BOSTON -- On the heels of a 6-4 come-from-behind victory against No. 11/8 Minnesota on Friday night, the Northeastern men's ice hockey team returns to league play on Tuesday night when the Huskies host No. 3/4 Boston College at Matthews Arena.
Tuesday's promotions
The Huskies will hold a Teddy Bear Toss during the first intermission of Tuesday night's game. The Husky Hugs Toss is a tradition organized by the Student Alumni Association in order to raise stuffed huskies for children in the Boston community. All huskies donated will benefit the Yawkey Family Inn, and huskies will also be available for purchase on the concourse of Matthews Arena.
Tuesday is also Club Sports Night at Matthews. The Northeastern club team with the highest percentage of team attendance at the game will receive $1000 towards their budget.
The Huskies will be holding a canned food drive during all home games in November. Fans are encouraged to bring canned foods to the game and drop them off at the merchandise stand, located on the right side of the concourse.
The all-time series with Boston College
The history between these storied rivals dates all the way back to their first matchup on Feb. 4, 1933, a game that Boston College won 8-6. With an all-time record of 49-163-16 against BC, Northeastern enters Tuesday's matchup looking to make up for lost ground. In their two regular season games last year, the Huskies went 0-1-1 against the Eagles. In a pair of games in which BC held the No. 2 ranking, the two foes played to a 3-3 tie at Conte Forum before a 4-3 Eagle win at Matthews Arena.
Northeastern and Boston College met again in the Hockey East semifinals at TD Garden with a trip to the title game on the line. After Miles Wood gave BC the lead only 15 seconds into the game, Northeastern scored twice before the period was over to take a 2-1 lead into the break.
Zach Aston-Reese and
Adam Gaudette had the first period tallies for NU. The Eagles tied the game early in the second before goals from
Nolan Stevens and Eric WIlliams made it a 4-2 NU lead. Wood's second goal of the night made it a 4-3 game at the end of two.
Lincoln Griffin and Alex Tuch exchanged third period strikes before the final horn sounded, giving Northeastern it's penultimate win en route to the Hockey East title.
Scouting the Eagles
The No. 4 Eagles have soared to the top of the Hockey East standings early this season, holding a near perfect 6-0-1 conference record on top of an impressive 11-5-1 overall mark. From Oct. 16 to Nov. 18, they rode a 10-game unbeaten streak that saw them go 9-0-1. Their only losses this season have come to Wisconsin, Air Force, Harvard and Minnesota.
They've outscored opponents by a count of 61-38 thanks to their overall balanced game, which starts with goaltender Joe Woll. The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect owns an 8-4-1 record and has been the go-to starter for the Eagles. From there, BC's defense has been responsible for allowing an average of only 2.38 goals per game. Michael Kim has registered 10 assists from the blueline while Scott Savage has posted seven points in his last eight games.
Matthew Gaudreau leads the forward corps in scoring with 17 points thus far. Senior Ryan Fitzgerald has been consistent in his career at BC, posting 16 points in his 15 games this year. Senior Austin Cangelosi co-owns the team lead in goals, finding the twine eight times so far this season. Ottawa Senators first-rounder Colin White has been effective in generating offense in his sophomore year, landing eight goals and five assists.
Home sweet home
Northeastern will play its 10th home game in 15 contests overall on Tuesday night, and is 14-2-3 in its last 19 games at Matthews Arena, dating back to last season.
The Huskies will play 11 home games before the New Year in 2016-17, the most first half home games since the 2002-03 season.
Out of the gates
Zach Aston-Reese (10 goals, 12 assists),
Dylan Sikura (nine goals, 13 assists) and
Adam Gaudette (eight goals, 12 assists) are all enjoying hot starts to the season, ranking in the top-10 in the nation in scoring.
The trio makes Northeastern the only team in the nation to have at least three skaters with 20 points or more.
With class
Despite having one of the largest senior classes in the nation, the Huskies have received production from all four classes early in the season:
Freshman: 5 - 14 - 19
Sophomore: 14 - 19 - 33
Junior: 15 - 24 - 39
Senior: 12 - 20 - 32
Recapping last Friday's win vs. Minnesota
Trailing 4-2 entering the third period, Northeastern stormed back with four goals in the final frame to knock off No. 11/8 Minnesota, 6-4.
Dylan Sikura led the way for the Huskies with his first career hat trick, scoring in each period including the eventual game-winner with 6:38 remaining in regulation.
Zach Aston-Reese (one goal, one assist),
Adam Gaudette (one goal, two assists) and
Garret Cockerill also scored for Northeastern. Not to be outdone, Justin Kloos provided the firepower for the Golden Gophers with a hat trick of his own, while Vinni Lettieri also found the back of the net for the visitors.
