Game-day information: Game 37 at Notre Dame
When	Friday, Mar. 11, 7:35 p.m.
Where	South Bend, Ind.  |  Compton Family Ice Arena  |  Directions
Broadcast and stats	Live Stats  |  Video  |  Audio  |  Tickets
Notes and yearbook	Game Notes  |  2015-16 Yearbook
Promotions	n/a
Social media	@GoNUmhockey  facebook.com/GoNUmhockey instagram.com/GoNUathletics  Use #GoNU

BOSTON -- Two of the hottest teams in college hockey will face-off this weekend as the Northeastern men's ice hockey team heads to No. 10 Notre Dame for the best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal at Compton Family Ice Arena. The two teams have combined to go 30-6-6 in their last 21 games (NU: 16-2-3; Notre Dame: 14-4-3), while NU is coming off a first round sweep of Maine last weekend at Matthews Arena, the program's first best-of-three series sweep since 1994.
 
Back to the playoffs
NU is back in the Hockey East playoffs for the third straight season, and 25th time in program history. It also marks the 18th time in 25 playoff appearances that Northeastern enters the playoffs as the No. 6 seed or higher.
 
The Huskies will be making their 22nd appearance in the Hockey East quarterfinals, owning a 15-31 record dating back to 1985. NU is 8-26 all-time in quarterfinal games on the road, and is looking to return to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2011.
 
This weekend marks the first time that Northeastern and Notre Dame have met in the postseason.
 
The all-time series with the Fighting Irish
The Huskies and Fighting Irish will meet for the 15th time in program history on Friday. Northeastern boasts a record of 8-4-2 all-time against Notre Dame and has won seven of their last 12 meetings with the Irish. NU is also 4-2-1 against the Fighting Irish since they joined Hockey East in 2013-14.
 
Notre Dame won the season series, also played at Compton Family Ice Arena, earlier this season at 1-0-1. On Nov. 12, the Huskies scored twice in a span of 28 seconds in the second period and received 28 stops from Ryan Ruck, but NU was unable to overcome a 3-0 deficit as the Fighting Irish took game one, 3-2.
 
The following night, NU fought back to erase a two-goal deficit to net the tying goal with 4:07 left in regulation to pick up a point in the league standings. Matt Benning buried the equalizer late in the third period with a power play goal from the point, while Garret Cockerill also scored for the Huskies.
 
Scouting Notre Dame
Notre Dame enters this weekend's series after earning a first round bye thanks to a 15-5-2 regular season record in Hockey East, good for the third seed in the conference tournament. The Fighting Irish are 19-8-7 overall this season.
 
A trio of sophomores have led the charge for Notre Dame this season. Boston draft pick Anders Bjork (11 goals, 21 assists) and Montreal draft choice Jake Evans (eight goals, 24 assists) are tied for the team lead with 32 points, while Jordan Gross trails close behind with eight goals and 22 assists on the year.
 
Cal Petersen has been the go-to netminder for the Fighting Irish this season, appearing in all 34 games with a 2.08 goals against average (18th in the nation) and .932 save percentage (10th in the nation).
 
Straight into Compton
The Huskies have felt right at home when playing at the Compton Family Ice Arena, going 4-2-1 since the building opened in November of 2011 and outscoring the Irish 22-13. When NU captured the Shillelagh Tournament title on Nov. 23, 2013, it made the Huskies the first club to defeat Notre Dame three times at Compton.
 
A tale of two seasons
Northeastern's sluggish start to the 2015-16 season was well documented, coming out of the gates 1-10-2 before the team's trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland for the first-ever Friendship Four. After an overtime loss to then No. 4 UMass Lowell, the Huskies rebounded with a 7-1 win against Colgate in the consolation game and haven't looked back since. Since the trip the Huskies are 16-2-3, including a 10-1-2 mark in league play that catapulted NU from 12th to sixth place in the league standings in a span of six weeks.
 
"I thought it was the turning point of our season," said head coach Jim Madigan. "Our lineup had settled in and we knew how we had to play without are two key offensive players, and went into Northern Ireland with a game plan that was."
 
Streaking
NU is unbeaten in 18 of its last 19 games (16-1-2), and is on a nine-game winning streak, the second longest streak in team history. It's 10-game unbeaten streak, (9-0-1) meanwhile, is the longest active streak in the nation.
 
During this recent stretch, the Huskies are averaging 4.00 goals per game (fourth in the nation in that span) and conceding just 1.74 goals per game (tied for the third fewest in the nation in that span). NU's opponents have been held to two goals or fewer in all but four of those games, and the Huskies are 6-0-1 in true road games during the recent stretch of success.
 
Northeastern's lockdown defense in the last 19 games has limited its opponents to just 18 goals in the second and third periods of games, the lowest total in the nation. It's +31 goal differential in the second and third periods in the last 19 games is the third highest in the nation. Despite averaging 30.58 shots on goal during the last 19 games, NU's 13.1% shooting percentage is fourth in the nation in that span led by Nolan Stevens' 25% mark (10 goals on 40 shots).
 
Throughout this stretch the Huskies went 10-0-1 in conference games, which is the longest unbeaten streak in league play since Northeastern joined Hockey East at the start of the 1984-85 season.
 
