Northeastern’s men’s hockey team is off to a phenomenal start this season. They are ranked 14th in the country by the latest USCHO poll after beating the defending NCAA champion and then-No. 1 Boston College and then-No. 19 Merrimack last week.
Through their first two games, the Huskies have been much improved since a disappointing end to last season. Over the past two years, they have made a lot of mental mistakes, especially on power plays, which resulted in opponents having too many odd-man rushes. Last year it seemed BC would get at least three odd-man rushes during each of their meetings.
A different hockey team showed up for the first two games of this season. The defenders were disciplined, and aside from one odd man rush in the BC game, they stuck to their assignments. The puck was kept in areas where senior goalie Chris Rawlings could make manageable saves. Without having to defend against the odd man rushes, he had an easier job, only letting up one goal against BC, which was on the power play.
Last year, the Huskies would follow the trend of playing an extraordinary first period, but then slowing down in the second and third periods. It seemed like they got tired when they had to play explosive teams for 60 minutes and just couldn’t sustain their energy level.
Thankfully, the Huskies played full games against Merrimack and against BC. Even though five of their seven goals have come in the first period, they still generated a lot of good chances in the second and third periods of both games.
Another big difference from last year is the team’s ability to maintain offensive pressure. While the Huskies have been able to score goals, it was difficult for the offense to stay in the zone. It always seemed like they were defending, and there were frequently large shots on goal disparities. So far, the Huskies have been able to stay in the offensive zone more, which went a long way towards alleviating the pressure. Keeping the puck in the offensive zone definitely made the end of the game less stressful for the fans, since there were a lot fewer opportunities for the Huskies’ opponents.
Northeastern’s 12 rookies were the major area of concern coming into the season. There were huge holes, especially on the defense, because of veterans going to the professionals. Through two games, freshmen have gotten themselves on the score sheet. Forward Kevin Roy has two goals and an assist, forward Ryan Belonger has one goal and one assist, forward Cam Darcy has two assists and defender Colton Saucerman has a goal and an assist. The defenders, as mentioned before, definitely played very good games. They didn’t take as many dumb penalties, nor did they blow their assignments. Whenever Rawlings let up a rebound, the defense was there to clear it out of harm’s way.
The biggest concern is that the Huskies are still struggling on the power play. They are having difficulty moving the puck around in the zone and then driving it on net. They just can’t get into a rhythm. They have one power play goal on 12 attempts, for an 8.3 percentage.
In the third period power plays against BC, it looked like they were just trying to not let up an odd man rush. The power play should be able to provide big goals, but it is still tough to trust it.
With room for improvement is the passing – it doesn’t seem as crisp and precise as it needs to be to move defenders out of position and open up the nets. Hopefully, they can get something figured out so they have something to fall back on in close games.
Still, the Huskies looked like the team that went on the eight-game winning streak last year, while beating then-No. 2s Notre Dame twice and Minnesota. Rawlings has been doing great in goal against two very talented teams, and the rest of the team has been supporting each other.
The Huskies are playing smart hockey and they need to keep this momentum going forward into BC on Saturday if they want to retain their national ranking.
– Chris Judd can be reached at [email protected]
