BOSTON -- It's Homecoming on Huntington Avenue, and the Northeastern men's ice hockey team will look to earn a split in the weekend series against No. 11/10 Boston University tonight at Matthews Arena. Saturday will mark the 226th all-time NU has taken on the Terriers, passing Boston College as Northeastern's most played opponent in program history.
Tonight's promotionsGet to the arena early tonight as the Huskies will host a fan fest, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the Matthews Arena parking lot. Fans are also encouraged to wear black to tonight's game against the Terriers, and jersey rally towels will be given out to the first 2,500 fans in attendance. NU will also be holding its annual game-worn jersey sale throughout the night in the Matthews lobby. Fans will be able to get their hands on an assortment of game-worn jerseys from over the years, from the traditional white and black uniforms, to the red Frozen Fenway jerseys and the digi-camo jerseys from 2013. Vendors will be accepting cash, credit card and checks on all purchases.
The all-time series with the TerriersThe Huskies and Terriers will meet for the 226th time on Saturday, making the Terriers Northeastern's most-faced opponent. The all-time series with Boston University has been unkind to the Huskies as BU leads 58-159-8. These foes met three times last season with BU winning two of the games and the Huskies snatching one. The most notable game between Northeastern and BU last season was the 63rd annual Beanpot Final at TD Garden when the Huskies erased a two-goal third period deficit to force overtime. BU found the back of the net early in overtime and gave them their 30th Beanpot title in program history. Five days later, Northeastern downed BU 6-5 at Agganis Arena, before falling to BU 6-1 at Matthews Arena the next day.
After this weekend's games, the next time that the Huskies and Terriers meet will be at TD Garden for the semifinals of the 64th Beanpot tournament. The last time that NU and BU squared off in the Beanpot semis, it was the Huskies who emerged with a 3-2 victory on Feb. 4, 2013 thanks to a hat trick by
Kevin Roy.
Scouting Boston UniversityThe Terriers come into this weekend's action with some momentum from a 5-4 OT win at home against No. 5 Denver. Forward Ahti Oksanen scored twice for the Terriers against the Pioneers to give BU their first win in their last three contests.
With the departure of their top two scorers from a year ago and the absence of captain Matt Grzelcyk due to injury, the Terriers have needed players up and down the lineup to step up. Veteran forwards Danny O'Regan and Oksanen have been looked upon to provide scoring early this year, and they've done just that. O'Regan has already posted nine points, including his 50th career goal at BU. The Terriers have also received scoring from highly touted freshmen Ryan Cloonan (four goals, four assists) and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson (one goal, six assists).
BU has enjoyed early production from the back end this year, with Brandon Fortunato (three goals, four assists), Doyle Somerby (four assists), Brandon Hickey (four goals) and Charlie McAvoy (one goal, three assists) off to hot starts on the blue line.
In net, sophomore Connor LaCouvee (3-1-0) and senior Sean Maguire (1-2-0) have split the starting duties through six games. LaCouvee picked up his two wins against Wisconsin and Denver while it was Maguire who stymied UConn in the Terriers' first Hockey East win of the season.
Recapping last night's game at Agganis ArenaAfter a wild second period resulted in a 4-3 lead for Northeastern through 40 minutes of play, No. 11/10 Boston University responded with a pair of goals in the final frame to take a 5-4 victory on Friday night at Agganis Arena.
Four different Huskies scored on the night, led by a career-high three points from sophomore
Dylan Sikura (one goal, two assists).
Adam Gaudette and
Garret Cockerill both logged a goal and an assist, while
Ryan Ruck made 24 saves in goal.
NU outshot the Terriers 40-29 on the night as BU received 36 stops from Connor LaCouvee and a goal and two assists, including the eventual game-winner, from Ahti Oksanen. NU was 1-of-7 on the man advantage and held BU to an 0-of-3 showing.
Johnny on the spotJohn Stevens is tied for 31st in the nation with four goals this season, and has been on a hot streak ever since February of last season. Dating back to the 2015 Beanpot semifinal against Boston College, Stevens has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 20eight games. Stevens has four goals in just eight games this season after tallying four in all of the 2014-15 campaign (36 games).
Shots, shots, shotsThe Huskies haven't been afraid to fire the puck on goal in their first seven games of the season, peppering opposing netminders with 280 shots on goal. It's the ninth most shots on goal in the nation for team's through its first eight games. At the other end of the ice, Northeastern is holding opponents to just 23.50 shots per game, the second fewest in the nation for team's who have played at least four games. The Huskies' 11.50 shot differential per game is the fifth highest in the nation.
At the dotNortheastern won 80-of-124 (64.5%) of its face-off against Vermont last weekend, and is currently ranked 15th in the nation in overall face-off percentage (259-of-492, 52.6%) so far this season. Individually, the Huskies have three skaters ranked in the top ten in Hockey East face-off percentage, led by
Mike McMurtry at 73.7% (28-of-38). McMurtry is first in Hockey East and sixth in the nation in face-off percentage.
Power play coming aliveAfter starting the season 1-of-20 on the man advantage, the Northeastern power play unit has hit its stride in recent week's operating at a 25% clip in its last four games (5-of-20), which is tied for 13th in the nation in that span.
The road aheadNortheastern will head back on the road next weekend to take on No. 18 Notre Dame at the Compton Family Ice Arena on Thursday and Friday in South Bend, Ind.
