BOSTON – The No. 13 Northeastern men's hockey team, riding a four-game winning streak, returns to Hockey East play on Friday night when the Huskies host Merrimack at 7 p.m. for Movember Night at Matthews Arena.
Mustaches for MacLeod
During the month of November, members of the Northeastern hockey program will be growing mustaches in support of former player Wade MacLeod, who is currently battling brain cancer. MacLeod has a Grade 3 Glioblastoma tumor, and recently had his fourth surgery in the last five years.
Donations in support of MacLeod and his family can be made through the family's GoFundMe page by visiting
NUHuskies.com/Wade.
Madigan and Keefe sign contract extensions
Athletic director
Jeff Konya announced Thursday that Fernie Flaman Men's Hockey Coach
Jim Madigan and associate head coach
Jerry Keefe have agreed to contract extensions that will keep them at Northeastern through the 2022-23 season.
"Coach Madigan has guided our men's hockey program to new heights during his eight seasons," said Konya. "Under his leadership, along with Coach Keefe and the rest of the coaching staff, Northeastern is known as one of the top men's hockey programs in the NCAA and one built for a national title run."
"Moreover, their student-athletes' performance in the classroom and presence in the community is something we are extremely proud of," added
Tim Duncan, deputy athletic director for external affairs and the men's ice hockey sport supervisor. "We're ecstatic to have Coach Madigan and Coach Keefe part of the Northeastern Family moving forward."
Hitting their stride
The Huskies are 4-1-1 in the month of November, the most wins in that month since the 2013-14 season. A victory on Friday night would give Northeastern its most wins in November since 2008-09.
They don't ask how. They ask how many.
Northeastern is currently in the midst of a four-game winning streak, tied for the third longest active streak in college hockey, with all four wins coming by one goal.
The four straight one-goal victories are the longest such streak in team history. Before that, Northeastern had won three straight one-goal games just four times in team history, the last coming during the 2007-08 season.
Down, but never out
Last week's win against RIT marked already the fifth time this season that Northeastern has trailed entering the third period and came back to win the game (Oct. 12 at SHU, Oct. 27 vs. St. Cloud State, Nov. 9 vs. Connecticut, Nov. 10 vs. UMass Lowell).
Overall, Northeastern is 5-2-0 this season when trailing after two periods, which is more wins that the previous three seasons combined (four). Northeastern is outscoring opponents 22-10 in the final frame, a +12 goal differential that ranks second in the nation.
Dating back to 2008, Northeastern hasn't won more than three games when trailing after two periods since 2013-14, when the Huskies went 3-9-1 when behind after 40 minutes of play.
Going streaking
Three players enter Friday's game with Merrimack riding career-long point streaks:
Brandon Hawkins (five games: 1-5--6),
Grant Jozefek (four games: 3-3--6) and
Zach Solow (four games: 3-2--5).
