CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Winners of a record 16 Women's Beanpot titles, the No. 3 Northeastern women's hockey team will kick off its quest for a first title since 2013 when the 41st Beanpot begins Tuesday against No. 8 Boston University at 5 p.m. The game will be televised live on NESNplus as well as the TSN app.
BEANPOT QUICK HITS
• Northeastern is 48-29-4 all-time in the Beanpot, including a 26-12-3 record in the opening round. The Huskies have advanced to the final in five of the last seven seasons.
• The Huskies enter with a record of 20-3-3, having won five straight games and seven of the last eight. Northeastern is one of only four teams in the nation (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Clarkson) with at least 20 wins this season.
• This is only the second time since 2002 (the year the Huskies joined Hockey East) that NU has won at least 20 games before the Beanpot. The 2015-16 team won 23 games prior to the Beanpot en route to a 28-win season and an NCAA tournament appearance.
• According to USCHO.com, Northeastern has played the 8th toughest schedule in the country this season. The Huskies are 5-2-1 in games against ranked opponents, and 7-2-2 vs. teams currently ranked or receiving votes in the polls.
• NU owns both the top scoring offense and the top scoring defense in Hockey East this season. The Huskies are averaging 3.58 goals per game (5th best in the NCAA), while allowing 1.77 goals per game (4th best in the NCAA). NU has allowed exactly one goal in each of its last four contests.
• Northeastern owns the top-ranked penalty kill in the NCAA at 91.4%. Since the start of 2019, the Huskies have held their opponents to only one power-play goal, negating 26 of 27 opportunities over nine games.
• The Huskies lead the nation in goals scored during the final two minutes of a period with 24. No other team in the country has scored more than 18 total goals in the final two minutes of a period this season.
• Northeastern is 17-1-0 this season when scoring first, compared to 3-2-3 when its opponent scores first.
• Northeastern is one of only three teams in the country (Wisconsin, Clarkson) with four players that have scored at least 11 goals this season:
Kasidy Anderson (16 goals),
Alina Mueller (14),
Veronika Pettey (14) and
Chloe Aurard (11).
• Freshman
Alina Mueller continues to lead all WHEA rookies in nearly every offensive category this season. Mueller's 14 goals, 22 assists, 36 points, 10 power-play points, five game-winning goals, +25 rating, and 267 faceoff wins are all tops among league freshmen.
• For the season, Mueller's 36 points in 26 games place her as the second-highest rookie scorer in the NCAA this season behind Princeton's Sarah Fillier (38 points). Mueller has notched at least a point in 23 of 26 games this year, including points in all eight games against ranked opponents this season.
• Mueller posted a 22-game point streak from Oct. 6 – Jan. 19, the longest point streak in the NCAA this season. In the WHEA era, only BC's Alex Carpenter has posted a longer scoring run than Mueller, compiling a 25-game point streak in 2014-15, as well as a 24-game point streak in 2012-13.
• Sophomore goaltender
Aerin Frankel leads the NCAA with a .945 save percentage, and ranks second nationally with a 1.40 GAA. At 15-1-1 overall, Frankel's .912 winning percentage is the top mark in the nation, while her five shutouts are tied for the second-most in the NCAA.
• Frankel has been even tougher against league opponents, posting a 14-0-0 record with a 1.22 GAA and a .952 save percentage in 15 starts vs. WHEA teams this season.
• Senior
Kasidy Anderson enters Tuesday's game with 49 collegiate goals. With one more goal, Anderson would become the 22nd player in program history to score 50 or more career goals.
• Both Anderson and fellow senior
Tori Sullivan are approaching the 100-point plateaus for their collegiate careers. Anderson has 90 points in 138 games, while Sullivan has 92 points in 143 games at both Northeastern and BC.
• Sullivan is Northeastern's active leader in career Beanpot scoring with three goals and one assist in six games at the competition. Sullivan scored two goals in last year's consolation game against Harvard, and had one goal and one assist in two prior Beanpots with BC.
• Freshman
Chloe Aurard ranks second among WHEA rookies (trailing only
Alina Mueller) with 25 points this season. Of those 25 points, 24 have come against league opponents, including a goal and three assists in three games vs. BU this season.
• 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 Boston College 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 12 total third-period points are tied for the team lead with
Alina Mueller.
• Sophomore defender
Skylar Fontaine enters Tuesday's game riding a five-game point streak with seven points (3-4-7) during that span. Fontaine set up
Chloe Aurard's game-tying goal in the final two minutes of the third period on Friday at UConn, before scoring the overtime winner with 1:29 to play in the extra session.
• Fontaine is tied for the WHEA lead with a +31 rating this season, and has been on the ice for 45 of Northeastern's 93 total goals, the most of any player in the league. Fontaine's 81 shots on goal are the second-most by any WHEA defender and the 6th-most among NCAA blue-liners.
• Fontaine's defensive partner, sophomore
Brooke Hobson, is also in the midst of a breakout second-year campaign as her 21 points are tied for the 6th-most among NCAA defenders this season. Hobson's 0.81 points per game also ranks 6th nationally among NCAA blue-liners.
• Sophomore
Veronika Pettey leads the Huskies and ranks fourth nationally with five power-play goals this season. Pettey has scored in each of her last five games against Boston University, and has notched at least a point in all six career matchups against the Terriers (5 goals, 4 assists in those games).
• Junior
Andrea Renner notched her first collegiate two-goal game on Jan. 26 against Vermont. Renner has scored eight goals this year – a new single-season career high – including five goals in her last six games. Renner ranks second on the team with four game-winning goals this season.
• Head coach
Dave Flint enters the weekend with 195 career wins at Northeastern. With five 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).
• Flint owns a 6-9-3 record in the Beanpot with Northeastern, including a 4-3-2 mark in the opening round. Flint guided the Huskies to back-to-back Beanpot titles in 2012 and 2013, and has helped NU to a first or second place finish in five of nine previous Beanpots behind the Huskies' bench.
• Alumna Linda Lundrigan '94 will be inducted into the Women's Beanpot Hall of Fame on Feb. 12. Lundrigan helped NU to two Beanpot titles as a player (1990, 1991) and two more as an assistant/associate coach with NU in 2012 and 2013.
