By Eoghan Kelly, News Staff
The men’s hockey team’s playoff fate will be decided the final weekend of the season after the Huskies split last weekend’s series with the No. 10 University of Maine.
Northeastern (12-15-5, 8-13-4 Hockey East) earned a vital 4-2 victory Feb. 24 to stay in the playoff race before Maine dominated 7-1 the following night.
“Two big points for us,” head coach Jim Madigan said after Friday night’s game. “I think everyone knows we’re fighting for that last playoff spot with UMass-Amherst, and two big points. I thought our guys played really hard, really gritted it out.”
The Huskies remain in a tie for the eighth and final playoff spot with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with 20 points apiece.
The Huskies took a pair of vital points away from the weekend, but UMass’ 4-2 win over the University of New Hampshire Saturday night boosted the Minutemen back into the race for the final Hockey East playoff spot. UMass automatically wins the tiebreaker over Northeastern should the two teams finish the regular season still tied.
Saturday night’s loss stripped the Huskies of their ability to decide their own playoff destiny.
Even if Northeastern wins both games of the final weekend of the regular season – a home-and-home series with United States College Hockey Online No. 4 Boston University – the Huskies will need help elsewhere in Hockey East in order to earn a postseason berth. If the Huskies sweep BU, they will still need either Merrimack College to earn at least a tie in one of its two games against UMass or UMass-Lowell to take at least three points from its home-and-home series with Providence College.
If Northeastern can’t pull off consecutive wins, though, their playoff hopes will become much cloudier.
Losing both games to BU will leave Northeastern eliminated from playoff contention. If Northeastern earns a point and Merrimack takes both games against UMass, the Huskies will advance. But if the Huskies can manage one win on the weekend, they will need Merrimack to take three points in its series with UMass to secure eighth place.
Madigan said his team understood the must-win atmosphere of the past weekend, but a number of factors led to the Huskies squandering their opportunity to take the second game of the series.
“I thought our kids were ready and understood the urgency to win the game tonight,” Madigan said. “We just didn’t get that start and then we fell behind.”
