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Northeastern 2025-26: After Hours at the Old Barn

Split-N

Split-N

All Hail
Well, venerable Matthews Arena lives on after it was originally supposed to have hosted its last event last Spring. But now it's like piling into the basements of certain storied Boston watering holes to continue the revelry long after legal closing time.

But the countdown clock continues to tick, and the wrecking ball is now scheduled to hit shortly after the turn of the year. (Knowing Boston politics and weather, I'll believe it when I see it.) But kudos to Hockey East for frontloading the NU schedule with home games at Matthews through December before the Huskies start their 3-to-4-year journey into the hockey Twilight Zone. It's going to be a long, lonely slog. So, if you're a Husky fan, "Hang in There, Baby."
 
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Split-N said:
Well, venerable Matthews Arena lives on after it was originally supposed to have hosted its last event last Spring. But now it's like piling into the basements of certain storied Boston watering holes to continue the revelry long after legal closing time.

But the countdown clock continues to tick, and the wrecking ball is now scheduled to hit shortly after the turn of the year. (Knowing Boston politics and weather, I'll believe it when I see it.) But kudos to Hockey East for frontloading the NU schedule with home games at Matthews through December before the Huskies start their 3-to-4-year journey into the hockey Twilight Zone. It's going to be a long, lonely slog. So, if you're a Husky fan, "Hang in There, Baby."
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So well stated...everytime I read a blurb on the rink old or new and the upcoming future of the program during transition, it's to the Van Morrison song Into the Mystic playing in the background.
 
Does anyone know where they’ll be playing their “home” games during the second half? I feel like Warrior would be an option but between Bruins practices and Stonehill having most of their games there it seems very crowded.
 
Fivetoolnerd said:
Does anyone know where they’ll be playing their “home” games during the second half? I feel like Warrior would be an option but between Bruins practices and Stonehill having most of their games there it seems very crowded.
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I posted this response on the old thread and let's see how much of it comes true:
navy44 said:
Give it another two weeks, i think the schedule has to be out by end of the month. Guessing you will see a mix of WBA, Bright, Agganis as the sites for our final 5 or 6 "home" games. And that will most likely be the plan for the next couple seasons as far as home games. Seriously hope Sept 2028 is the opener at the new NUMPAF. (2029 is a long way off!)
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If those are the sites then you can determine where they play by process of elimination of BU men (Agganis), BU women (WBA) and Harvard men and women (Bright).The only arena open for those games: UNH 1/17 Agganis, Merrimack 1/24 Bright only because Harvard women play at 3pm, UConn 2/6 WBA, PC 2/14 Bright, UML 2/20 Agganis while Bright may host a Harvard women's ECAC playoff, Maine 2/27 WBA, Maine 2/28 Agganis while WBA may host a BU women's playoff game.
 
Wow, I liked what I saw portal hockey, makes your team like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. I can't say our goal tending is top notch and out D is suspect but the offence was pretty fun to watch. New face drafted played some with big numbers from other programs are here. It's a wait and see kinda Fall. Cheers and welcome back to the only sport that really matters
 
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Attendance was pretty weak. Fairly full dog house, but not much else. Even worse tonight.

Against holy cross I thought they looked prettty good. A lot crisper passing, some more coordinated offense. Tonight wasn’t quite the same level. Seemed to underestimate army’s ability to clog up lanes. Game easily could have gone differently if Connor buried his three chances, not his fault, just could have easily been a different game.

Maybe the biggest bummer is lack of desire to shoot! Had a few sequences where it just seemed like no one wanted to take responsibility for the shot.
 
Attendance was pretty weak. Fairly full dog house, but not much else. Even worse tonight.

Against holy cross I thought they looked prettty good. A lot crisper passing, some more coordinated offense. Tonight wasn’t quite the same level. Seemed to underestimate army’s ability to clog up lanes. Game easily could have gone differently if Connor buried his three chances, not his fault, just could have easily been a different game.

Maybe the biggest bummer is lack of desire to shoot! Had a few sequences where it just seemed like no one wanted to take responsibility for the shot.
 
I was at game #489 for me. Hoping to make #500 this season. My thoughts aren't great because I don't see Army as a very good team. While NU seemed to have a lot of shots not many were really great scoring opportunities. Still a young team with lots of new faces who are clearly learning to play together. However even with the self inflicted failure to shoot at the open net the game could have gone either way. I didn't have much in terms of expectations coming in for this team and still don't. I'm just savoring my final opportunities to see games at the old barn. I'm going to miss it.
 