That was close
Last Saturday's win against Maine was NU's fourth straight playoff game to go to overtime, and was also the team's ninth straight one-goal game in the postseason dating back to 2011. It also marked the first time in team history that Northeastern consecutive overtime games.
 
Road warriors
The Huskies logged some serious windshield time during the regular season season. NU visited Minneapolis (1,392 miles each way), South Bend (893 miles each way), Belfast (nearly 3,000 miles each way), and Canton (364 miles), among others, since October.
 
Northeastern concluded the regular season having traveled 12,488 miles, according to the New England Hockey Journal. After this weekend's second trip to South Bend, NU will up its season total to 14,274 miles.
 
In its last eight true road games, Northeastern is 6-0-2 and outscoring its opponents by 2.50 goals per game. The Huskies haven't lost a true road game since Nov. 20 at No. 1/1 Providence.
 
Roy named Warrior Player of the Week
After his overtime goal sent Northeastern into the Hockey East quarterfinals, senior captain Kevin Roy was named the Warrior Hockey East Player of the Week on Monday.
 
Roy had three goals and an assist in the two-game sweep of Maine in the Hockey East First Round, including a season-high three points (two goals, one assist) in the series clinching game on Saturday night. The game-winning goal at the 13:45 mark of overtime as the Huskies forced a turnover, with the puck landing on Roy's stick in the slot. The Lac-Beauport, Quebec native would do the rest, ripping a snap shot from between the hashmarks past Black Bear netminder Rob McGovern.
 
Roy's three goals last weekend were tied for the most in the nation and led Hockey East. His efforts throughout the weekend moved Roy into a tie for 13th on Northeastern's all-time scoring list with 144 career points. He is also 20th in career goals (63) and 19th in career assists (81).
 
Recapping last Saturday's win vs. Maine
In his final shot on goal at Matthews Arena, senior captain Kevin Roy buried an overtime game-winner to send Northeastern to a 4-3 victory against Maine (8-24-6) on Saturday night at Matthews Arena.
 
The goal came at the 13:45 mark of overtime as the Huskies forced a turnover, with the puck landing on Roy's stick in the slot. Roy would do the rest, ripping a snap shot from between the hashmarks past Black Bear netminder Rob McGovern (26 saves) to lift NU to a weekend sweep in the Hockey East First Round. Roy finished with two goals and an assist on the evening.
 
The Huskies would jump out to a 3-0 with three tallies in a span of 2:06 only to see Maine fight back to tie the game at three to send the teams to overtime for the second straight evening. Eric Williams and Nolan Stevens also scored for the Huskies, while Ryan Ruck made 33 stops in goal.
  
Special teams
During Northeastern's recent run of success, its performance on special teams has been the difference. On the power play, the Huskies started the year 11-of-79 (13.9%) in the first 17 games of the season, which ranked 47th in the nation in that span. In the 19 games since, the power play unit is operating at a 30.6% clip (22-of-72), which is second in the country.
 
The Huskies have scored a power play goal in eight of the last 10 games, including a season-best 4-of-7 performance on Feb. 27 against Maine. Overall, they are 11th in the country with a 21.9% success rate (33-of-151) and they are one of 10 teams with at least 30 power play goals this season.
 
The penalty killing, meanwhile, has responded with some of its best hockey of the year. It allowed 14 power play goals (45-of-59; 76.3%) in the first 17 games, ranked 52nd of 60 teams. Over the last 19 games, though, the PK unit has surrendered 11 goals (50-of-61; 82%).
 
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.
 
The rookie has a 2.20 goals against average and .915 save percentage in 32 games this season, and was named the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week on two occasions this season.
 
Over the last 19 games, Ruck is 16-1-2 with a 1.66 goals against average and .934 save percentage. His .895 winning percentage in his last 19 games is the best in the nation in that span, and has allowed two goals or fewer in 15 of his last 17 starts, including two shutouts. His 16 wins are also tied for the fifth most in a single season in team history.
 
Points from the point
Northeastern has received significant production from its defensemen in the offensive end of the ice so far this season. NU is seventh in the country in goals from defensemen (23) this season.
 
Garret Cockerill leads all blueliners with seven goals this season, and recorded his first career three-point night on Feb. 12 at UMass. It was the first three-point night for a Northeastern defenseman since Matt Benning against Connecticut on Feb. 13, 2015. Should Cockerill score another goal, it would be the most goals in a season for an NU defenseman since Jake Newton scored nine during the 2009-10 season.
 
Sophomore surge
A pair of sophomores have significantly increased their offensive production in 2015-16, led by Nolan Stevens, who went from a 12-point (three goals, nine assists) freshman campaign to posting 36 points (17 goals, 19 assists) this season. His +24 increase is tied for the third largest point improvement from 2014-15 to 2015-16:
 
Classmate Dylan Sikura is also having a big sophomore year with 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists), which is good for sixth on the team and a +16 increase from last season.
 
Line 7-8-9
Mike McMurtry has six goals and 14 assists in his last 19 games, including a career-long nine-game point streak from Dec. 6 to Jan. 23. Freshman Adam Gaudette has also been hot of late, and has seven goals and 14 assists in his last 17 games, while linemate Dylan Sikura has points in 11 of his last 15 games (seven goals, six assists).