Game-day information: Game 28 vs. Harvard
When	Monday, Feb. 8, 4:30 p.m.
Where	Boston, Mass.  |  TD Garden  |  Directions
Broadcast and stats	Live Stats  |  Audio  |  Tickets
Notes and yearbook	Game Notes  |  2015-16 Yearbook
Promotions	n/a
Social media	@GoNUmhockey  facebook.com/GoNUmhockey instagram.com/GoNUathletics  Use GoNU and Beanpot

BOSTON -- Playing its third top-ten team in the last eight days, the Northeastern men's ice hockey team will look to stay unbeaten in 10 of its last 11 games on Monday when the Huskies battle No. 7 Harvard in the Beanpot consolation game. Northeastern and Harvard are meeting in the consolation game for the 22nd time, with the Crimson winning 11 of the first 21 matchups. NU is in the consolation game for the first time since 2012.
 
Huskies vs. Harvard in the Beanpot
Northeastern and Harvard will be meeting in the Beanpot for the second time in three seasons, and 42nd time in tournament history. The Crimson lead the series, 23-19, while Northeastern has won three of the last four tournament meetings. Monday marks the 22nd time that the teams will meet in the consolation game, with Harvard leading that series 11-10.
 
Northeastern in the Beanpot consolation
The Huskies are playing in the consolation game for the first time since 2012, and are 16-30 overall in the third place game. Eight of Northeastern's last nine appearances in the consolation game have come against Harvard.
 
The rookie's time to shine
Freshman goaltender Ryan Ruck has earned the start between the pipes for the Huskies in each of the last 12 games, including last week's Beanpot semifinal against Boston University. He was the first Husky rookie to start in goal in a Beanpot game since Chris Rawlings in 2010.

Ruck responded well to his first Beanpot outing, making a career-high 31 stops against the Terriers, including 26 in the second and third periods alone.
 
A look at the Eberly leaders
With 31 stops in his first career Beanpot game, freshman Ryan Ruck has positioned himself well for a shot at the prestigious Eberly Award, which is given to the goaltender with the highest tournament save percentage. Here's how the four goalies stack up:
 
Goalie (School; Save Percentage)
Sean Maguire (Boston University; .960)
Ryan Ruck (Northeastern; .939)
Thatcher Demko (Boston College; .913)
Merrick Madsen (Harvard; .909)
 
Recapping the semifinal loss to Boston Univ.
Freshman goaltender Ryan Ruck made a career-high 31 saves, but Northeastern was unable to dig itself out of an early two-goal deficit as the No. 9 Boston University Terriers skated to a 3-1 win on Monday in the Beanpot Semifinals before a crowd of 14,832 at TD Garden.
 
Junior John Stevens scored an extra-attacker goal with 3:29 remaining to pull Northeastern within one, but the Terriers were able to salt the game away when Doyle Somerby scored into the empty net in the final minute to restore BU's two-goal cushion.
 
Monday Night Roy
After scoring five of Northeastern's six goals in the 2013 Beanpot Tournament, Kevin Roy added to his sterling freshman season by earning Beanpot MVP honors. Roy became the first Beanpot MVP of a second-place team since Boston University's Sean Fields in 2004. Roy was the Huskies' fifth-ever MVP and Northeastern's first since Bruce Racine took home the award in 1988.
 
Roy became the first rookie skater to net a hat trick in his first Beanpot appearance since Boston College's Krys Kolanos on Feb. 7, 2000, in a 6-1 win over NU. The Lac-Beauport, Quebec, native became the first Husky to score a hat trick in the Beanpot since Mike Ryan netted three against Harvard on Feb. 8, 2002. Roy was also the first freshman to score the opening goal of the Beanpot since Boston College's Brock Bradford on Feb. 6, 2006. Roy followed that up with another Monday night performance of two goals in the championship game vs. Boston College.
 
Last season, Roy posted one goal and two assists, and is Northeastern's active leader in career Beanpot scoring with seven goals and four assists in seven games. With 11 points, Roy needs one point to crack the top-25 in career Beanpot scoring. He would join Boston College's Steven Whitney as the only players to reach the top-25 since the turn of the millennium.
 
