Game-day information: Game 18 vs. Michigan State
When	Saturday, Dec. 19, 7 p.m.
Where	Boston, Mass. | Matthews Arena | Directions | Parking | Prohibited Items
Broadcast and stats	TELEVISION: NBCSN Live Stats  |  Watch  |  Audio  |  Tickets
Notes and yearbook	Game Notes  |  2015-16 Yearbook
Promotions	Wear Black
Social media	@GoNUmhockey  facebook.com/GoNUmhockey instagram.com/GoNUathletics  Use GoNU and RedBlackOnePack

Start times may be listed differently on earlier printed tickets to the Northeastern Winter Showdown. Please note the official start time of each game below to accommodate a national television audience:
Women's basketball – Friday, Dec. 18 at 8 p.m.
Men's basketball – Saturday, Dec. 19 at 12:30 p.m.
Men's ice hockey – Saturday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.
 
PARKING & DIRECTIONS – Parking for the Northeastern Winter Showdown will be extremely limited throughout the weekend, and the Huskies encourage fans to take public transportation to Matthews Arena. Matthews Arena is centrally located near both the Green Line (Symphony stop on the "E" line) and Orange Line (Massachusetts Avenue stop). Please click here for more information on parking and directions.

BOSTON -- The Northeastern men's ice hockey team closes the first half of its season on Saturday night when the Huskies host Michigan State at 7 p.m. Saturday's game marks the end of the Northeastern Winter Showdown, which featured a women's basketball (Dec. 18, 8 p.m.), men's basketball (Dec. 19, 12:30 p.m.) and men's ice hockey tripleheader vs. MSU.
 
How we got here - Read more
This weekend's series was officially announced on Dec. 10, 2014, and Northeastern will make the return trip to East Lansing, Michigan in 2016-17.
 
"This is a very exciting opportunity for our athletic department," said Peter Roby, director of athletics and recreation at Northeastern. "We are thrilled and appreciative of Athletics Director Mark Hollis and our friends at Michigan State for their willingness to bring their teams to Boston and help us create such a fun weekend. We have great respect and admiration for what MSU has accomplished and we look forward to December."
 
"Creating unique memory-makers for student-athletes has been the benchmark of Spartan Athletics, especially when we can provide a cultural and historical learning experience," Hollis said. "In collaboration with Peter Roby, we look forward to providing our student-athletes in men's basketball, women's basketball and ice hockey a rare opportunity to travel with each other and support their fellow student-athletes in Boston, one of our nation's outstanding and historical cities, while playing in Matthews Arena, the oldest multi-purpose athletic building still in use in the world and the original home of the Boston Bruins and a home for the Celtics."
 
The all-time series with the Spartans
Northeastern and Michigan State will clash for the first time since Oct. 27, 1996. In their six previous meetings, Michigan State has taken four wins while the Huskies have nabbed two victories. Every game between the Spartans and Huskies has been a high-scoring affair, with the teams combining for at least seven goals in each of the games. After dropping the first four games of the all-time series 7-1, 13-4, 6-5 and 7-5, Northeastern has won two straight games against MSU, by the scores of 5-2 and 6-5.
 
In their last matchup, Michigan State's roster featured seven players that would go on to play in the NHL, while Northeastern had none. Shawn Horcoff, former captain of the Edmonton Oilers and current Anaheim Duck, tallied an assist for the Spartans in the last Northeastern-Michigan State game.
 
Note: MSU lists its overall record of 6-2-0 all-time against NU, with a pair of games played on Oct. 14 and Oct. 15, 1983 that NU lists as exhibition games. 
 
Scouting Michigan State
Michigan State enters Saturday's game in fifth place in the B1G with a record of 5-10-2 (1-3-0 B1G). The Spartans opened the season with the Ice Breaker tournament in Portland, Maine against Maine. After tying the Black Bears 3-3, they took down Lake Superior State on the second day of the tournament, 4-1. After that win, the Spartans dropped their next three games, went on a three-game winning streak, and then went seven games without a win. MSU suffered through those seven games with a record of 0-6-1 before finally returning to the win column against Wisconsin last weekend. In their weekend series with the Badgers, the Spartans earned a 4-3 win and endured a 3-0 loss.
 
