Barely a month into the college hockey season, Northeastern is like many other teams in having experienced its share of highs and lows.
That is nothing new for the youngest team in the nation, but the Huskies have bounced back from three losses in four games, including two against ranked Quinnipiac and Boston College, and another against UConn two weeks ago in which first-year coach Jerry Keefe (Billerica, Mass.) didn’t think his team was fully ready to play.
Back-to-back weekend sweeps of Maine and New Hampshire have followed the team’s third loss of the year. As a result, Keefe’s club has jumped atop a very early Hockey East standings table that will surely change in a hurry, as its opponents have played as few as two (UMass Lowell, Vermont) and as many as seven league games (Merrimack) to this point.
“I think it’s just been about our team learning how hard you have to play all the time,” said Keefe, whose team hosts a dynamic Harvard squad on Monday night in the first non-Beanpot meeting between the rivals since 2012. “There was a learning curve for us. I don’t think we’re (all the way) there, to be honest. I do see pieces of it coming together, but I think there’s a lot better hockey still for this group.”
Tests against the iron of the league lie ahead, but there is plenty to like about the recent trends of a Huntington Avenue team that has averaged three goals per game (while allowing 1.7, the fewest in the league) and showed incredible depth. Thirteen different players have already found the back of the net.
Despite playing well while providing a big body, veteran presence to the lineup as a graduate transfer from nearby Bentley, Jakov Novak was still searching for his first goal entering Friday. When one fell, so did more.
Novak put together a pair of two-goal games in the 4-1 wins over the Wildcats and now ranks second on the team in goals. The New Hampton School graduate and former All-Atlantic Hockey player trails only Aidan McDonough (Milton, Mass.), who has a league-leading eight through the first 10 games of his junior season.
“I’ve just stuck with doing the little things right and that came to fruition this weekend. All the goals were in the crease, so I just have to keep that up,” Novak said. “It all starts with confidence. There’s a great group here and great leadership. It was a little bit of an adjustment coming in as a center and moving back to the wing where I was playing, but I’ve just kept it simple on the wall. It was nice to get rewarded for it.”
Speaking of confidence, it’s hard not to gain it when reigning Canadian World Junior Championship hero Devon Levi is tending goal.
The sophomore who has played in every game this season sports Hockey East’s second-best save percentage (.945). He also leads the nation with four shutouts, which already puts him one shy of tying Northeastern’s single-season record.
The effort that Levi puts forth between the pipes trickles down to the rest of the team and has positively impacted their play, especially during a recent run that began with the stopper’s latest shutout. Senior captain and defenseman Jordan Harris (Haverhill, Mass.), who has logged points in five of his last six games, has noticed that boost.
“It’s huge having him back there and it gives the whole group more confidence because he’s saved us countless times,” said Harris, whose defensive unit, backstopped by Levi, has allowed more than one goal just once during the current four-game win streak. “I think it makes guys want to compete harder if Dev is saving your butt on a back door shot. You’re like, ‘Man, this kid is on. I need to step it up.’ He gives us energy.”
SHU’s shootout success
Not even the open ice of 3-on-3 play in overtime could decide a winner between Sacred Heart and Mercyhurst on back-to-back nights in Erie, Pa. After a pair of 3-3 ties, the Pioneers got the better of both shootouts to take four out of a possible six points from an Atlantic Hockey weekend set on the road.
Transfers scored all of the Pioneers’ goals in regulation on Saturday as former Lawrence Academy and Northeastern forward Neil Shea (Marshfield, Mass.) netted a pair and Colorado College transfer Troy Conzo added the third, but it was junior Kevin Lombardi who ended a marathon shootout in the 11th round.
Junior Braeden Tuck has continued to be an offensive leader for SHU, scoring points in three straight games dating back to the team’s Oct. 30 win over Niagara. He has matched senior playmaker Austin Magera’s team-high nine points, while Quinnipiac transfer defenseman Logan Britt tied for the league lead with seven assists after being named AHA Defensive Player of the Week last week.
“You don’t win without having great team chemistry and guys playing for each other, so I credit our leaders for this team coming together as quickly as it has after bringing in all these new guys from different programs,” head coach C.J. Marottolo said. “We’ve gone through some adversity playing most of our games on the road. I think that has helped our group.”