Ryan Ruck made 27 stops in goal for Northeastern, including the final 16 he faced in the game. At the other end, Eric Schierhorn had 21 saves for Minnesota, which outshot the Huskies 31-27 in the game. NU won the battle in the face-off dot with 40-of-65 draws led by strong performances from Gaudette (17-of-24) and
John Stevens (16-of-28).
Get here early
After being held without a first period goal in its opening weekend series at Quinnipiac, Northeastern has potted 18 goals in the first period in the 12 games since, nearly one half of their total in 41 games last season (40). The Huskies' 18 goals in the opening frame are tied for the 10th most in the nation. Of those 18 opening period goals, 16 have come at Matthews Arena.
Aston-Reese reaches the century mark
Senior assistant captain
Zach Aston-Reese has been one of Northeastern's go-to players during his career on Huntington Avenue. He has 11 career game-winning goals, which ranks in a tie for third in the nation among active players.
Overall, Aston-Reese has 107 points (45 goals, 62 assists) in 121career games, which ranks seventh in career scoring among active skaters nationally. He also became the 48th player in team history to reach 100 points, and is currently tied for 40th in career scoring at Northeastern.
Aston-Reese is tied for the team lead with 22 points this season (10 goals, 12 assists). He is the quickest Husky to reach 20 points in season since Jim Fahey in 2001-02, who also accomplished the feat in 13 games.
He's Sik
Dylan Sikura's four-assist night against Bentley on Oct. 15 marked the first for a Husky since
Kevin Roy had four helpers on Feb. 22, 2014 against Maine. Sikura is tied for seventh in the nation with 13 assists in his first 14 games, and tied for fourth overall in scoring with 22 points.
After logging his first career hat trick on Friday night against No. 11/8 Minnesota, he was named the Warrior Hockey Player of the Week for the first time in his career. The Aurora, Ontario native has at least one point in 11 of the team's 14 games this season.
Good Gaud
Sophomore center
Adam Gaudette has been one of the top players in the nation through the first two months of the season, recording eight goals and 12 assists in his first 14 games. It took him 28 games to reach 20 points last season. The Braintree, Mass. native had a five-game goal scoring streak snapped on Nov. 5 at Boston University, the longest of his career.
Power up
NU is averaging more than six power play opportunities per game this season, and have cashed in 19 times, the third most in the nation. Its 89 power play opportunities is tied for the seventh most in the country, and nine different Huskies have found the back of the net on the man advantage.
Killing it on the PK
The Northeastern penalty killing unit has been hard at work early in the year, going 66-of-77 early in the season. Its 85.7% success rate is 17th in the nation among teams that have played at least 10 games this season. At this point last year, the Huskies were 51st in the nation in penalty killing percentage (41-of-54; 75.9%).
Get in front of it
A contributing factor to Northeastern's low shots against total has been the shot blocking abilities of the skaters in front of
Ryan Ruck. NU has blocked 202 shots in 14 games, while freshman
Jeremy Davies leads the team, and is tied for 10th in the nation, with 32 blocks.
Three-goal third
Northeastern battled back from one-goal deficits on three occasions during the third period of the Nov. 4 game against Boston University. It was the first time since Feb. 6, 2015 at Massachusetts that the Huskies scored three goals in the final period.
Then last weekend, NU potted four goals in the final frame to top No. 11/8 Minnesota. The last time the Huskies scored goals four in the final frame came at Dartmouth on Dec. 30, 2013 in the consolation game of the Ledyard Classic.
DaDaDa, DaDaDa
Northeastern has been a fixture on SportsCenter's 'Top Ten Plays' for two straight weeks as highlight reel goals from
Dylan Sikura and
Adam Gaudette caught the attention of the nation.
Sikura made headlines on Oct. 30 against Vermont when he buried his second goal of the year that's sure to be an early candidate for goal of the year. With UVM trying to wrap the puck around the boards and out of the zone,
Garret Cockerill won a puck battle along the wall and chipped it down to Sikura. The junior then smoothly maneuvered his way around the zone, and past two defensemen, before firing a shot top shelf for a goal.
Five days later, Gaudette did the same thing. After the Huskies collected the puck behind their own goal, Cockerill dished to Gaudette. Gaudette then used his speed to race through the defense before snapping a shot from the right dot over the blocker for his sixth goal of the season.
The road ahead
Northeastern will have a week off between meetings with the Eagles as the two teams will travel across town to Chestnut Hill for a Dec. 6 matchup at Conte Forum.
