BOSTON -- Coming off three straight non-conference games, the Northeastern men's hockey team resumes Hockey East play on Saturday night when the Huskies visit Gutterson Fieldhouse for a matchup with Vermont.
The all-time series with Vermont
The Huskies and Catamounts will square off for the 62nd time in program history on Saturday at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Vermont owns a 31-23-7 record against Northeastern coming into this weekend's action. Neither team has earned a regular season sweep in the series since the 2012-13 season.
In the first meeting of the year, Craig Puffer scored twice, including the game-winning tally with 5:05 left in regulation, and Stefanos Lekkas made 24 stops to lead Vermont to a come-from-behind victory over the Huskies, 3-2.
Adam Gaudette gave the hosts a 1-0 lead less than a minute into the contest before Puffer tied things up five minute later.
Dylan Sikura then put NU up 2-1 one minute after the Puffer tally before the Catamounts leveled the score again midway through the second period.
The Huskies have found success at Gutterson Fieldhouse under head coach
Jim Madigan, going 4-1-2 in his first five seasons
Scouting the Catamounts
The Catamounts have used a balanced attack through the opening 21 games of the year en route to a 13-6-2 overall record and 5-3-1 conference mark that has them in a tie for third in Hockey East.
Only five points separate the top nine scorers on the team, with Ross Colton currently leading the squad with 15 points on eight goals and seven assists. Rob Darrar (seven goals, six assists) Craig Puffer (seven goals, six assists) and Brady Shaw (six goals, seven assists) are all close with 13 points apiece.
Stefanos Lekkas has been the go-to netminder for head coach Kevin Sneddon, starting 15 of the team's 21 games. He is 11-3-2 with a 2.12 goals against average and .932 save percentage.
Recapping Tuesday's loss at Yale
Mike Doherty's goal midway through the period proved to be the difference as Yale survived a late push from Northeastern in a back-on-forth bout on Tuesday night at Ingalls Rink, 5-4.
Neither team led by more than a goal at any point in the contest with Northeastern erasing deficits of 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3 before surrendering the game's final goal with 10:32 to play in the game. The game saw nine different players combine for goals, including NU tallies from
Sam Kurker,
Patrick Schule,
Zach Aston-Reese and
Dylan Sikura.
After seeing the Bulldogs take an early 1-0 lead on a goal from Chris Izmirlian, the Huskies responded with two goals in four minutes from Kurker and Schule to take a 2-1 edge through 20 minutes. The middle frame would see the Bulldogs find the back of the net three times on tallies from Andrew Gaus, Frankie DiChara and John Hayden while Aston-Reese scored his team-leading 18th goal of the year late in the period.
Sikura would level the score less than five minutes into the third period on his 12th of the season to extend his point streak to a career-long eight games (eight goals, nine assists), but Yale closed out the scoring from Doherty on a goal in transition.
Ryan Ruck steered aside 29 Yale shots on the night while Patrick Spano stopped 24 shots at the other end, including a sprawling save on
Eric Williams late in regulation and a one-timer from
John Stevens in the slot as the final horn sounded.
Talented triumvirate
Zach Aston-Reese (18 goals, 15 assists),
Dylan Sikura (12 goals, 18 assists) and
Adam Gaudette (10 goals, 18 assists) are all enjoying hot starts to the season, ranking in the top-10 in the nation in scoring.
Aston-Reese had hat tricks in consecutive games on Dec. 18 and Dec. 30, and is one of two players in the nation (T.J. Moore, Holy Cross) to record a hat trick in two straight games, and one of only four players in the country with multiple hat tricks this season.
The trio makes Northeastern the only team in the nation to have at least three skaters with 28 points or more. The three have also combined to make up 51% of the Huskies' total scoring this season.
Streaking
Zach Aston-Reese (12 goals, seven assists) and
Dylan Sikura (eight goals, nine assists) both carry eight-game point streaks into Saturday's contest, the longest such streaks for any Northeastern skater this season. It is the longest streak for both players in their collegiate careers, while Aston-Reese also had an eight-game streak last season (Feb. 26 - Mar. 19).
Aston-Reese climbing up the ranks
Senior assistant captain
Zach Aston-Reese has been one of Northeastern's go-to players during his career on Huntington Avenue. He has 19 career power play goals, which ranks in a tie for second in the nation among active players, while his 11 game-winning goals are tied for third in the country.
