Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

[northeastern]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

and NU hockey men's enjoy a nice night cap (after their gm).. as Men's basketball beats Michigan State 81-73

Nice road trip.. way to go guys!!!

[HHound]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

Was just on Heisenburg site, where is Melaragni? Not listed anymore

We cut our ties with him at least six months ago. Heisenberg does a terrific job, but it is hard to keep up with commitment changes and deferrals. Speaking of deferrals, I expect that Jamie Armstrong will benefit from another year of juniors and arrive in the fall of '18 rather than next September.

[owslachief]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

6-2 final over State
..great to see some offense. Nice going Huskies. Happy Holidays all! :-)

Do not count this as a major accomplishment. State fans are waiting for a legitimate hockey coach.

[Thiessen'sBetter]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

and NU hockey men's enjoy a nice night cap (after their gm).. as Men's basketball beats Michigan State 81-73

Nice road trip.. way to go guys!!!

Not to get deep into bball on a hockey forum, but what a strange resume for men's hoops so far. Wins at UCONN and Michigan State and losses to Long Island U., Cornell and Stony Brook.

[Richard]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

We cut our ties with him at least six months ago. Heisenberg does a terrific job, but it is hard to keep up with commitment changes and deferrals. Speaking of deferrals, I expect that Jamie Armstrong will benefit from another year of juniors and arrive in the fall of '18 rather than next September.

He was committed to NU for a long time. Did he just not progress? Problem with committing kids at a young age

[HHound]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

He was committed to NU for a long time. Did he just not progress? Problem with committing kids at a young age

I cannot speak to his progress as a player, but he seemed to have progressed very slowly in terms of the league (EJHL) that he was competing in last season.

[Richard]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

How does next years class look?

[NU_Husky]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

How does next years class look?

Not nearly as impactful as the previous classes have been. Especially if Armstrong is being deferred. The gem of the class is Cayden Primeau, who should be able to step in and challenge Ruck in net immediately. I for one think he should take the job by storm- Ruck is a goaltender with a career SV% just a tick higher than 90%, and this year he is sub 90% in all categories of SV% breakdown except for against non-NCAA teams from last year. Primeau should be able to be a 4 year starter for Northeastern.

The only defenseman we project to arrive next year is Darren Rizzolo, who is currently in the BCHL with a 1-5-6 line in 30 games for 2 teams. Other possibilities to arrive are AJ Villela ('98) who is in the USHL but not seeing much game time (17 games so far, 2-4-6 line), and Collin Murphy ('98, 2-9-11 in 30 USPHL games). Barring any early departures we will have 8 defensemen on the roster next year, so I do not expect many new ones to come in next season.

Forward is much more dicey. We stand to lose 3 of our 4 centers, possibly all 4 if Gaudette jumps. Sikura and Stevens are also possible flight risks. Those three plus JStevens and ZAR leaving would leave NU without their most prolific scorers from this year plus significant depth. The best forward coming in is Zach Solow, who has an 8-17-25 line in 25 USHL games for Dubuque. Brandon Schultz is an over-ager who has 16 points in 25 games. Depth forwards include Eetu Selanne and Austin Goldstein. Without any players leaving early NU will have 16 forwards, we project.

[Richard]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

Not nearly as impactful as the previous classes have been. Especially if Armstrong is being deferred. The gem of the class is Cayden Primeau, who should be able to step in and challenge Ruck in net immediately. I for one think he should take the job by storm- Ruck is a goaltender with a career SV% just a tick higher than 90%, and this year he is sub 90% in all categories of SV% breakdown except for against non-NCAA teams from last year. Primeau should be able to be a 4 year starter for Northeastern.

The only defenseman we project to arrive next year is Darren Rizzolo, who is currently in the BCHL with a 1-5-6 line in 30 games for 2 teams. Other possibilities to arrive are AJ Villela ('98) who is in the USHL but not seeing much game time (17 games so far, 2-4-6 line), and Collin Murphy ('98, 2-9-11 in 30 USPHL games). Barring any early departures we will have 8 defensemen on the roster next year, so I do not expect many new ones to come in next season.

Forward is much more dicey. We stand to lose 3 of our 4 centers, possibly all 4 if Gaudette jumps. Sikura and Stevens are also possible flight risks. Those three plus JStevens and ZAR leaving would leave NU without their most prolific scorers from this year plus significant depth. The best forward coming in is Zach Solow, who has an 8-17-25 line in 25 USHL games for Dubuque. Brandon Schultz is an over-ager who has 16 points in 25 games. Depth forwards include Eetu Selanne and Austin Goldstein. Without any players leaving early NU will have 16 forwards, we project.

Well this doesn't sound good. I have heard around that NU does not have much committed.

[Crimson on the Glass]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

I spent some time in Matthews Arena yesterday for a couple of Mayor's Cup games, and found the old barn to be very interesting and mainly impressive. I was disappointed, though, to find little in the way of celebration of its historic past. My understanding is that the arena played a critical role in the development of the hockey programs of not just NU but also Harvard, BU, BC, and Tufts as well as being the first home of the Boston Bruins. But all I could find on the walls were a couple dozen Husky team (men's only) photos covering some middle period in its history (none from way back, none from the last couple of decades). It make Bright-Landry look like Cooperstown in comparison. Did I just not know where to look? Where is the Boston hockey museum of Matthews Arena?