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Army did a nice job keeping the NU attack on the perimeter for much of the game, which limited quality shots. The few they got from close-in went wide. Defensively, limiting an opponent to two goals is usually a good thing but thought that both Army goals coming from where they did a bit bothersome.

Pathetic attendance (3,198) considering that this is the last year for a storied arena.
 
The one positive takeaway from last night is that Hockey East officials can, in fact, call a game without even being noticeable. They did miss one blatant slash by an USMA D man to the back of Mathieu after the whistle, but other than that, they disappeared into the background all night. It was a pleasant surprise. Hoping this is the template for the season and not a unicorn.

Other than that, all bad. Yes, we are still learning to play together, but why is that not true of the other team in their second weekend?... (6 freshman, 2 transferred out, including their best player). Nothing good from this one. Attendance was embarrassing, doubting 3198 were in the building.
 
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The team played like what they are: A group of strangers. Many of their passes were mis-timed or ill conceived or simply missed their intended targets . The Army D easily picked off or deflected many passes making it difficult to break out of our D zone. Credit goes to the Army goalie. He was outstanding. He gave up a few rebounds, but our guys were rarely in position to take advantage of them.
Army rarely visits Matthews.The attendance of nearly 3200 for a non-league, unexciting opponent , wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately, the home team brought its “B” game (I hope that wasn’t their “A” game), and gave the crowd very little to cheer about.

I believe we have more offensive capabilities than last season. With good coaching, their abilities should become apparent as the newcomers gain experience together. I did cringe when I saw Sebastian elevated to 3rd line center. Do we have some injuries that caused this? I thought we had recruited better centers. He should be the 13th forward and saved for the PK where he has occasionally been helpful.
 
Embarrassing as the attendance was, NU still outdrew Michigan at Providence by a goodly margin. BU also down (~3,700).
 
navy44 said:
...Hockey East officials can, in fact, call a game without even being noticeable. They did miss one blatant slash by an USMA D man to the back of Mathieu after the whistle, but other than that, they disappeared into the background all night...
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Actually, things have gradually improved since Steve Metcalf took over and brought in Brian Murphy as Supervisor of Officials. Fact of the matter is that officials call games the way the league that pays them wants them called and the current regime doesn't seem to favor ticky-tack calls that have no bearing on puck possession or scoring chances. That being said, officials are not perfect and never will be but totally agree that game flow has improved.
 
Split-N said:
Actually, things have gradually improved since Steve Metcalf took over and brought in Brian Murphy as Supervisor of Officials. Fact of the matter is that officials call games the way the league that pays them wants them called and the current regime doesn't seem to favor ticky-tack calls that have no bearing on puck possession or scoring chances. That being said, officials are not perfect and never will be but totally agree that game flow has improved.
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I recently had the opportunity to be a VC partner in a CA startup that will develop an all AI solution to umpires in baseball. Will hockey follow, the initial development is to assist a baseball ump staff and replay calls for training at the HS level where many districts no longer want the expense of paying a crew.
 
Re: attendance, does anyone else think that the season starts too early? Playing this early in October, and against less than stellar box office draws, how much of a crowd can you expect? I understand it's the last year of the Arena. I think people that want one last visit will feel more inclined to make that visit later in the year.
As for the game vs Army, I wasn't there. But reading the comments about NU's inability to crack Armys defense, I wonder.... is it coaching? Is it lack of talent? Combination of both?
 
That was a good hockey game in all three phases of the game. Not certain UMass is very good but I liked what I saw. I went to the BU game and just watched this when I got home. This was a good response after the loss last week in a very winnable game.
 
RossiRules said:
That was a good hockey game in all three phases of the game. Not certain UMass is very good but I liked what I saw. I went to the BU game and just watched this when I got home. This was a good response after the loss last week in a very winnable game.
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More accurately, you went to the Michigan State game where bu was to be their opponent. Can’t blame you as the Spartans don’t come around here often.

Very encouraging performance at UMass.I was amazed at the way NU dominated the first period. The early goal took the crowd down a notch, but, more importantly, we didn’t have much of a dropoff in the later periods. UMass has plenty of talent, including several promising freshmen, but their D made several sloppy mistakes that we pounced on.
We go to Harvard for an exhibition at 5PM today. Perhaps Jerry will give us a look at rookies Badger, Maltais and Jones,who have not yet made an appearance..
 
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