By: Jared Shafran, News Staff
A few weeks into the college hockey season, our beloved men’s team has already hit some bumps in the road. Most importantly, the 0-2-1 Huskies have yet to win a game, among some other concerning setbacks.
Before I go deeper into some of the problems the Huskies are having, I want to tell you, the fan, the student, or the alumnus, to relax. This is the longest season the NCAA has to offer, and while some might be frustrated, I’ve seen some very positive signs of life from this team. So for each negative point that I will make about the team, I will have another positive one to counter it.
So far the Huskies have scored four goals in their three games. All four of them have been scored by freshmen. While it is great to get the freshmen involved and the experience will be valuable for them later on in the season, the question that remains is clear. When are the veterans going to come alive?
The Huskies have faced some of the best goaltenders in the country in those three games. Junior Alex Beaudry has had great numbers throughout his career at Providence College and has stolen many games for them despite their putrid offensive numbers the past few seasons. Senior John Muse’s success has been well documented as he has won two national championships in the last three years for Boston College, and junior Allen York has quietly been very consistent for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and was named to the preseason first team in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
In Northeastern’s own net, Chris Rawlings has improved with each game, doing enough to keep NU right where it should be. He shut out the defending national champions, the Eagles, for two periods and only surrendered one goal in the third. That BC offense was the most lethal in the country last year– tied for first in the nation with most goals on the season with 171, and second in goals per game with 4.07– and even though the Huskies defense is young and inexperienced, Rawlings stood his ground. Yes, he leaves a bad rebound here and there, but it’s the defense’s job to clear loose pucks away from the net after their goaltender makes a save.
The worst thing about this team in the early going has been its power play. They are 1-20 on the season with only 22 shots. Like I said earlier, it’s still early and there is a lot of time left in the season, but this is the team’s most glaring flaw. It’s so bad that it led coach Greg Cronin to make some critical comments after last week’s game.
“Our power play was pathetic,” Cronin said. “Your power play is your offensive catalyst. It’s really ugly when your power play doesn’t generate any chances the whole night.”
There is a lot of talent on this team and many games still remaining on the schedule. Let’s see if this can finally be the Greg Cronin team that peaks at the right time, in February, March and April, instead of October, November and December.