[UML Puck Hawk]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

The only defenseman we project to arrive next year is Darren Rizzolo, who is currently in the BCHL with a 1-5-6 line in 30 games for 2 teams. Other possibilities to arrive are AJ Villela ('98) who is in the USHL but not seeing much game time (17 games so far, 2-4-6 line), and Collin Murphy ('98, 2-9-11 in 30 USPHL games). Barring any early departures we will have 8 defensemen on the roster next year, so I do not expect many new ones to come in next season.

I feel like you guys could use 1-2 true stay at home defensemen though. Hasn't that always (realistically including Ruck's hot 15 games last year) been a chief issue?

[NU_Husky]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

Well this doesn't sound good. I have heard around that NU does not have much committed.

Definitely not the level of impact we have gotten from the previous classes with Gaudette/Griffin/Williams or Stevens/Sikura/Cockerill. NU just received a commitment today from another defenseman for next year. http://northeasternhockeyblog.com/20...-ryan-solomon/

[NU_Husky]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

I spent some time in Matthews Arena yesterday for a couple of Mayor's Cup games, and found the old barn to be very interesting and mainly impressive. I was disappointed, though, to find little in the way of celebration of its historic past. My understanding is that the arena played a critical role in the development of the hockey programs of not just NU but also Harvard, BU, BC, and Tufts as well as being the first home of the Boston Bruins. But all I could find on the walls were a couple dozen Husky team (men's only) photos covering some middle period in its history (none from way back, none from the last couple of decades). It make Bright-Landry look like Cooperstown in comparison. Did I just not know where to look? Where is the Boston hockey museum of Matthews Arena?

Nope, you didn't miss anything. For reasons I will never understand, Northeastern willingly chooses to not put out their program's history, or even the building's history, other than the banners in the rafters bearing the Bruins and Celtics logos. Never mind that programs including BC/BU/Harvard/Wentworth, et al, all began by playing games there. Never mind that the program has been around for nearly 100 years yet the most recent photos being displayed are barely colored. Never mind the All-Americans that have played for Northeastern whose banners and awards are buried in storage. I was hopeful that when Kevin Roy got a second team All American that maybe something would change in terms of display. No such luck .

When I was at the school I tried every summer to get the team to change the display setup at Matthews, with zero luck. I love how the Bright lines the walls of the concourse with awards histories, photos of every men's and women's team, their alums in the NHL- the Bright has the exact setup that I want Matthews to have. For reasons that escape me/have never been explained to me, it just doesn't happen. I have heard that because men's hockey shares the building with women's hockey and men's basketball, they cannot give preferential treatment to one program. I have heard that because NU uses Matthews for non-hockey events such as graduations, dinners, concerts, etc, they cannot have too many sports things up. Heck, they cover the DogHouse logo, the scoreboards, and all "Northeastern Athletics" garb during the summer. All issues that I, and many others, take serious issue with, but the school will not change their ways.

[northeastern]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

I spent some time in Matthews Arena yesterday for a couple of Mayor's Cup games, and found the old barn to be very interesting and mainly impressive. I was disappointed, though, to find little in the way of celebration of its historic past. My understanding is that the arena played a critical role in the development of the hockey programs of not just NU but also Harvard, BU, BC, and Tufts as well as being the first home of the Boston Bruins. But all I could find on the walls were a couple dozen Husky team (men's only) photos covering some middle period in its history (none from way back, none from the last couple of decades). It make Bright-Landry look like Cooperstown in comparison. Did I just not know where to look? Where is the Boston hockey museum of Matthews Arena?

..good points.
they've got some (not all) of the memorabilia from the times.. could def do something with it.
the next 'jack grinold' .. would love to delve in a project like this.. current AD.. not as much i think.

[NU_Husky]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2016-17 -- Great Expectations

I feel like you guys could use 1-2 true stay at home defensemen though. Hasn't that always (realistically including Ruck's hot 15 games last year) been a chief issue?

In terms of defensive-minded, defensive-specializing defensemen, NU has had a handful in the past few years, including Josh Manson, Dustin Darou, and Dax Lauwers (though Dax couldn't really skate), and players such as Benning were competent in their own end while also chipping in offensively. Over the summer Madigan told us at the Friends of NU Hockey meeting that they wanted to change the focus of their recruiting to include more puck-moving defensemen to start breakouts and have more threats offensively, rather than have guys that could stand in front of the goalie but not do a thing with the puck (similar to Dax, Mike Gunn, Darou, Jarrett Fennell).

I happen to agree with you Puck Hawk that you need to have a blend between OFD/TWD/DFD in the defensive corps. Part of the success last year was in the defense having that stay-home guy in Darou/Fennell to guard the goal mouth. In space they were liabilities but along the boards and in front of Ruck, they were serviceable. On this team now, they don't really have that type of player, although there are guys that have the potential to be physical defenders who are good in space. Shea/Davies are freshmen who are impressive in their stick work and gap control after just one semester, and Williams has shown flashes.