Madigan and the Beanpot
Northeastern head coach Jim Madigan played and coached in the Huskies' golden era of Beanpot success. Madigan has direct involvement with three of NU's four Beanpot championships, two as a student-athlete (1984, 1985) and one as an assistant coach (1988).
 
Madigan scored a goal in one of Northeastern's two victories over BU in the Beanpot, including the 4-3 victory on Feb. 8, 1983. Trailing 3-0, Madigan scored the Huskies' first goal, sparking a four-goal flurry for the win. As a head coach, Madigan is 3-6 in five seasons.
 
The all-time series with the Crimson
Northeastern and Harvard will be meeting for the 101st time in program history on Monday, with the Crimson holding a 65-35-0 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to 1941. The Huskies, however, have held the edge in recent years, winning five of the last six meetings and seven of the last 10. The two teams will be meeting for the first time since the 2014 Beanpot semifinal, a 6-0 win for Northeastern. In that game, six Huskies recorded multi-point efforts and NU converted on three of its 10 power play chances to help Clay Witt to the 19th shutout in Beanpot history.
 
Scouting Harvard
After dropping a 3-2 decision to No. 4 Boston College in the Beanpot semifinal on Monday, Harvard was the lone tournament team to play twice this weekend. On Friday night, the Crimson jumped out to a 2-0 lead at Brown before seeing the Black Bears tie the game at two early in the third period. It wasn't until the last four minutes of the game that Kyle Criscuolo put Harvard on top for good to secure the win. The next night at No. 11 Yale, the Bulldogs came back from a 1-0 first period deficit to knock off Harvard, 2-1. Overall, the Crimson are 13-6-3 and 9-4-3 in the ECAC. They currently sit seventh in both polls and are tied for ninth in the PairWise rankings.
 
Criscuolo and 2015 Hobey Baker finalist Jimmy Vesey have led the charge for the Crimson this season, accounting for 43% of the team's goal scoring with Vesey tallying 18 and Criscuolo 16. Vesey leads the team overall with 35 points in 22 games, while Alexander Kerfoot is close behind with 28 points (four goals, 24 assists).
 
In goal, sophomore Merrick Madsen has earned the start in 18 games this season, going 12-3-2 with a 1.94 goals against average and .933 save percentage. He's allowed two goals or fewer in five of his last six starts.
 
Special teams matchup
Harvard enters Monday's game with the top power play in the nation, converting at a 30.7% (23-of-75) clip this season. Northeastern, however, is one of the least penalized teams in the country, averaging just 9.1 penalty minutes per game (43rd in the nation). In the last five games, NU has killed off 17 of 19 penalties.
 
Stiff scheduling
Northeastern has played a ranked team 16 times this season, and 14 times in the last 20 games. The Huskies currently rank 10th in the nation, and second in Hockey East, according to USCHO.com's KRACH rankings. Northeastern still has one regular season game remaining against ranked opponents.
 
Streaking
Northeastern is unbeaten in nine of its last 10 games (7-1-2). Before Monday's loss to Boston University, NU's six-game winning streak was tied for the longest winning streak in the nation and tied for the sixth longest unbeaten streak in team history. During NU's unbeaten streak, the Huskies outscored its opponents by more than two goals per game. It's 3.88 goals per game ranked in a tie for eighth in the nation in that span, while its 1.62 goals against per game is tied for fourth.
 
Guess who's back, back again
Jan. 22 marked the return of senior captain Kevin Roy, who had missed 12 games with an upper body injury. Roy returned to the lineup and logged an assist and a +2 rating in his first game in more than two months.
 
Also returning to the lineup is senior Dustin Darou, who missed the first 19 games of the season following a lower body injury suffered at the Travis Roy Wiffeball Tournament last summer. Darou scored the game-winning goal in last year's Beanpot semifinal before netting the game-tying goal in the title game against Boston University.
 
