BOSTON -- It's Homecoming Weekend on Huntington Avenue as the No. 13 Northeastern men's hockey team battles No. 15 Boston University on Military Appreciation Night on Friday at Matthews Arena. NU is coming off a 4-1 road victory against the Terriers last Saturday, and is looking for its first home win against Boston University since 2012.
Friday's promotions
Prior to puck drop, join us at the Northeastern Homecoming Weekend celebration at Fan Fest, located in the Matthews Arena parking lot beginning at 5:30 p.m. There is no cost to attend the event, and is open to all Northeastern students, alumni, faculty and staff. Celebrate your Husky spirit with tailgating fun, music, and libations before the big game! To register, please
click here.
Friday is Military Appreciation Night at Matthews, and the team will be honoring all military veterans and active service members by donning special camouflage jerseys, which will be auctioned off during the game in the concourse. All proceeds collected from the game-worn jersey auction, as well as those collected throughout the evening, will benefit a foundation chosen by the Northeastern Center for the Advancement of Veterans and Servicemembers (CAVS).
The first 900 fans in attendance will receive a free Operation Hat Trick Cap from '47 Brand, courtesy of the Northeastern Professional Advancement Network (PAN).
Beginning Friday and running during every home game in November, Northeastern will be holding its annual food drive. Fans may drop off their donated canned food items at the merchandise stand, located on the main concourse.
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 Boston University
For the 233rd time in program history, Northeastern will face off against its crosstown rival, Boston University. The rivalry dates back to Feb. 6, 1931 and has favored the Terriers throughout. BU holds a 164-59-9 record over the Huskies, but NU got back into the win column last Saturday on the road, snapping an eight-game winless skid.
The Terriers won last season's series with a mark of 3-0-1. The season series began with a 4-4 tie at Matthews Arena, but the Terriers got the upper hand the following night at Agganis Arena with a 3-0 win. In the Hockey East quarterfinals later that season, the Terriers swept the Huskies with a pair of 3-2 wins at Agganis to end NU's season.
Scouting the Terriers
The Terriers opened their season with a pair of wins against ranked opponents as they topped No. 16 Union, 4-1, and No. 14 Quinnipiac, 3-2 in overtime. Since that pair of wins, the Terriers have stumbled a bit, going 1-4-1 in their last six. After losing twice at home to Minnesota State, BU had a three-point weekend against UConn to open their conference slate before dropping 4-3 and 3-0 decisions to No. 1 Denver and No. 11 Providence, respectively.
Bobo Carpenter has leapt out of the gates with six goals and three assists through 10 games. Patrick Harper and Chad Krys are also off to hot starts with 10 and seven points, respectively. As was the case last season, the Terrier net belongs to Jake Oettinger. The sophomore has started all 10 contests for BU and has a .913 save percentage.
Stevens named Hockey East Player of the Week
After recording his first collegiate hat trick,
Nolan Stevens was named the Hockey East Player of the Week on Monday. Stevens scored three of NU's four goals in a 4-1 victory at No. 12/11 Boston University last weekend. This is the second straight weekly honor for the Huskies (
Adam Gaudette).
Stevens scored his first of the game with 0.1 seconds remaining in the opening period before adding two more in the second to give NU a three-goal cushion.
Out of the gates
Northeastern is off to a 3-0-0 record in conference play for the first time since 2008-09, and for just the fourth time since joining Hockey East (1988-89, 1989-90). It took 14 games in each of the last two seasons for the Huskies to reach three league wins.
A win on Friday would move NU to 4-0-0 for just the second time in team history (2008-09).
How you start is how you go
Northeastern is outscoring opponents 12-1 in the first period this season, and it's +11 first period goal differential leads the nation.
He's Sik
Senior
Dylan Sikura is third among active players in the nation with 106 career points, and became the 50th player in team history to reach 100 career points on Oct. 20 against Quinnipiac. He's the fourth Husky in the last three seasons (
Kevin Roy,
Zach Aston-Reese,
John Stevens) to accomplish the feat.
