BOSTON – The No. 10 Northeastern women's hockey team (11-4-3, 7-2-2 WHEA) will wrap up the 2016 portion of its schedule with a pair of home games against Vermont (4-6-4, 2-2-3 WHEA) this weekend. The Huskies are unbeaten in their last eight games against the Catamounts (7-0-1), including a 3-3 tie on Nov. 18 at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
BUGALSKI REPEATS AS GOALIE OF THE MONTH
Sophomore goaltender
Brittany Bugalski was named the Goaltender of the Month for November in WHEA, as announced by the league office on Thursday. After earning the honor for September/October as well, Bugalski repeated as the league's Goaltender of the Month after posting a 5-1-2 record with a 2.33 GAA and a .921 save percentage during November. Bugalski led all Hockey East goaltenders with 220 saves and 490 minutes played in November, while her five wins were also tied for the conference lead. Bugalski turned aside at least 30 shots in four November games, including a season-high 36 saves in a 2-2 tie vs. No. 6/7 Boston College on Nov. 20.
COYNE EARNS NCAA TODAY'S TOP 10 AWARD
Northeastern women's hockey alumna
Kendall Coyne was named as one of 10 recipients for the NCAA's prestigious Today's Top 10 Award, an honor that recognizes 10 outstanding senior student-athletes from the preceding academic year. Nominees had to have a minimum GPA of 3.30 and had to have completed their intercollegiate eligibility during the 2015-16 academic year. After weighing factors such as athletic performance, academics, leadership, character, and extracurricular activities, the NCAA Honors Committee selected 10 recipients for the award. The group will be honored at a banquet on Jan. 18, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee.
BRAND'S BIG NIGHT HELPS NU TOP PROVIDENCE
Junior
McKenna Brand notched her first collegiate four-point game with two goals and two assists as the No. 10 Huskies battled back from three separate one-goal deficits to top Providence, 5-3, on Wednesday night at Schneider Arena. Playing her first game at forward this season, senior
Heather Mottau added two goals, while junior
Denisa Krizova tacked on a goal and two assists. With the win, Northeastern extended its winning streak over Providence to nine straight games and improved to 6-0-1 on the road this season.
LAST TIME VS. VERMONT
Northeastern erased a two-goal, third-period deficit to earn a hard-fought 3-3 tie at Vermont on Nov. 18 at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Trailing 3-1 into the final frame, Northeastern was able to force overtime when senior
Hayley Scamurra and sophomore
Kasidy Anderson scored two goals in a two-minute span midway through the period. The Huskies nearly won the contest in the final seconds of the extra session, but UVM netminder Madison Litchfield (24 saves) made a big save on senior
Hayley Masters as time expired.
CLOSING IN ON THE CENTURY MARK
Seniors
Paige Savage (97 points) and
Hayley Scamurra (95 points) are closing in on the 100-point plateau for their careers. If Savage and Scamurra can hit the milestone this season, that would give Northeastern three current players with at least 100 career points (joining
Denisa Krizova). The last time NU had three players with at least 100 points on the same team was in 2012-13 with Casey Pickett (125),
Kendall Coyne (113) and Rachel Llanes (102).
HUSKIES RANKED FOR THIRD STRAIGHT WEEK
For the third straight week, the Huskies held down a spot in the top-10 of the national polls, coming in at No. 10 in the nation. Northeastern has now been ranked in four weeks of the 2016-17 season, climbing as high as No. 9 in both polls during the opening week of the campaign.
BRAND-NAME RECOGNITION
Junior
McKenna Brand enters the weekend ranked second in the NCAA with 16 goals in 18 games on the year. Prior to this season, Brand had scored 18 career goals in 74 games, including 10 in 38 contests last season. Brand has five multi-goal performances this year after notching just three total multi-goal efforts over her first two collegiate seasons combined.
AS CONSISTENT AS THEY COME
Northeastern's leading scorer with 10 goals, 14 assists and 24 points, junior
Denisa Krizova has recorded at least one point in 15 of 18 games this season. Over the course of her 88-game collegiate career, Krizova has been held off the scoresheet in only 14 contests, and has piled up 33 multi-point performances. Krizova ranks 17th all-time at Northeastern with 118 career points.
SHORTHANDED SUCCESS
Northeastern leads the nation with seven shorthanded goals this season, including three by junior
McKenna Brand. Brand joins Cornell's Kristin O'Neill as the only two players in the nation with three shorthanded tallies this season. The Huskies have potted at least seven shorthanded goals in four of the last six seasons overall.
