One point. One scant little point in the standings.
Husky fans will look at that number and think it isn’t much after a hard-fought home-at-home series against No. 6/7 New Hampshire. Yet the box scores show that Northeastern easily could have come up empty-handed had it not been for superb play from the defense and one Brad Thiessen.
Specifically, the penalty kill has been the Huskies’ top strength this year. Entering the weekend, the Huskies fended off power play chances nearly 93 percent of the time. They especially needed that unit to step up Saturday night, as the Huskies were called for 10 separate penalties during the course of the game. None of those power plays yielded a score for the Wildcats. I will repeat: In 10 chances (at least 22 minutes of the 65-minute game) with at least a one-man advantage, New Hampshire was unable to score a single goal.
On at least two occasions, sophomore forward Wade MacLeod sprawled onto the ice to stop a shot with his body. Others, like junior defender David Strathman, masterfully pickpocketed New Hampshire’s wingmen on several occasions to clear the zone and give teammates a chance to regroup.
But perhaps the greatest asset this weekend for the Huskies was their junior goaltender, Thiessen. Between both nights, Thiessen turned away 78 out of the 82 shots hurtling toward the net, consistent with his season-long save percentage of .951, placing him in the top five nationwide in that category. Keep in mind that Thiessen has also played the most minutes of any collegiate goalie in the nation, making that statistic even more remarkable.
Such strong defense and goaltending gives Northeastern plenty of leverage to be aggressive in games where physicality is demanded, as in Saturday night’s scrap with the Wildcats. Even going back to Friday’s game at the Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, N.H., UNH came up empty-handed on the power play seven of eight chances. While it is a necessity to have a capable penalty killing unit, the superb play by the Huskies in this category gave the offense a chance.
The only problem? For the first period (and the majority of the second) in both games, Northeastern’s offense looked unsure of itself and downright sloppy at times. Errant passes were sent behind or ahead of players, bounced over sticks or were easily intercepted by the Wildcats. Offensive chances taken toward the UNH end of the ice were quickly broken up, forcing the defense to step up its game.
Once the Huskies’ offense started churning, the speed and strength of a veteran core combined with a young talented class of recruits showed why they can hang with any team in the nation. Until then, it was missed opportunity after missed opportunity, which is especially frustrating given the minimal collegiate experience of the two New Hampshire goalies (Brian Foster and Matt DiGirolamo).
Still, let us not forget that New Hampshire is the defending regular season Hockey East champions and the No. 6/7 ranked team in the country (as of this weekend). It has a very skilled offense that, though not putting up spectacular numbers this season, has been efficient enough to give the Wildcats a 4-1-2 record. It could have been an easy weekend sweep for UNH had the Huskies not stepped up their game.
Northeastern came up short Friday and played to a draw Saturday. If you believe in trends, the next logical step would be a win when the two teams face off again Nov. 21 at Matthews Arena.
Check out 104.9 FM or wrbbsports.com to hear all the action of your Huskies. Hockey coverage for Saturday’s game against Bentley begins at 6:45.
– Alex Faust can be reached