Four players are tied for the team-lead in points with 14 apiece. Mackenzie MacEachern, JT Stenglein, Michael Ferrantino and Mason Appleton own the tie for first on the team with Thomas Ebbing's 12 points close behind. Ferrantino, the captain of the Spartans, is one assist shy of his career-high in assists this season with ten helpers through 15 games played. In goal, Jake Hildebrand has received the majority of the starts, with Ed Minney serving as his backup. Hildebrand owns a record of 5-9-1 with a .900 save percentage of a 3.16 goals-against average.
 
That was a close one
The Huskies have found themselves in several tight games so far this season, including seven one-goal games. That's the most in Hockey East and tied for the fifth most in the nation. NU has played in at least 10 one-goal games in each of the last two seasons.
 
Recapping the Dec. 12 loss vs. Boston College
No. 2/3 Boston College scored three goals in the first 10 minutes of the third period to erase a two-goal deficit and defeat Northeastern on Dec. 12 at Matthews Arena, 4-3.
 
Eric Williams led the Huskies with two goals, his first collegiate multi-goal game, while Zach Aston-Reese also scored for Northeastern. NU jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the first period with a pair of tallies from Williams, before Aston-Reese put the Huskies up by two through 40 minutes of play.
 
The third period was all Eagles as Josh Couturier and Alex Tuch scored within 52 seconds of each other to tie the game at three before Matthew Gaudreau but BC up by one with a tip-in with 11:08 to play in regulation.
 
Ryan Ruck made 26 saves in goal for Northeastern, while Thatcher Demko stopped 22 pucks for the Eagles, who outshot NU 30-25 in the game. The Huskies buried two power play goals during the contest while holding BC to an 0-of-2 showing.
 
(A)ston-Reese
Prior to the Nov. 20-21 set with Providence, head coach Jim Madigan named Zach Aston-Reese as an assistant captain. Aston-Reese joins Matt Benning, Mike McMurtry and John Stevens as Huskies who will wear an 'A' this season.
 
Johnny on the spot
John Stevens tied for fourth on the team with nine points this season (four goals, five assists), and has been on a hot streak ever since February of last season. Dating back to the 2015 Beanpot semifinal vs. Boston College, Stevens has 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in 28 games. Stevens has four goals in just 16 games this season after tallying four in all of the 2014-15 campaign (36 games).
 
Points from the point
Northeastern has received significant production from its defensemen in the offensive end of the ice so far this season. NU is tied for eighth in the country in goals from defensemen (10) this season. Eric Williams leads all point men with four goals this year, including a pair in NU's last game against Boston College on Dec. 6.
 
Streaking
Several Huskies are carrying point streaks into Saturday's game against the Spartans, led by Zach Aston-Reese, who has points in each of his last four games (three goals, three assists) and 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his last eight games. Nolan Stevens, meanwhile, is on a career-long four-game point streak (four goals, two assists) and Mike McMurtry has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his last three.
 
Shuffling the deck
Looking to spark his club, Jim Madigan and the NU coaching staff have utilized 35 different line combinations at forward through 17 games this season. Four Huskies have already made their collegiate debuts (Jon Barry, Adam Gaudette, Jason Cotton, Lincoln Griffin, Patrick Schule, Eric Williams) while Sam Kurker has made his Northeastern debut after transferring from Boston University.
 
On Nov. 27-28 in Belfast, the trio of Brendan Collier, Mike McMurtry and Ryan Rosenthal combined to produce 11 points (five goals, six assists) and a +13 rating.
 
Matthews Arena: a wonder of the hockey world
Sports Illustrated released its Seven Wonders of the Hockey World: Places a fan must visit on August 24. Among them is Northeastern's historic Matthews Arena. Matthews is one of two arenas in the United States including on the exclusive list, joining the Lake Placid Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York.
 
When she opened in 1910, the arena brochure boasted, "It is the most complete home of sport in America – the largest, most complete and most elaborate temple erected for the devotees of sport in the world."
 
Matthews is the world's oldest multi-purpose athletic building and houses the world's oldest artificial ice sheet, and the oldest rink in college hockey. The second oldest is Princeton's Baker Rink, which opened 13 years later in 1923.
 
The road ahead
Northeastern will have nearly two weeks off before returning to action on January 2 to host No. 3/2 Quinnipiac at Matthews Arena, beginning at 7 p.m. The Bobcats will be making their first visit to Matthews Arena since the 2002-03 season.