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Northeastern 2021-22: Our Doggie Dish Runneth Over?

Lemonade said:
Good goalie, good defense but lacks scoring. Decent team but was never a real threat at advancing far in NCAA tournament. Losing Harris and McDonough will be massive losses.
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Agree not enough offence but a very good D man are on their way from the USHL one from Cedar Rapids, local MA kid. I coached him in youth hockey. They nearly advanced today against a good team and out played them for all of the 3rd. The team isn't balanced and needs are more physical style..the problem is that UMASS and CT aren't rebuilding they are reloading. CT has $$$ funneling in from Fairfield County at a rate that as an endowment manager I have never seen in the Boston programs. That scares me.
 
RossiRules said:
Agree not enough offence but a very good D man are on their way from the USHL one from Cedar Rapids, local MA kid. I coached him in youth hockey. They nearly advanced today against a good team and out played them for all of the 3rd. The team isn't balanced and needs are more physical style..the problem is that UMASS and CT aren't rebuilding they are reloading. CT has $$$ funneling in from Fairfield County at a rate that as an endowment manager I have never seen in the Boston programs. That scares me.
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College hockey has changed and not for the better. The transfer portal and these 2+ years of added eligibility are going to further muddy the waters of college hockey. Sacred Heart had I think 7 post grads this season? Get ready for that type of thing all over hockey. Its free agency hockey at this point. Replacing Harris who was one of the best Dman in hockey isnt going to happen. NU will have to dive into the portal and grab a few veteran defenseman and some scorers. I wouldn't put any pressure on thinking a freshman D will make any sort of an impact - they usually don't. Teams can change on the fly with the new system so it should be interesting.
 
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It is why pre season predictions mean nothing now, you have to see who is on the "waiver wire" and where they go and subtract out the guys that sign early, can't blame the kids for playing for money but it takes a lot of the anticipation out of the pre season. To be successful coaches are going to have to develop a different skill set to be able to compete at the highest level.
 
Brutal loss. Everyone's proud of the team blah blah blah but at some point you gotta win some of these 50/50 tournament games. Cornell in 2009, Michigan in 2018 and today we're all winnable games. If he's back next year, just have Levi stay in the net. WMU was only going to score on a great shot like goal 1 or something weird like goal 2.

Not that worried about scoring next year, a ton of talent on this roster, it's just really young. But Hughes, Colangelo, Lund, Fontaine, Ritzy and the Jackson's...that's a pretty good 7 to start. Assuming Levi stays and McDonough leaves the biggest key to me is if Struble leaves. Some good young defensemen coming in but would be nice to have his size and experience back there. It seems like we're solidly on between 12-20 in the PWR every year now, so the question is how do we move up and start winning some of these coin flip tournament games.
 
I thought that to compete today, Northeastern had to match the opponent's physicality, workrate, and intensity - what they didn't do against UConn. And I thought, especially in the third period, that they did. They needed to play THEIR game, which they were able to down the stretch. Creating those deep turnovers created chances, like their goal.
My hope for next season is that Levi stays of course (though TJ looked capable this season and has potential, just not as much as Devon) and that these sophomores take a big leap forward, physically and skill-wise. For the firepower they potentially had, it dried up against good teams. I like how they competed today even if it ended badly.
The NCAA game and the Beanpot final were reminders for the fanbase of what a Northeastern-style heartbreaker feels like, in case you forgot.
 
McBain75 said:
...The NCAA game and the Beanpot final were reminders for the fanbase of what a Northeastern-style heartbreaker feels like, in case you forgot.
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I thought that over so many years of watching NU hockey I had experienced every possible way of getting my heart ripped out. Until today.
 
That was the most entertaining game of the tournament so far. I was damn impressed with the Huskie’s physical play against a bigger/older team.

I was rooting for you. Here’s to Eastern hockey getting its mojo back next season.
 
Bomber said:
That was the most entertaining game of the tournament so far. I was damn impressed with the Huskie’s physical play against a bigger/older team.

I was rooting for you. Here’s to Eastern hockey getting its mojo back next season.
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Even in defeats, the east has held up on so far.
 
RossiRules said:
We need to play bigger, we look slow early and often.
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yup, spot on. They just come out slow way too often. Sometimes they pick it up, but often they don’t. Played a pretty great second and third, but it’s not good enough to only play two periods when they have such a low scoring offense.

I’ll say it before and I’ll keep saying it - they also can’t pass.

Frustrating season at times. It doesn’t feel like they won 25 games, but I guess we should be happy.
 
I think LEVI stays because he has not accomplished anything yet. Does anyone agree his leaving the net showed his inexperience and it cost NU the game? NU has a good season, but the 25 wins was not against the metal of the league or the NCAA...and this year was very strange in that losing games to poor teams like VT and AZS really hurt in the Pairwise. We have had a fairly good team these past 6 or 7 seasons and things are looking up. However, this year we didn't have a real silky goal scorer a la our recent hobby finals and winners, who could handle tight without much in terms time and space. We had better D and perhaps our best goalie in history statistically but it seems we just can't put all 3 together to get over the hump...that's really the next step and I am not certain how you accomplish it in the modern landscape of college hockey. There is a huge drop off and watching UMASS, and many of the western teams we just seem slow and kind of weak..don't get me wrong we are a frustrating team and can steal wins...but we have no hammer no high gear that can be sustained for full games. We have a high gear and it's really good but it's a flash in the pan kind of thing..not like a machine that you need to win an NCAA tournament. I am not certain I am conveying what I see as the issue but it's the issue overall. Anyway till October. Cheers! Glad I didn't buy the Sunday Tix and I am thinking the NCAA in Boston is fairly empty place if Quinnipiac does not advance.
 
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Jimmy Howard came back after 2003-04, Ryan Miller came back after winning the Hobey Baker and the NCAA title, and Hellebucyk came back after his .952% season as a freshman.

Levi staying one more season is completely reasonable.
 
brassbonanza said:
Whether a goalie stayed in school 20 years ago is completely irrelevant to what Levi does.
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I didn't say it made it LIKELY or that he would stay, simply that there is precedent. And I included Hellbucyk for that reason as it's a much more recent Hockey East goalie. Nothing anybody does in any season will determine what another person does, it's just an observation that all the other goalies in the top 4 for save percentages in a single season in the NCAA stayed more than a year.
 
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