BOSTON -- The No. 16/14 Northeastern men's hockey team returns home this weekend to host No. 18 Quinnipiac for a pair of games at Matthews Arena, beginning on Friday night at 7 p.m. This weekend's matchup features the top-two producing power play units over the last four-plus seasons. Since the 2013-14 campaign, Quinnipiac (168 PPG) and Northeastern (159 PPG) are ranked first and second, respectively in power play scoring nationally.
Friday's promotions
Friday will be Club Sports Night as the Huskies invite all Northeastern club teams to Matthews Arena to cheer on the team and also enter to win the evening's grand prize: $1,000 apportioned to the winning club team's budget. The grand prize will be awarded to the club sport with the highest percentage of spirited fans in attendance.
To hear about our season long promotions, please
click here.
Parking changes for Matthews Arena events in 2017-18
Due to construction on the new Carter Playground, the Camden Lot is no longer available for parking. Moving forward, fans attending Matthews Arena events will be able to park in the Columbus Garage, located on Columbus Avenue. The garage will open to fans beginning one hour prior to game time, and will be available free of charge. The arena can then be reached by taking the foot bridge over the MBTA tracks via Camden Street.
For fans needing assistance, Northeastern will provide shuttles to and from Columbus Garage, with pickup at the Columbus Garage stairway.
Parking is also available at the Gainsborough Garage, located on Gainsborough Street adjacent to Matthews Arena. Parking meters are also available around the arena. Please
click here to view the alternative parking map for garages around campus.
The all-time series with Quinnipiac
Northeastern enters the weekend set looking to even the all-time series with Quinnipiac. The Bobcats currently hold an all-time record of 3-1-2 against the Huskies and boast a five-game unbeaten streak against NU. Friday's meeting will mark four straight years in which the Huskies and Bobcats have met.
After topping the Huskies by one goal in each of their two meetings in the 2014-15 season, Northeastern responded with an impressive effort to force a 3-3 tie against No. 3/2 Quinnipiac on Jan. 2, 2016. Last season, the teams opened the season with a 2-2 tie before the Bobcats burned the Huskies in a 5-2 win.
Scouting the Bobcats
Northeastern will be Quinnipiac's fourth Hockey East opponent in four games to start the year. The Bobcats opened the regular season with a 1-1 tie at No. 13 Boston College, followed by a 3-2 loss at home to No. 2 Boston University. QU scooped up their first win last Saturday on home ice as the Bobcats knocked off Vermont 3-2 in overtime.
Freshman Odeen Tufto has a three-game point streak to start his collegiate career. He notched an assist in each of the first two games before scoring twice against Vermont, including the overtime winner. Senior forward Tanner MacMaster has had a point-per-game start to the year with one goal and two assists. Senior Landon Smith paced the Bobcats in scoring last season with 29 points, but he's only collected one assist so far this season.
Power up
This weekend's series with the Bobcats pits two of the nation's most productive power play units against one another. Dating back to the 2013-14 season, Quinnipiac and Northeastern rank first and second, respectively, in power play goals nationally:
1. Quinnipiac - 168
2. Northeastern - 159
3. Robert Morris - 158
4. St. Cloud State - 145
Well balanced attack
While the Huskies boast some of the nation's most prolific offensive threats, Northeastern has received scoring from a variety of outlets early in the year. Fourteen different skaters have already recorded a point, with all four classes contributing:
• Freshmen (three goals, five assists)
• Sophomore (six goals, six assists)
• Juniors (four goals, seven assists)
• Seniors (four goals, 12 assists)
Scoring barrage
Northeastern's offensive prowess was put on full display on opening weekend against Sacred Heart with the Huskies potting 14 goals over the two games, the most in the team's first two games of the season since the 2002-03 and 1994-95 campaigns. In the last six seasons, no team in the country has scored 14 goals in its first two games.
It also marked the first time that Northeastern has scored at least seven goals in consecutive games since Nov. 21 and Nov. 28, 1992.
After NU scored three times at RIT last weekend, it's the first time since 1994-95 that Northeastern has scored at least 17 goals in its first three games.
Contributing in all areas
Senior
Garret Cockerill logs more than 20 minutes of ice time per game on the Northeastern blue line and has seen his point production increase each season, from 14 points his freshman year to 33 as a junior last season, the most for a Northeastern defenseman since 2001-02.
His 74 career points (19 goals, 55 assists) are the second most among defensemen in the country:
• 97 – Jordan Gross (Notre Dame)
• 74 – Garrett Cockerill (Northeastern)
• 61 – Mark Auk (Michigan Tech)
• 57 – Lester Lancaster (Mercyhurst)
Another successful season offensively could put Cockerill in a position to become the sixth Northeastern defensemen in team history to reach 100 points, and first since Jim Fahey in 2001-02.
Hands Solow
In just three collegiate games, freshman
Zach Solow has proven he belongs. The Naples, Fla. native has seven points (three goals, four assists), which leads all rookie skaters in the nation.
His six-point performance on opening weekend earned him Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week honors when he became the first Husky to record a multi-point game in his collegiate debut since the 2013-14 season (Matt Benning, Dalen Hedges, Mike Szmatula), and the first Husky to log four points on opening night since Kevin Roy on Oct. 11, 2013 against Alabama-Huntsville.
Since 2012, he's one of three rookies to record seven points in his first three games: Mitchell Fossier (Maine) in 2016-17 and Austin Plevy (Massachusetts) in 2015-16.
