By Jeff Powalisz

Despite a late-season re-emergence that saw them go 11-7-5 from December on, The News’ readers could not ignore the 0-9-2 start of the Northeastern men’s hockey team, selecting the squad as “Worst Sports Team on Campus.”

The Huskies finished at 11-16-7 overall and 5-13-6 in the Hockey East, the only team not in the prestigious Hockey East Playoffs this year.

The team struggled early and often, dropping two games to opponent Denver and losing twice to both New Hampshire and UMass-Lowell in their 0-9-2 start.

Ray Ortiz scored his first goal as a Husky and junior goalie Keni Gibson posted a 25-save shutout in the team’s first win, a 1-0 victory over Vermont on Dec. 6.

Northeastern worked off their first victory by going 5-0-3 in their next eight games, including a huge 3-0 win over Boston College, snapping a 12-game winning streak for the regular season champion Eagles.

The streak ended at Matthews Arena against BC on Jan. 23, where the Huskies lost 4-2 after jumping out to an early 2-0 lead. The team then went 5-5-3 the rest of the way, including a two-game sweep of UMass (4-0 and 3-2) to end the season.

Northeastern nearly made the Hockey East playoffs, but received word after their final game that Boston University had beaten New Hampshire 4-3 in overtime, eliminating the Huskies.