BOSTON -- Unbeaten in nine straight (7-0-2), the third longest active streak in the NCAA, the No. 8/9 Northeastern men's hockey team looks to stay hot on Friday night when the Huskies travel to Massachusetts. The teams will then return to Boston for an 8 p.m. matchup at Matthews Arena on Saturday night. Tickets are available by visiting
tickets.GoNU.com.
Adam Gaudette (1.59) and
Dylan Sikura (1.58) are currently first and second in the NCAA in points/game, respectively, while Gaudette is first in scoring with 35 points. Both were nominated for the prestigious Hobey Baker Award this week.
Freshman
Cayden Primeau has emerged as one of the top goaltenders in the nation this season. He's one of just two rookies with 10 victories, and ranked ninth overall in goals against average (2.03) and 11th in save percentage (.920).
Northeastern introduces new AD Jeff Konya: Read | Watch
Northeastern has named Jeffrey Konya as its next director of athletics and recreation. Konya has more than two decades of experience in college athletics, most recently as director of athletics at Oakland University, and was a 2017 recipient of the Under Armour NACDA Athletics Director of the Year award. He will begin his tenure at Northeastern on Feb. 1.
"Jeff Konya is a proven leader who has the passion and the vision to drive our athletic programs to new levels of success," said Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun. "When I met with Jeff during the search process, I was immediately struck by his energy, his entrepreneurial spirit, and the innovation that has defined his career. These are Northeastern values. And in Jeff, we found someone who shares those values."
Huskies for Hobey
Northeastern forwards
Adam Gaudette and
Dylan Sikura have been nominated for the prestigious Hobey Baker Award, presented annually to the top player in the nation. Fan voting, which is open until March 4, plays a role in narrowing down the nominee pool to ten candidates. To vote for Gaudette or Sikura once per day, visit
GoNU.com/Hobey.
The all-time series with Massachusetts
Entering the weekend on a six-game win streak against UMass, Northeastern looks to improve upon its 51-27-10 record all-time against UMass in a series that dates back to Jan. 29, 1930. The Huskies are in search of a seven-game win streak against the Minutemen for the second time in program history.
Last season, the Huskies got the upper hand on Jan. 31 at UMass with a 6-5 victory thanks to third period goals from
Jeremy Davies and
Dylan Sikura. In their final meeting last year, a four-point showing from
Zach Aston-Reese helped Northeastern to a 6-2 win at Matthews as the Huskies took the season sweep.
Scouting the Minutemen
The Minutemen have kept an even keel up to this point in the season as they maintain a 10-10-1 record overall. With a 4-6-1 mark in Hockey East, UMass sits in a tie for ninth in the conference. In its four league games since the new year, UMass has posted a 1-2-1 record, including a three-point weekend on the road against Vermont.
The freshman class for UMass has taken over the team and five first-year players lead the team in scoring. Forward Oliver Chau owns the team lead in points on eight goals and 10 assists. Mitchell Chaffee and John Leonard are tied for second on the squad in scoring with 14 points apiece. Defenseman Cale Makar shares the team lead in assists with Chau and has 13 points in all. Mario Ferraro rounds out the top-five for UMass with 12 points from the back end. Sophomore netminder Ryan Wischow has posted a 7-4-0 record with a .899 save percentage while freshman Matt Murray has challenged Wischow with an .892 save percentage and 3.30 goals-against average in 11 games.
Gaudette named Hockey East Player of the Week
After recording a five-point weekend and leading NU to a pair of victories against Maine, junior center
Adam Gaudette was named the Hockey East Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday.
Gaudette was tied for the Hockey East lead with two goals and three assists over the weekend as the Huskies swept Maine. The Braintree, Mass. native recorded two power play goals 91 seconds apart and added an assist in a 5-3 win on Friday night before logging a pair of helpers on Saturday night.
Gaud Is Good
Adam Gaudette owns the nation's scoring lead (35 points) and tied for second in goals (17). His 12 multi-point games are the most in college hockey. Gaudette's been filling the net in every way, and is near the top of the scoring list in several categories:
Goal: Number (NCAA Rank)
Total Goals: 17 (t-2nd)
Power Play Goals: 8 (t-1st)
Shorthanded Goals: 2 (t-4th)
Game-Winning Goals: 4 (t-2nd)
Multi-Goal Games: 5 (t-1st)
Gaudette's done damage when it matters most. He's either scored or assisted on 13 of Northeastern's last 22 game winning goals (six goals, seven assists), dating back to last season, including eight of the team's 13 wins this year (four goals, four assists).
