When No. 18 University of Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks strolled into Matthews Arena Saturday night, they were sitting just as pretty as the Huskies. Neither team had seen a loss in five consecutive contests. Northeastern snapped the red-hot River Hawks’ five-game winning streak and extended its own to six games with a 3-2 victory on Saturday at home.
Coach Jim Madigan doesn’t have to worry about preventing the men’s hockey team from falling into the basement of the Hockey East conference anymore. Apparently, his team is already there.
Freshman forward Brodie Reid is the highest-scoring rookie in the Hockey East with 11 goals, 17 assists and 28 points. His performance earned him Huntington News Player of the Week honors.
Boston College’s 5-4 win in Friday night’s Hockey East semifinal at the TD Garden left the Eagles with a one-goal win.
But as Northeastern head coach Greg Cronin said after the game, it was more than one specific goal that left the Huskies heading back to Huntington Avenue without a conference title for the 23rd straight year.
Tuesday afternoon athletic director Peter Roby and the Northeastern athletic department announced the end of the suspensions to men’s hockey head coach Greg Cronin and assistant Albie O’Connell.
The suspensions, which were indefinite as of February 18, were resulting from a NCAA recruiting violation that the program committed which was related to excessive telephone and text messaging with prospective student-athletes.
With head coach Greg Cronin temporarily suspended for potential recruiting violations, the men’s hockey team turned up the heat on No. 1 Boston College with a 2-1 victory at sold-out Matthews Arena Saturday night.
With the win, the Huskies clinched a spot in the Hockey East playoffs.
Men's hockey head coach Greg Cronin and assistant coach Albie O'Connell have been suspended indefinitely after Northeastern University discovered potential NCAA violations regarding the recruitment of prospective athletes of the men's hockey team.
Northeastern got a few drops of what its first Beanpot championship in 23 years might have tasted like during the tournament finale against No. 1 Boston College Monday night.
But the top-ranked Eagles seemed to immediately counter each goal the Huskies scored, as BC outlasted Northeastern in a wild affair at TD Garden, 7-6, in overtime.
Each year, for two weeks in February, the eyes of the college hockey world focus squarely on Boston and the Beanpot. The tournament — one of the great traditions in college sports — is perhaps the best showcase of college hockey talent outside of the Frozen Four.
Sophomore forward Steve Quailer looked like his old self, at least for a moment, during Wednesday night’s Beanpot tune-up against Harvard at Matthews Arena.
After all the misery and frustration the first half of the men’s hockey season brought coach Greg Cronin and his players, two solid games have appeared to make at least some of the hurt disappear.
And so the story continues.
For a team that’s gone 1-5 in one-goal games this season, blowing a two-goal lead and losing 5-4 in the final minutes against No. 7 Boston University last night seemed like a fitting way to end the first half of the season.
