BURLINGTON, Vt. – The No. 8 Northeastern women's hockey team (6-1-1, 5-0-1 WHEA) will look to extend its unbeaten streak in Hockey East play to seven straight games when the Huskies travel to Vermont for a Tuesday tilt at 7 p.m.
Since the Huskies joined Hockey East in 2002, Northeastern has never started league play with a seven-game unbeaten streak. A win on Tuesday would give NU its best-ever start in WHEA history with 13 points through seven games, while a tie would equal the previous program-best of 12 points from both 2015-16 and 2016-17.
QUICK HITS
• The Huskies will be looking to snap a three-game winless skid in Burlington (0-2-1). Northeastern last defeated the Catamounts at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Dec. 5, 2015 by a 2-1 score.
• Sophomore
Veronika Pettey enters Tuesday's game riding an eight-game point streak, during which she has racked up a team-best (and WHEA-high) 13 points.
• Pettey's 13 points represent the best eight-game start for any NU player since
Denisa Krizova's 13 points in the first eight games of the 2016-17 season.
• Among players that have competed in at least seven games this year, Pettey is one of only two players in the nation (Clarkson's Loren Gabel) to record a point in every game.
• Pettey has notched at least a point in every game she's played against Vermont, and is Northeastern's active leading scorer against the Catamounts with one goal and five assists in three career games vs. UVM.
• Sophomore
Aerin Frankel was named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, earning the honor for the second time this season (Oct. 8). Frankel pitched her NCAA-leading third shutout of the season on Friday with 31 saves vs. Providence.
• Among qualifying goaltenders, Frankel's 0.75 GAA leads the nation, while her .973 save percentage (109 saves on 112 shots) ranks second nationally.
• Despite a sample size of just 26 collegiate games, Frankel's career 1.72 GAA and .941 save percentage both rank as the top marks in program history.
• Frankel and senior goaltender
Brittany Bugalski have combined for a 1.24 GAA and a .957 save percentage through eight games. Only Cornell (1.00 team GAA) and Merrimack (1.11 team GAA) rank above NU in scoring defense this season.
• The Huskies have not allowed more than three goals in a game in each of the last 15 contests dating back to last season.
• Freshman
Alina Mueller extended her point-streak to seven straight games with an assist on Sunday vs. BU. With eight points (3 goals, 5 assists) in eight games this season, Mueller is tied for the Hockey East lead in rookie scoring, and is one of only eight freshmen skaters in the country to be averaging a point per game.
• Mueller has also made her presence felt in the faceoff circle, leading all Hockey East rookies with 88 faceoff wins (next highest is 75). Among WHEA players with at least 50 faceoff attempts, Mueller ranks fifth in the league with a 59.5 percent faceoff win percentage.
• Sophomore defender
Brooke Hobson ranks second among Hockey East blue-liners in points (8) and is tied for first in power-play points (5) this season. Hobson already has three multi-point games this season after not registering a single multi-point effort during her rookie year.
• The Huskies are 6-0-0 when scoring the opening goal this season and are 20-0-2 when scoring first since the start of the 2017-18 season.
• Northeastern is also 6-0-0 when leading after two periods this season. In the 10 seasons that head coach
Dave Flint has been in charge of the program, NU is 142-7-8 (.930 winning percentage) when leading after two periods.
• NU has successfully killed 31 of 32 penalties this season (96.9 percent), good for the second-best mark in the nation. Since conceding a power-play goal on Oct. 6, the Huskies have killed 27 consecutive penalties.
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