BOSTON – It's playoff time for the No. 9 Northeastern men's hockey team, which hosts Maine in a best-of-three quarterfinal series at Matthews Arena, beginning Friday night at 7 p.m. Game times for Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) are also slated for 7 p.m.
Northeastern is hosting a Hockey East playoff series at Matthews Arena for the fifth straight year, and secured a top-three seed in the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1987-88 and 1988-89. The Huskies are looking to advance to the conference semifinals for the third time in the last four years, and 10th time in program history.
Watch the Huskies this weekend
Hockey East has partnered with FloSports to provide live streaming of this year's tournament. Purchasing a FloHockey subscription ($29.99 per month) allows fans outside of New England to watch every game in the Hockey East tournament. Fans in New England will only have access to quarterfinal contests on FloHockey with the semifinals and finals televised live on NESNplus. FloHockey will also be streaming the Big Ten and WCHA tournaments in addition to select NCHC quarterfinals. To sign up for FloHockey,
click here.
From the third rope!
Northeastern enters the Hockey East postseason as the No. 3 seed for just the third time in program history, and first since 1989. The Huskies ended the regular season with wins in six of their last seven games to finish with 15 victories in Hockey East play for the second straight year and fourth time in program history.
Northeastern is hosting a quarterfinal series for the second straight year, and is a top-three seed in the conference tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1987-88 and 1988-89.
Northeastern in the Hockey East quarterfinals
The Huskies are back in the conference quarterfinals for the fifth time in six years, and 26th time in team history. Northeastern is 19-33 all-time in quarterfinal matchups, and is battling Maine in the quarters for the first time since 2001. The Huskies are looking to advance to the Hockey East semifinals for the third time in four seasons and 10th time in team history.
Winningest class in Northeastern hockey history
Northeastern's senior class has helped lead Northeastern to 86 victories, making them the winningest class in team history. They've also helped the Huskies to their first Hockey East title in 28 years, two NCAA appearances and back-to-back Beanpot titles.
All they do is win
Northeastern enters Friday with 23 wins of the season, the third most victories in single-season history. It's the first time in team history that NU has won at least 20 games in consecutive seasons.
The Huskies are one of seven teams in the NCAA with at least 23 wins this season.
PK prowess
Northeastern's only averaging 9.1 penalty minutes per game this season, but when they go on the PK opponents have had a tough time scoring. NU is seventh in the NCAA with an 86.4% success rate on the penalty kill.
The Huskies have also scored seven shorthanded goals this season, the most since 2008-09 and tied for the fifth most in the NCAA this season.
Davies named National Player of the Month
Defenseman
Jeremy Davies leads the team with 33 points (eight goals, 25 assists) this season, and is tied for sixth in the NCAA among defensemen with 1.03 points per game.
Davies was tied for second in the nation in scoring among all skaters in February with three goals and nine assists, earning Hockey East Player of the Month honors.
On Feb. 23, he became the first Northeastern defenseman since Dan McGillis in 1994-95 and 1995-96 to record 30 points in consecutive seasons.
If Davies finishes the season leading the team in scoring, he'd be the first defenseman since Jim Fahey in 2001-02 to do so.
He is also nine points away from becoming the sixth defenseman in team history to reach 100 career points, and first since Fahey.
Primeau named Richter Award semifinalist
For the second straight year,
Cayden Primeau has been named a semifinalist for the Mike Richter Award, given annually to the most outstanding goaltender in NCAA Division Men's Ice Hockey.
Primeau has put together a stellar sophomore campaign, posting a record of 21-9-1 between the pipes, tied for second-most wins in the nation. His 2.12 GAA and .932 save percentage rank fourth and first in the nation, respectively, among goaltenders with at least 30 starts this season. His save percentage also ranks fourth overall among all Division I goaltenders.
His 20 victories are also already tied for second on Northeastern's single-season goaltending wins list.
The win vs. UNH on Mar. 8 was the 40th of his young career: he's the only player in program history to win at least 40 games in two seasons or fewer. After just 62 starts, Primeau is already sixth in career wins (40), and is third on Northeastern's all-time shutouts list (eight).
Ironman
Captain
Eric Williams is one of the most seasoned Huskies on the roster. Williams has yet to miss a game, playing in 151 straight games, the third most among all returning players in the NCAA.
On Feb. 16, Williams broke the team record for career games played, previously held by Wade MacLeod (149), making Williams the first player in Northeastern history to reach 150 career games.
He broke the program record for consecutive games on Feb. 16, previously held by Roger Holeczy (1996-00) and Jason Guerriero (2001-05).
Williams has been on the ice for 86 victories during his career, the most of any player in team history.
Mr. Bright Lights
Freshman
Tyler Madden is also back after a strong performance at the WJC. Madden is tied for seventh among NCAA rookies with 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists this season). He has 17 points in his last 20 games (6-11--17), including a season-high four-point performance (one goal, three assist) at Merrimack on Dec. 8.
The Deerfield Beach, Fla. native is a three-time Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week this season, and was named a semifinalist for the Walter Brown Award on Feb. 4, given annually to the best American-born player in New England.
Earlier this year, he became the first NU rookie since Scott Selig (2000) to start his career with goals in three straight games.