Gaudette named Rookie of the Month
Following a seven-game stretch that saw him record three goals and nine assists, freshman center Adam Gaudette has been named the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month, Hockey East announced on Wednesday.
 
Gaudette's 12 points in seven games in January ranked him in a tie for 18th in the nation, and tied for most in the conference, during the month. The Braintree, Massachusetts native was also tied for the Hockey East lead in points per game (1.71) and power play goals (three), and led the conference in both assists per game (1.29).
 
He had a point in all seven games during January, including four straight multi-point games from Jan. 9 to Jan. 22 and a career-high three assist effort at St. Lawrence (Jan. 9). He was one of 26 players in the nation to have at least four multi-point nights during January.
 
Aston-Reese named Walter Brown Award nominee
The Gridiron Club of Greater Boston announced Monday the 23 semifinalists for the 64th Walter Brown Award, presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England. Junior forward Zach Aston-Reese is one of 14 Hockey East players included on the list.
 
The nation's oldest nationally-recognized college hockey honor, the Walter Brown Award was established in 1953 by the members of the 1933 Massachusetts Rangers, the first American team ever to win the World Championship Tournament. Brown coached the Rangers to the title in Prague, Czechoslovakia, that year as the team defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime in the championship game.
 
Aston-Reese leads the Huskies with 23 points (seven goals, 16 assists) in 25 games this season. The Staten Island, New York native ranks in a tie for 19th in Hockey East in points, tied for 10th in assists, and tied for sixth in shots on goal (92). Aston-Reese has points in 10 of his last 12 games (five goals, nine assists), and has had point streaks of three games or longer on three occasions this season.
 
Perfect January's in the NCAA
Northeastern 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.
 
The Ruck stops here
Freshman netminder Ryan Ruck made his collegiate debut on Oct. 17 at Bentley, making six saves in relief of Derick Roy in the third period. Ruck arrived at Northeastern after playing for the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL for two seasons, posting a 3.17 goals against average and a .903 save percentage in 33 games in 2014-15.
 
Ruck followed that up with a 21 save effort at Minnesota on Oct. 23, including an early candidate for save of the year, which was the No. 2 play on SportsCenter's Top Plays of the night.
 
The rookie has a 2.42 goals against average and .909 save percentage in 23 games this season, and was named the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week following a 26-save performance against Michigan State on Dec. 19, earning his first collegiate victory.
 
Over the last 10 games, Ruck is 7-1-2 with a 1.68 goals against average and .934 save percentage. His .800 winning percentage in his last 10 games is tied for seventh in the nation in that span, and has allowed two goals or fewer in each of his last eight starts.
 
Recapping Friday's tie at No. 8 UMass Lowell
Trailing 2-1 entering the third period, Northeastern outshot No. 8 UMass Lowell (17-5-5, 10-3-4) 19-6 in the final frame and tied the game on a power play goal from Mike McMurtry to force a 2-2 tie against the River Hawks on Friday night at the Tsongas Center.
 
Trevor Owens also scored for the Huskies, who move into a tie with Vermont for sixth place in the Hockey East standings with 12 points. Ryan Ruck made 24 stops in goal for Northeastern, including the final 15 he faced to help the Huskies extend its conference unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1).
 
Evan Campbell and Joe Gambardella both scored first period goals for the River Hawks while Kevin Boyle made 30 stops in goal. Northeastern outshot UML 32-26 in the game as both teams scored on the man advantage (NU 1-of-2, UMass Lowell, 1-of-4).
 
All tied up
Saturday's 2-2 tie at No. 8 UMass Lowell was Northeastern's fifth tie of the season. That's tied for the fifth most draws in program history and tied for the 12th most in the nation this season. In three of those games (at Notre Dame, at Boston College and at UMass Lowell), the Huskies came from behind in the third period to level the score and earn a point in the league standings.
 
The road ahead
Northeastern concludes the regular season with six straight Hockey East games in the next three weeks, beginning this weekend with a home-and-home set with Massachusetts. The teams will square off at the Mullins Center in Amherst on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. (NESN/ASN) before returning to Matthews Arena on Saturday for a 7 p.m. face-off.