Overall, Aston-Reese has 118 points (53 goals, 65 assists) in 126 career games, which ranks sixth in career scoring among active skaters nationally. He also became the 48th player in team history to reach 100 points earlier this season, and is currently tied for 27th in career scoring at Northeastern.
Aston-Reese leads the team with 33 points this season (18 goals, 15 assists). He is the quickest Husky to reach 30 points in season (18 games) in the last 20 years.
In select company
Zach Aston-Reese's electric start to the season is something rarely seen on Huntington Avenue. His 33 points are already more than 12 Huskies' leading scorers reached in an entire season in previous years.
Over the last five seasons in college hockey, only 16 Division I players have reached 30 points in their first 18 games. In addition, only five players have reached 18 goals in their first 19 games:
Player - Season
Zach Aston-Reese (NU - 2016-17
Mike Vechionne (Union) - 2016-17
Andrew Poturalski (UNH) - 2015-16
Jimmy Vesey (Harvard) - 2014-15
Ryan Haggerty (RPI) – 2013-14
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 eighth in the nation with 18 assists in his first 19 games, and eighth overall in scoring with 30 points.
The Aurora, Ontario native has at least one point in 16 of the team's 19 games this season, and is currently riding a eight-game point streak (eight goals, nine assists), a new career-long. His 12 goals in just 19 games are already more than his total from all of last season (36 games).
Good Gaud
Sophomore center
Adam Gaudette has been one of the top players in the nation through the first three months of the season, recording 10 goals and 18 assists in his first 18 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.
The straw that stirs the drink
While
Zach Aston-Reese,
Dylan Sikura and
Adam Gaudette have received most of the praise for their work in the offensive zone in 2016-17, it's been the under the radar play of captain
John Stevens that has resulted in much of their success. Stevens provides the defensive work that allows the Huskies to transition up ice and has a strong ability to maintain puck possession in the attacking zone to distribute the puck to his linemates for scoring chances.
Stevens is averaging nearly one point per game in a season that forced him to miss six games due to an upper body injury. In the 13 games with Stevens in the lineup the team is averaging 4.2 goals per game, while averaging just 2.7 in the six games he missed.
Veterans carrying the load
Northeastern, with 14 juniors and seniors on the roster, is tied for the ninth most upperclassmen on NCAA rosters this season. The two classes have combined for 107 points (42 goals, 65 assists) in the team's opening 19 games, which ranks ninth in the country. The 42 goals rank in a tie for sixth in the nation while the 65 helpers are tied for seventh.
Get there early
After being held without a first period goal in its opening weekend series at Quinnipiac, Northeastern has potted 26 goals in the first period in the 17 games since, more than half of their total in 41 games last season (40). NU's 26 goals in the opening frame are tied for the third most in the nation. Of those 26 opening period goals, 20 have come at Matthews Arena.
Cockerill keeping up
Junior
Garret Cockerill plays in all situations for Northeastern, and is one of the team leaders in time on ice per game. This year, though, the Brighton, Mich. native has continued to chip in at the offensive end of the ice, and is fourth on the team with 16 points (four goals, 12 assists). His 0.84 points per game is tied for 17th in the nation, and tied for fourth in Hockey East, among defensemen.
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 their own net. NU has blocked 299 shots in 19 games, a 15.74 average that ranks fourth in the nation. Freshman
Jeremy Davies, meanwhile, leads the team with 38 blocks and an average of 2.11 good for 17th in the country and fifth in Hockey East.
Killing it on the PK
The Northeastern penalty killing unit has been hard at work this year, going 87-of-100 midway through the season. Its 87% success rate is ninth in the nation this season, and has held opponents to one goal or fewer on the man advantage in 17-of-19 games this year.
At this point last year, the Huskies were 49th in the nation in penalty killing percentage (52-of-67; 77.6%).
Power up
NU is averaging 6.21 power play opportunities per game this season, the third highest in the nation, and have cashed in 27 times, the second most in the nation. Ten different Huskies have found the back of the net on the man advantage, including a team-high eight from senior
Zach Aston-Reese, tied for the most nationally.
Tough after two
Opponents who find themselves down to the Huskies through two periods of play haven't fared well in recent years. Over the last four seasons, Northeastern is 48-3-3 (.917) when leading after 40 minutes, including a 6-0-0 mark in 2016-17.
The road ahead
Northeastern continues Hockey East play next week as the Huskies battle New Hampshire twice. The first takes place at the Whittemore Center on Thursday night before the teams head back to Boston for Frozen Fenway 2017 for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop on NESN at historic Fenway Park.
