BOSTON – After completing the month of January with a perfect 10-0-0 record, the No. 5 Northeastern women's hockey team (23-4-1) will look to extend its winning streak to 13 games Tuesday against rival Boston University in the Beanpot Semifinals at 8 p.m. The teams last met on Oct. 24 at Matthews Arena in a 7-1 win for the Huskies.
NORTHEASTERN TRIES FOR 17TH 'POT TITLEThe Huskies will be looking for a record 17th Women's Beanpot title when the puck drops Tuesday at BU. Northeastern has won 16 of the previous 37 Beanpot tournaments, including an unprecedented stretch of eight straight titles between 1984-91. The Huskies most recently won the Beanpot in 2013 on home ice with a 4-3 conquest of Boston College in the final.
HISTORY VS. BU IN THE BEANPOTNortheastern and Boston University have met 22 times in the Beanpot, with NU holding a 15-5-2 record, including a 10-2-1 mark in the semifinal round. The teams most recently met in last year's Beanpot as the Terriers skated to a 3-1 victory in the consolation game at Harvard's Bright-Landry Center. The last time NU and BU met in a Beanpot played at Walter Brown Arena, the Huskies topped the Terriers, 4-3, in overtime to claim the 2012 Beanpot championship.
HUSKY GREAT HEADED FOR BEANPOT HALLFormer Northeastern great Tina (Cardinale) Beauchemin '89 will be inducted into the Beanpot Hall of Fame on Feb. 9 during this year's tournament. Cardinale-Beauchemin led NU to four straight Beanpot titles between 1985-88 and earned MVP honors in 1988 after scoring the game-winning goal in the championship game. Cardinale-Beauchemin is also a member of the Northeastern Athletics Hall of Fame, was a two-time ECAC All-Star, and was named to the AWHCA Team of the Decade for the 1980's.
COYNE REWRITING NU RECORD BOOKSSenior
Kendall Coyne is in the midst of an historic season as the Huskies seek their first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament. Coyne leads the nation in goals (36) and points (64) and recently broke the Northeastern all-time points mark, previously held by Hilary Witt '00. Coyne tallied a hat trick on Jan. 10 with Witt on the opposite bench (as the head coach of UNH) to pass the former NU legend with her 209th career point. Since then, Coyne has stretched her record to 229 career points, the third-most among active NCAA players and the 15th-most in NCAA history.
HUSKIES ON LONGEST RUN SINCE 1988-89With 12 straight wins entering Tuesday's showdown, Northeastern is riding its longest winning streak since the 1988-89 squad won 15 consecutive games. The Huskies recently completed their fourth unbeaten January in program history; during the month, NU scored at least four goals in all 10 games and averaged 5.3 goals per game.
PERFECT JANUARY'S IN THE NCAANortheastern was one of only three schools in the nation (D-I) to have both its men's and women's hockey teams post unbeaten records during the month of January. The Huskies combined to go 16-0-1 during the month with the women posting a 10-0-0 mark and the men registering a 6-0-1 record. Only Quinnipiac (11-0-4) and Boston College (11-0-3) can also boast unbeaten January's between the men's and women's programs this season.
SOPHOMORE SENSATIONSNortheastern owns the highest-scoring sophomore class in the nation with 133 of the team's 347 total points (38 percent). Second-year forward
Denisa Krizova leads all sophomore scorers with 46 points in 2015-16, two more than Wisconsin's Annie Pankowski (44 points) and seven more than former NSA linemate Taylar Cianfarano (39 points) of Quinnipiac.
BLUE CHIP ON THE BLUE LINESenior defenseman
Jordan Krause leads all NCAA blueliners with 23 assists in 27 games this season. With 27 total points (4-23-27), Krause ranks second in the nation in defenseman scoring and has been named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week three times this season. The Minnesota-Duluth transfer had registered just 17 total points in 104 games over her first three seasons, before this year's 27-in-27 outburst.