Dynamic duo
Senior
Dylan Sikura and junior
Adam Gaudette have picked up right where they left off a season ago, recording seven points apiece through the team's first three games.
They make Northeastern the first team to have a pair of skaters with three straight multi-point games to start the season since Cornell (John McCarron and Joel Lowry) in 2013-14. In the last six seasons, only 16 players in the nation have recorded multi-point efforts in their teams' first three games.
Approaching the Century Club
Junior
Dylan Sikura is third in the nation with 99 career points, and is just one away from becoming the 50th player in team history to reach 100 career points, and fourth in the last three seasons (Kevin Roy,
Zach Aston-Reese,
John Stevens).
At the helm
Jim Madigan is back for his seventh season as head coach. He is the 10th head coach in program history, and is 99-96-28 (.507) in six-plus seasons behind the bench. During his tenure, Madigan has led Northeastern to its first Hockey East title since 1988, first NCAA berth since 2009 and seen nine of his players drafted by NHL teams.
He is just one win away from becoming the fifth head coach in program history to reach 100 career wins, while his .507 winning percentage is the best for any head coach in team history (minimum 20 games).
Madigan is one of 20 head coaches directing their alma maters. As a player, he was a two-time Beanpot champion and was on the 1982 team that reached the Frozen Four.
Recapping Saturday's tie at RIT
No. 14 Northeastern, which outshot RIT 44-27 in the game, saw the Tigers jump out to a 3-0 second period advantage before the Huskies stormed back with the game's final three goals to force a 3-3 draw before 8,835 at Blue Cross Arena on Saturday night.
After a scoreless first period, RIT struck twice in the first six minutes of the second with goals from Myles Powell and Erik Brown before Brown added another late in the frame for the three-goal edge. The Huskies would get one back off the stick of
Lincoln Griffin to send the team's into the dressing room at 3-1.
Northeastern continued to come hard in the third, and cut the deficit to one midway through the final frame with a bullet from
Garret Cockerill (one goal, one assist) in the slot, and
Dylan Sikura (one goal, one assist) potted the equalizer with 2:40 to play on the power play to send the game into overtime.
Cayden Primeau was strong between the pipes for Northeastern, making 24 saves, while his counterpart Logan Drackett was tested throughout the evening, steering aside 41 Northeastern shots.
It's in their blood
This year's roster boasts three players who hail from NHL families:
Cayden Primeau,
Eetu Selanne and
Nolan Stevens.
Cayden is the son of Keith Primeau, who played in more than 900 NHL games over 15 years, recording 266 goals and 353 assists, while his uncle Wayne played in 774 NHL games over 14 years, tallying 69 goals and 125 assists along with 789 penalty minutes.
Eetu is the son of 2007 Stanley Cup champion Teemu Selanne, who ranks 15th all-time in NHL history with 1,457 points and 11th in goals (684). Teemu was named one of the NHL's Greatest Players and won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard trophy as the NHL's leading goal scorer at the end of the 1998-99 season, and will be inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame in November.
Stevens learned the game of hockey from one of the game's best teachers:
John Stevens. The elder Stevens is a two-time Stanley Cup Champion and current head coach of the Los Angeles Kings. He was previously the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers and played parts of five seasons with Philadelphia and Hartford.
The trio of Huskies are three of more than 30 players in college hockey who are sons of former NHL players.
NU establishes Fernie Flaman Endowed Men's Hockey Coach Fund
Northeastern University and the athletic department are proud to announce the first endowed head coaching fund in university history with the creation of the Fernie Flaman Endowed Men's Hockey Coach Fund.
Jim Madigan, the current men's ice hockey coach, has been named the inaugural holder of the position.
"An endowed head coaching position is something we've been working towards for quite some time, and I'm thrilled to see it become a reality," said athletic director
Peter Roby. "This would not be possible without the immense generosity of so many, and I am grateful for their incredible support of our men's hockey program.
"Fernie Flaman was a man who I greatly admired, and to have my name associated with his is truly an honor," said Madigan. "I am so thankful to our university, its development team and the athletic department for its commitment to the men's hockey program at Northeastern. I am very proud to be the first Fernie Flaman Men's Hockey Coach, and grateful to everyone who has, through this fund, put our program in a position to succeed for years to come."
Madigan signs extension through 2020-21
Northeastern director of athletics
Peter Roby announced on Sept. 18 that Fernie Flaman Men's Hockey Coach
Jim Madigan has agreed to a contract extension that will keep him at Northeastern through the 2020-21 season.
"Our men's hockey program has put itself in a position to succeed both in Hockey East and nationally for the past several years, led by Coach Madigan and his staff," Roby said. "The student-athletes that the group recruits created in a shift in the culture of our team and reached levels of success not seen in decades. I'm very pleased to have Jim as our Fernie Flaman Men's Hockey Coach for years to come."
"I believe we have built a program here at Northeastern that is poised to compete for Beanpot, conference and national championships year in and year out," Madigan said, "and I'm very happy to know that we have the opportunity to continue to make strides towards those lofty goals. I couldn't be more excited to serve as the Fernie Flaman Men's Hockey Coach well into the future."
The road ahead
The Huskies open Hockey East play next weekend with a home-and-home set against No. 19 UMass Lowell, beginning on Friday night at Tsongas Center. The teams will then head to Boston for a Saturday night matchup at Matthews Arena.