What's most impressive about Sikura is his steady progression throughout his career at Northeastern. He went from a seven-point in 25-game freshman campaign where he was an occasional healthy scratch to 28 points as a sophomore before a breakout 57-point junior season. Seventy-one of Sikura's 106 career points (67%) have come in his last 46 games.
Sikura is currently tied for fourth in the nation with 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in just eight games this season, which made him the only player in college hockey since 2012-13 to record a multi-point effort in each of his team's first six games, and one of two players in the nation to reach 14 points in that span since 2012-13.
For his efforts, Sikura was named the Hockey East Player of the Month for October.
It marks the second straight year that Sikura's started the season with a six-game point streak. Before then, it hadn't happened since Braden Pimm,
Kevin Roy and Mike Szmatula all started the 2013-14 season with points in their first six games.
Dynamic duo
Senior
Dylan Sikura and junior
Adam Gaudette have picked up right where they left off a season ago, recording 14 and 13 points apiece, respectively, through the team's first eight games. Dating back to 1999, they are the only Huskies to record four straight multi-point games to open the year.
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 five players in the nation have recorded multi-point efforts in their teams' first four games.
Power up
The Northeastern power play has developed into one of the most lethal units in the nation in the last three years. NU led the nation with 55 power play strikes in 2016-17, tied for the most in team history. Northeastern has also led the nation with the power play goals over the last two (94) and three (128) seasons.
Junior
Adam Gaudette broke the school record for power play goals in a season (16) last year, and currently leads all active players in the NCAA with 24 career goals on the man advantage.
The Huskies, who draw an average of 5.25 power play per game, are tied for 15th in the country with nine conversions early in the season.
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. Eighteen different skaters have already recorded a point, with all four classes contributing:
• Freshmen (five goals, seven assists) - 12%
• Sophomore (eight goals, 26 assists) - 33%
• Juniors (10 goals, 12 assists) - 22%
• Seniors (12 goals, 22 assists) - 33%
Points from the point
The Northeastern defense has been doing the job at both ends of the ice this season, conceding just 2.62 goals per game (third in Hockey East) while contributing 33 points in the offensive zone. It accounts for nearly one-third of the Huskies' total points, and is third for the third most in the nation. Jeremy Davies leads all NU blueliners with nine points, followed closely by Ryan Shea (eight points) and
Garret Cockerill (seven points).
Help me, help you
Sophomore Jeremy Davies already has nine assists through the first month of the season, which is tied for fifth in the nation and tied for second among defensemen. His 1.12 points per game this season are tied for ninth best among defensemen nationally.
If Davies leads the team in assists this season, it'll be the first time since Steve Birnstill in 2006-07 that a blueliner has led the team in helpers.
Hands Solow
In just eight collegiate games, freshman Zach Solow has proven he belongs. The Naples, Fla. native has nine points (three goals, six assists), which is tied for fourth in the nation among rookie skaters.
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.
Recapping Saturday's win at Boston University
Captain
Nolan Stevens recorded his first collegiate hat trick and Ryan Shea added a career-high three assists as Northeastern moved to 3-0-0 in Hockey East with a 4-1 victory at No. 12/11 Boston University on Saturday night at Agganis Arena.
The Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on a goal from Bobby Hampton before Stevens extended the lead to two with his first of the night with 0.1 seconds left in the period. Stevens went on to add two more in the middle frame, including one on the power play to give NU a 4-1 lead through 40 minutes.
Ryan Ruck got the start in goal, making 14 saves before exiting the game with an injury. Cayden Primeau stopped all 19 shots he saw in relief, including 14 in the third period to preserve the lead. The Terriers outshot NU 34-24 in the game and won 39-of-65 faceoffs, while NU was 0-of-3 on the power play and held BU to a 1-of-3 showing.
The road ahead
The Huskies continue Hockey East play on Saturday when Northeastern travels to UMass Lowell for the second time in three weeks. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be aired on ESPN3 and TSN Go.