BRITTANY THE BRICK WALLFreshman goaltender
Brittany Bugalski has been outstanding in her debut season with a 16-3-1 record, a 1.74 GAA and a .928 save percentage. The Boynton Beach, Florida native has won six straight decisions entering her first Beanpot, stopping 135 of 141 shots (.957 save percentage) during that span. Bugalski turned aside 30 of 31 shots on Oct. 24 as the Huskies skated to a 7-1 victory over BU at Matthews Arena.
LAST TIME VS. BUThe Huskies erupted for seven goals (scored by seven different players) in a 7-1 statement win over BU on Oct. 24. NU potted three goals in both the first and second periods en route to its largest win over its crosstown rival since an 8-0 win over the Terriers on Feb. 3, 2004.
PUTTING THE STREAK IN CONTEXTNU's 12-game winning streak is tied for the fourth longest in program history. The 1987-88 and 1988-89 teams hold the two longest winning streaks in program history at 15 games each. The 87-88 squad ended the season with 15 straight wins, and the 88-89 team opened the year with 15 straight wins for an unprecedented 30-game winning streak spanning two seasons. The Huskies compiled a 13-game winning streak in 1986-87, and won a dozen in a row in 1985-86 as well.
COYNE APPROACHING 40-GOAL MARK The nation's leading scorer with 36 goals, senior
Kendall Coyne is approaching the 40-goal mark for the first time in her career. Coyne potted 37 goals during her sophomore year of 2012-13, which ranks as the second-most in a season in program history (Vicky Sunohara scored 51 in 1988-89). With four more goals, Coyne would become the 12th player since the year 2000 to pot 40 goals in a season.
LIGHTING THE LAMPNortheastern enters the weekend with the No. 3 ranked scoring offense in the nation, averaging 4.68 goals per game. Northeastern has scored five goals or more in 18 of its 28 games, and has netted at least seven goals in six contests. A big part of the Huskies' offensive success has been the performance of the NU power play, which ranks sixth nationally at 24.7 percent.
STARTING FASTNortheastern is 19-1-0 this season when it scores the first goal, compared to 4-3-1 when its opponent scores first. Senior
Kendall Coyne has opened the scoring in 10 games; NU is 9-1-0 in those contests.
WINNING MENTALITYWith 23 wins in 28 games, Northeastern has tied a program record with its most victories before the Beanpot in program history. The 2001-02 Huskies also won 23 pre-Beanpot games en route to a 27-7-1 season under head coach Joy Woog.
SPREADING THE LOVEThirteen different Northeastern players have scored game-winning goals this season, which ranks as the most in the NCAA. Sophomore
Denisa Krizova and senior
Kendall Coyne lead the team with three game-winners each.
DENISA DISHES IT OUTSophomore
Denisa Krizova leads Hockey East and ranks second in the nation with 31 assists this season. Krizova has tallied at least one assist in 20 of 27 games this season, including 10 multi-assist games.
SHELBY STEPS UPAfter posting no goals and one assist in 32 contests last year, sophomore
Shelby Herrington has chipped in 12 goals and 20 points in 28 games this season. Herrington notched her first collegiate two-goal game in a 5-4 win over Syracuse on Oct. 9, and recorded her first three-point game with a goal and two helpers in a 5-2 victory vs. Vermont on Nov. 21.
COYNE ONE OF WHEA'S ALL-TIME GREATSWith her game-tying goal on Dec. 5 at Vermont, senior
Kendall Coyne passed Kelli Stack as the all-time leading scorer in WHEA play with 134 career points. Since then, Coyne has added 24 more points and currently sits on 158 career points in WHEA play. Coyne has scored 85 career goals in 75 WHEA games–the most all-time in league history.
TERROR OF A TOP LINE Northeastern's top line of sophomore
Denisa Krizova, junior
Hayley Scamurra and senior
Kendall Coyne has combined for 145 points on 64 goals and 81 assists this season. Coyne (1st), Krizova (4th) and Scamurra (7th) each rank in the top 10 among the leading scorers in Hockey East.
