Hockey East announced Friday afternoon that this weekend’s home-and-home series between the No. 13 Northeastern men’s hockey team and No. 3 Boston College would not be played as scheduled after a positive COVID-19 test result within NU’s non-player or coach Tier 1 personnel. 

The Huskies were supposed to play the Eagles at Conte Forum Friday evening before hosting Saturday’s matchup at Matthews Arena.  

The men’s team had not had any direct contact with COVID-19 this season until Huskies head coach Jim Madigan was ruled out earlier this week after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for the virus. It is unclear who returned the positive test.

At the beginning of the winter sports season, a number of COVID-19 outbreaks within several NU teams forced all programs to postpone their opening games. While the men’s hockey team did not return any positive tests or close contacts, it was still affected by this postponement. The Huskies didn’t open the season until Dec. 12. 

Madigan missed Wednesday’s matchup against the University of New Hampshire because of health and safety protocols and was not going to be behind the bench for this weekend’s series against BC. Associate head coach Jerry Keefe took over for the midweek matchup against UNH, coaching the Huskies to a 7-0 win over the Wildcats. 

NU was coming into this weekend’s series against BC on a three-game winning streak, with two wins over Merrimack College and one over UNH after losing both games to the University of Massachusetts Amherst to kick off the new year. 

Any momentum the Huskies had built entering the weekend will be tough to build upon in the upcoming weeks.

In particular, senior forward and team captain Zach Solow is on a four-game point streak, including a four-point night (two goals, two assists) against UNH on Wednesday. Redshirt senior forward Grant Jozefek also is on a four-game point streak after tallying two points (one goal, one assist) against the Wildcats. 

NU has played just five different teams this season: Merrimack, Vermont, Providence College, UMass and UNH. While the team was supposed to play BC, it also was supposed to play the University of Connecticut. That series was postponed due to COVID-19 issues on UConn’s side, but the Huskies were able to pick up two games against Merrimack. 

The Huskies are currently scheduled to play their next home-and-home series against UNH Jan. 22 and 23. It’s unclear if they’ll add any games before then — it’s unlikely.