Gaudette's fourth in career scoring among active players in the NCAA with 117 points, one of just three juniors in the top-10. His 55 career goals are second and his 29 PPG lead all active players. Gaudette carries a season-long eight-game point streak (nine goals, eight assists) into Friday's game.
On Nov. 28, Gaudette became the 51st player in team history to reach 100 career points, and just the 22nd to accomplish the feat in three seasons or less. He's the fifth Husky in the last three seasons (Kevin Roy,
Zach Aston-Reese,
John Stevens,
Dylan Sikura) to accomplish the feat. No Husky had done it in three seasons or fewer since Kevin Roy during his All-American season in 2014-15.
He's Sik
Senior
Dylan Sikura is second among active players in the nation with 122 career points, and is currently tied for sixth in the nation with 30 points (12 goals, 18 assists) in just 19 games this season (1.58 points per game; second in the NCAA).
His 18 helpers are also tied for 11th in the country, and currently leads the NCAA with 5.58 shots/game.
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 to 28 points as a sophomore before a breakout 57-point junior season. Eighty-seven of Sikura's 122 career points (71%) have come in his last 57 games (1.53 points per game).
Sikura's electric start to the season made him the first player 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.
Dynamic duo
Junior
Adam Gaudette and senior
Dylan Sikura and have picked up right where they left off a season ago, recording 35 and 30 points apiece, respectively, through the team's first 22 games. They make Northeastern the only team in the NCAA to have two players with at least 30 points this season.
In the 81 games that the two have played on the same line, Gaudette and Sikura have combined for 192 points (Gaudette: 45-48-93; Sikura: 36-63-99), leading NU to a 46-24-11 record in those games.
Earlier this year, they made NU 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.
Streaking
The Huskies enter Friday's game unbeaten in nine straight (7-0-2), outscoring opponents 34-16 in the process. It's tied for the fifth longest unbeaten streak in team history and is currently the third longest active streak in the NCAA.
Double digit W's
Northeastern picked up its 14th win of the season last Saturday, and is one of eight teams in the NCAA to have already reached 14 victories. A win on Friday would give Northeastern 15 wins before the Beanpot for the first time since 2008-09.
How you start is how you go ...
Northeastern is outscoring opponents 28-11 in the first period this season, and it's +17 first period goal differential is the best in the nation. NU's 11 goals against in the opening frame are tied for the third fewest in the NCAA.
... But it's how you finish
Northeastern has been a tough team to defeat when the Huskies lead after two periods. Since 2013-14, NU is 67-9-4 (.863) when the Huskies have the lead through 40 minutes of play.
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 29 career goals on the man advantage. He's two PPG away from tying the school record, held by J.F. Aube and Rod Isbister.
Gaudette (t-1st; eight),
Dylan Sikura (t-1st; eight) and
Nolan Stevens (t-5th; seven) are all among the best in the nation in power play goals this season. Combined, they have more power play goals than 46 teams have total.
The Huskies, who draw an average of 4.86 power play per game, are second in the NCAA with 30 conversions this season. They're 8-2-0 this season when scoring two or more power play goals.
Scoring barrage
Northeastern's offensive prowess has been put on full display early in the season. The Huskies are currently fifth in the nation in scoring margin at +1.36 goals per game, averaging 3.68 goals per game (fifth in the NCAA) while conceding an average of 2.32 (t-ninth in the country).
Northeastern is one of four teams that rank in the top ten nationally in both scoring offense and scoring defense. Northeastern is also one of just 14 teams in the nation to have already reached 200 total points.
Captain Comeback
Captain
Nolan Stevens is third on the team with 22 points (13 goals, nine assists), and has goals in nine of his last 16 games. Since returning from injury last February, Stevens has points in 22 of his last 33 games (20 goals, 19 assists).
Stevens' 20-goal season as a sophomore in 2015-16 make him one of just 16 active players in the NCAA with a 20-goal season to his credit.
Prime'd for success
Freshman
Cayden Primeau has acclimated himself to the college game, earning starts in 16 of Northeastern's 22 games and posting a 10-3-3 mark with a 2.03 goals against average. He's reached 10 wins in the third fewest starts in the NCAA.
After a 6-4 loss to Quinnipiac on Oct. 21, Primeau has bounced back in a big way. Since then, Primeau is fifth in the nation with a 1.83 goals against average and eighth with a .931 save percentage.
