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College Hockey Recap: Northeastern making a statement in Hockey East |
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When Hockey East released their preseason head coaches poll on Nov. 13, the Huskies of Northeastern sat fifth, looking up at Boston College, Massachusetts, Providence and UMass Lowell.
While the games played numbers across Hockey East are all over the map—Boston College (9), Northeastern (6), New Hampshire (2) and Boston University (0) as examples— the Huskies sit just three points behind Massachusetts and one point behind Boston College in the Hockey East standings.
The Huskies are continuing to make coaches across Hockey East question their confidence in the team.
After the start of their season was delayed from the middle of November to Dec. 13, the Huskies have not missed a beat jumping out to a 3-1-2 start.
They’ve done all of this without two important parts of their freshman class in Ducks prospect Sam Colangelo and Panthers prospect Devon Levi who are both in Edmonton representing their respective countries in the World Junior Championship.
The Huskies lost leading goal scorer and point scorer Tyler Madden over the summer when he signed his entry-level contract with the Kings after two seasons with the Huskies.
But several Huskies have stepped up in Madden’s absence including Canadiens prospect Jayden Struble and Predators prospect Gunnarwolfe Fontaine.
Struble leads the team in points with five and on Monday Fontaine was named Hockey East Rookie of the Week after the Rhode Island native scored his first two goals this past weekend. He also added an assists and a shootout winning goal over the weekend.
A big key to the Huskies success through three games has been their ability to score on the power play, as the Huskies feature the nation’s third best power play percentage, converting on 32.26% of their power plays.
Four power play goals in 11 chances in this past weekend’s series with Vermont was key to the Huskies picking up five of a possible six points with a regulation win on Saturday and a shootout win on Sunday.
“As good as our power play was this weekend, we think there’s more there,” said Northeastern head coach Jim Madigan. “It’s hard to be disappointed when you get five out of six points, obviously we would have liked to get the two wins in regulation.”
The Huskies return to action this coming weekend with a home-and-home set against Boston University Jan. 1 and Jan. 2. Providing COVID causes no further issues, the games will be Boston University’s first two of the season.
The weekend after that, the 13th ranked Huskies will take on the 2nd ranked Boston College Eagle in a weekend set that will draw some attention across the College Hockey landscape.
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