BOSTON – The Hockey East regular season champion Northeastern women's hockey team will close out the league schedule this weekend with a home-and-home series against Merrimack. Friday's game at Matthews Arena (5 p.m.) will be senior day and NU will honor seniors
Kasidy Anderson,
Brittany Bugalski,
Maddie Hartman,
Brianna Storms and
Tori Sullivan.
QUICK HITS
• Anderson (95 points), Sullivan (41 points at NU) and Hartman (47 points) have combined for 183 points at Northeastern, while Bugalski is tied for third all-time in the record books with 55 career wins. Storms owns a career 2.16 GAA in 28 collegiate minutes.
• At 20-3-2 in WHEA play, Northeastern has matched its best-ever win total in league play since joining Hockey East in 2002. The Huskies have already broken the program record for most points (42) in a Hockey East season, surpassing the 40-point mark set by the 2015-16 team, which went 20-4-0 in league play.
• Northeastern has already locked up the No. 1 seed in the league playoffs and will host either Vermont or Maine in a best-of-three quarterfinal series on March 1-3 at Matthews Arena. Vermont and Maine play each other in Orono on Saturday in a winner-take-all matchup for the eighth and final playoff spot. The Huskies are 3-0-0 against Vermont and 2-0-1 vs. Maine this season.
• Northeastern had its 12-game home winning streak snapped in a 5-2 loss to Providence on Feb. 17. The 12-game game streak was the third-longest home winning streak in a single season in program history. NU is 4-0-0 this season in games following a loss.
• NU owns the top scoring offense in Hockey East (and sixth-best offense in the nation) at 3.48 goals per game. The Huskies have scored at least two goals in all but one game this season – the Beanpot consolation game on Feb. 12 vs. BC.
• Northeastern boasts the top-ranked penalty kill in the NCAA at 90.2%. Since the start of 2019, the Huskies have held their opponents to only four power-play goals, negating 42 of 46 opportunities over 14 games (91.3%).
• The Huskies lead the nation in goals scored during the final two minutes (18:00 - 20:00) of a period with 27. No other team in the country has scored more than 21 total goals in the final two minutes of a period this season.
• Northeastern leads Hockey East and ranks fifth nationally with 37 goals scored during the first period. The Huskies are 19-1-1 this season when scoring first and 14-2-1 when leading after the first period.
• The Huskies defeated the Warriors by a 6-3 score in the first meeting between the teams on Feb. 8 at Matthews Arena.
Alina Mueller led the way with a goal and two assists for Northeastern as the Huskies moved to 8-1-1 all-time against Merrimack.
• Mueller was named a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award on Thursday, as announced by USA Hockey. Mueller is the first freshman in program history (and the eighth player overall) to be named a top-10 candidate for the most prestigious individual award in the sport.
• Mueller continues to lead all WHEA freshmen in goals (16), assists (27), points (43), power-play points (13), game-winning goals (5), plus/minus (+25), shots on goal (110) and faceoff wins (310). Mueller has notched points in 27 of 31 games this season, including at least a point in all 10 games against ranked opponents.
• With a team-high 43 points this season, Mueller is the first NU freshman since
Kendall Coyne in 2011-12 to record at least 40 points in a year. Mueller is also one of 10 freshmen in program history to rack up 40 or more points in their rookie season.
• Sophomore goaltender
Aerin Frankel ranks fifth in the NCAA with a 1.74 goals against average, and ranks sixth in the NCAA with a .935 save percentage. At 17-3-2 overall, Frankel's .818 winning percentage ranks third nationally, while her five shutouts are tied for fourth in the NCAA.
• Frankel has been even tougher in Hockey East play, owning a 16-1-0 record with a 1.46 GAA and a .944 save percentage in 18 WHEA games.
• Sophomore
Skylar Fontaine is one of three defenders in the nation with 10 or more goals this season, joining BC's Megan Keller (18) and Robert Morris' Emily Curlett (10). With 26 points in 31 games, Fontaine ranks third in the NCAA in scoring among blue-liners.
• Fontaine (26 points) and her defense partner, sophomore
Brooke Hobson (23 points), rank second and third in Hockey East scoring among defenders. Hobson's nine power-play assists are tied for the league lead among blue-liners, while Fontaine's +32 rating and 103 shots on goal both rank second among WHEA defenders.
• Sophomore
Veronika Pettey leads the Huskies and is tied for second nationally with seven power-play goals this season. Pettey has accounted for one third (7 of 21) of the Huskies' power-play goal total this season.
• After registering 27 points and earning WHEA All-Rookie Team honors as a freshman, Pettey has already surpassed that total in her sophomore campaign with 30 points in 31 games. Pettey is one of three Huskies (
Alina Mueller and
Kasidy Anderson) with at least 30 points on the year.
• Senior
Kasidy Anderson scored her 50th collegiate goal in Northeastern's 6-3 win over Merrimack on Feb. 8. Anderson is the 22nd player in program history to reach the milestone and first since
McKenna Brand last season.
• Both Anderson and senior
Tori Sullivan are approaching 100 points for their careers. Anderson has 95 points in 143 games, while Sullivan has 95 points in 148 games at both NU and BC.
• Freshman
Chloe Aurard ranks second among WHEA rookies with 27 points this season. Of those 27 points, 25 have come in league play.
• Aurard has also shown a tendency to score in big situations, potting the game-tying goal with 1:21 remaining in the third period of a 5-4 OT win against BC on Nov. 27, as well as the game-tying goal with 1:36 remaining in the third period of a 2-1 OT victory at UConn on Feb. 1.
• Aurard has piled up a team-high eight points (three goals, five assists) in the final five minutes of the third period this season, while her 13 total third-period points rank as the second-most on the team behind Mueller's 15.
• Junior
Andrea Renner scored her ninth goal of the season (31 games) on Feb. 8 against Merrimack. Prior to her junior campaign, Renner had scored nine total goals in her first two collegiate seasons (69 games). Four of Renner's nine goals this season have been game-winners.
• Freshman
Miceala Sindoris notched her first collegiate goal (the eventual game-winning goal) on Feb. 8 against Merrimack. Sindoris is the 15th different Husky to score this season and the 11th different player to score a game-winning goal for NU in 2018-19.
• Head coach
Dave Flint enters the weekend with 197 career wins at Northeastern. With three more victories, Flint would become the second head coach in program history to eclipse 200 wins on Huntington Avenue (Don MacLeod won 210 games from 1981-92).
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