Coaching milestones
After “finding ways to win” in back-to-back sweeps of American International and Hockey East foe Merrimack to round out the month of October, UMass made a statement against a fellow elite this past weekend and extended their nation-long win streak to six consecutive games.
Saturday’s 5-1 road win in the back end of a home-and-home set with Providence marked sixth-year head coach Greg Carvel’s 100th at the helm of the Minutemen. Senior Matt Murray backstopped the victory with his career-high 41 saves, while freshman defenseman Scott Morrow (Darien, Conn.) scored his third goal in as many games and junior forward Cal Kiefiuk logged one goal and two assists.
A night earlier, Reid Cashman picked up his first win behind the Dartmouth bench as the Big Green scored two power-play goals and edged out Colgate, 3-2. Sophomore Clay Stevenson, who has earned the net for three of the first four games and owns a .934 save percentage, took home his first victory alongside his second-year coach with 29 stops.
Cashman is the second former Quinnipiac assistant coach to debut with his own team this season, as Bill Riga is in the midst of his first season at Holy Cross. Riga’s first victory came on Oct. 23 at Bentley.
THREE MORE STARS
Hockey East - Ryan Tverberg and Harrison Rees, Connecticut
Tverberg and Rees each had two-goal games as the Huskies picked up a 4-3, 3-2 weekend sweep against a Maine team that is still searching for its first win. UConn, which won the last four games of its seven-game road trip to improve to 6-3, is off to its best start since 1999 and, with four wins in five league games, its best-ever start to Hockey East play.
Tverberg also scored during Saturday’s first period before Rees netted a go-ahead goal in the second period -- breaking a 17-game personal scoring drought -- and the deciding tally with 21 seconds to play in overtime.
ECAC - Alex Laferriere, Harvard
A night after sophomore Sean Farrell (Hopkinton, Mass.) capped his second consecutive two-goal night with the winner against rival Cornell, Laferriere led the way with a rare performance in the Crimson’s fourth consecutive victory -- a 5-1 triumph against Colgate -- to begin the season.
Laferriere became the first Harvard player to record both a four-goal game and a natural hat trick since Ryan Donato (Scituate, Mass.) achieved both feats in 2017. After scoring his first collegiate goal on Oct. 30 against Bentley, the Los Angeles Kings prospect also assisted on senior Casey Dornbach’s game-tying tally against the Big Red before his own big night.
Atlantic - Brian Rigali, American International
The UConn grad transfer burst onto the scoresheet in a big way as the Yellow Jackets took four out of six points on the weekend from RIT. Rigali scored his first five points of the season in the two games, highlighted by a two-goal, two-assist effort in Saturday’s 7-3 win.
He set up senior Elijah Barriga for a highlight-reel, lacrosse-style goal during Sunday’s series finale, which the visiting Tigers would eventually win in overtime.
MIH: Elijiah Barriga with the Svechnikov for @AIC_Hockey!@ESPNAssignDesk @Buccigross @SportsCenter #SCTop10 @NCAAIceHockey pic.twitter.com/0o7NpCG79a
— AIC Athletics (@aicathletics) November 7, 2021
THIS WEEKEND’S HAT TRICK
1. Boston battles: Two of Hockey East’s hottest teams will be busy with Boston battles this weekend. UMass Lowell hosts Northeastern and Boston College at the Tsongas Center, while UMass has a home-and-home with a reeling Boston University club that has lost four straight after being swept at Northern Michigan by a combined six-goal margin.
Elsewhere, UConn will look to continue its winning ways against the Eagles before heading to Providence.
2. Headed to North Country: After finding at least one win apiece at home, Harvard and Dartmouth head away for their first ECAC Hockey trips of the season. Their opponents trended in opposite directions, however, as St. Lawrence picked up five points and Clarkson was winless against RPI and Union.
While Yale heads to Army for a Friday game in non-conference play, Quinnipiac will begin a two-game home set with Arizona State after sweeping rivals Yale and Brown.
3. Back home at the Hart: Holy Cross has played only one Atlantic Hockey game on home ice this season, but that will change as Mercyhurst visits Worcester for a pair beginning Friday. While three conference rivals hit the road for non-league play, the Crusaders will hope for home cooking as they aim to shake off three straight losses to ranked opponents Quinnipiac and Notre Dame.
