WORCESTER, Mass. – Winners of six straight games, the No. 8 Northeastern women's hockey team (7-1-1, 6-0-1 WHEA) will travel to Worcester on Friday for the first-ever meeting with Hockey East newcomer Holy Cross (0-7-2, 0-4-0 WHEA) at 7 p.m.
QUICK HITS
• After beating Vermont 4-1 on Tuesday, Northeastern improved to 6-0-1 in Hockey East play, which represents the Huskies' best-ever start to a WHEA season in program history. The previous best was a 6-1-0 start through seven league games set in both 2015-16 and 2016-17.
• Northeastern tied a program record with seven wins during the month of October. The Huskies previously won seven October games in 2009-10 after an identical 7-1-1 start.
• The Huskies are allowing just 1.22 goals per game through nine contests, which is good for the third-best mark in the nation this season. Only Cornell (1.00) and Merrimack (1.11) are allowing fewer goals per game than Northeastern.
• Northeastern has conceded just three total goals in the last five games, and has not allowed more than three goals in a game in each of the last 16 contests dating back to last season.
• The Huskies rank second in the nation on the penalty kill this season at 97.4% (37-for-38). After allowing a power-play goal on Oct. 6, Northeastern has successfully negated 33 straight penalties entering Friday's game.
• Northeastern is 7-0-0 when scoring the first goal this season, compared to 0-1-1 when conceding first. Since the start of the 2017-18 season, NU is 21-0-2 when scoring the first goal.
• The Huskies are 7-0-0 this season when leading after two periods. In the 10 seasons that head coach
Dave Flint has been in charge of the program, NU is 143-7-8 (.930 winning %) when leading after 40 minutes.
• Sophomore
Aerin Frankel was named the Hockey East Player of the Month for October after posting an NCAA-best 0.80 GAA and three shutouts during the month. Frankel stopped 122 of 126 shots to notch a .963 save percentage, good for the second-best mark in the nation. In four starts against Hockey East opponents, Frankel allowed only one goal.
• Freshman
Alina Mueller was named the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month in Hockey East after leading all NCAA rookies with 11 points in nine October games. After being held off the scoresheet in the first game of the year, Mueller finished the month of October on an eight-game point-streak.
• Sophomore
Veronika Pettey led Hockey East in scoring during the month of October with 13 points in nine games. Pettey registered at least a point in eight of nine games, including five multi-point efforts, and notched five points in three games against top-10 opponents.
• 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.
• Freshman
Chloe Aurard ranks second in Hockey East with seven points in seven games against league opponents this season. Aurard lit the lamp against Vermont on Tuesday and has five points in her last four games overall.
• Senior
Brittany Bugalski needs two more victories to move into a tie for third place on Northeastern's all-time wins chart. Bugalski enters Friday's game with 53 career wins, including 36 against Hockey East opponents, making her the active career leader in victories against league opponents.
• Senior
Tori Sullivan potted an empty-net shorthanded goal on Tuesday at Vermont to give Northeastern two shorthanded goals on the year (
Chloe Aurard vs. BU on Oct. 5). The Huskies are one of three WHEA teams (Providence and BC) to score multiple shorthanded goals this season.
• Sophomore
Katie Cipra notched her first two collegiate points on Tuesday at Vermont with a goal and an assist in the first period. Cipra had not recorded a point in her first 17 collegiate games before Tuesday's two-point effort.
