight points (two goals, three assists) as Matt Benning (two assists), Jarrett Fennell (one goal) and Colton Saucerman (one goal, one assist) chipped in in the offensive zone.
 
Darou finds the net
Junior defenseman Dustin Darou netted his first collegiate goal on Nov. 29 against No. 3 Minnesota with a first period tally to tie the game at one. Darou is the fourth Husky this season to record his first collegiate goal, joining Garret Cockerill, Jarrett Fennell and Dylan Sikura.
 
Away from home
Northeastern is in search of its first road victory of the season after starting the year 0-6-1 away from Matthews Arena. Last season, the Huskies were 12-9-2 away from home, which was tied for the sixth most victories in the nation.
 
The road ahead
Northeastern will head back on the road on Dec. 16 when the Huskies travel to Amherst, Massachusetts for a date with UMass in nonconference action. The Minutemen defeated the Huskies earlier in the season at Matthews Arena, 4-2.
 
Season tickets, as well as individual game tickets, are available for men's ice hockey and can be purchased by visiting GoNU.com/tickets. In addition, the student sale for the 2015 Beanpot will take place on Saturday, January 17, 2015 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Matthews Arena lobby. Please contact the Ticket Office by calling 617-373-4700 or emailing huskytix@neu.edu with any questions.

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