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Northeastern 2022-23: Unfinished Business - Great Expectations

S

Split-N

All Hail
Despite being one of the nation’s youngest teams, the historic 2021-22 season brought Northeastern a Hockey East regular season title; Hockey East Coach of the Year honors to Jerry Keefe; and the Mike Richter award as the nation’s best goaltender to Devon Levi. But it also brought a soul-crushing end to the season when a Western Michigan deflection from a scramble barely made it over the goal line in overtime of the Worcester Regional semi-final.

So, does that bitter pill leave a lasting aftertaste or do the 2022-23 Huskies finally advance past regionals and on to the Frozen Four? The 2022-23 edition won't be among the nation's youngest, but it does promise to be an interesting mix of proven veterans and promising newcomers.

If it’s true that championship teams are built from the goal out, there’s arguably no better goalie in the land than Levi. Up front, the Huskies should pack a punch, returning their top four scorers and most of last year’s point producers. And if that’s not enough, add freshman and NHL 34[SUP]th[/SUP] draft pick (SJ) Cam Lund.

If there’s a soft spot, it would have to be on defense, where seniors Jayden Struble, Jeremie Bucheler, and Tyler Spott will lead a group that includes three freshmen and a sophomore transfer. What the defense lacks in experience may be offset somewhat by physical size (this may be the biggest DCorps ever). How well and how quickly the newcomers adjust to the college game is the key.

FWIW, early polls show NU as a solid favorite to defend its HEA title while finishing in the national top-ten.

Drop the puck!
 
Northeastern Hockey Blog reports another commitment from a 2022 NHL draft pick (PHX 7th Round): '04 Adam Zlinka, a Slovak currently with USHL Sioux City will be the first European to play for NU since Ludwig Karlsson back in 2011-13.
 
Not a particularly impressive start to the season but a W nonetheless. Interesting that the three goals were scored by freshmen and a soph transfer with little game experience. Guessing they now know what it means to play with a target on their backs.

But credit to LIU. I'll admit to being a scoffer when when LIU announced it would conjur up a D1 program out of the blue a couple of years ago but I'm not scoffing now. LIU is an older group, physically big, and superbly coached. Plus, Purpura played like he was still at BU and playing in the Beanpot.
 
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I'll take it..welcome back to another year. Not really sure what to expect but we s/b solid in goal..glad to be here with all of you as always. Hope you all had a great Spring and Summer but it's time to play hockey.
 
There were a decent amount of students. Not like last week. But still a good number.

Very light on other fans though. I think ticket pricing could probably be better. Garbage schedule this year doesn’t help either. Our season tickets are barely in the money and don’t come with anything else. There’s a young alumni discount but not as good as BUs which are just under $100 for the season.

I know there’s been a lot of talk about ticket pricing in the past but I think they should be dirt cheap.
 
I have broached this subject with past ADs and received pap answers which amounted to: “We’re working on the problem” or “We’re looking into it”. My response, if I didn’t have a pleasant relationship with these people, would be “Work harder!” “Look harder!” There is so little innovation in whatever marketing is being done that it would be easy to believe that the U. doesn’t have a business school that teaches the subject.
 
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Amazing
​​​​ isn’t it.
During all the years when we were a doormat, we had plenty of poster here - including more than a few that we could have done without.
There were plenty of fans at the game, by NU standards. The student are filling their areas and more. What we need is more participation from alumni and friends of the program. Perhaps that may be due to the fact that every game is televised. Other teams seem to overcome that problem. We have an active and informative hockey blog which supplies many of the facts and opinions we used to share on these boards, and on Dieharddogs.com, which is also fairly quiet. Perhaps it should not charge a fee to be able to participate.
 
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I still go to the games and post on here. Tonight was my 39th season of going to at least one game..most seasons I go 5 or 6 home games and any away games vs BC and BU. I think we had under 1k paid tonight at the barn, two adult children who both live in walking distance Comm Ave and Myrtle St both stayed home to watch it on TV..Vermont and LIU are both horrible so that may have something to do with it. I don't know why attendance has not spiked as the team is really been quite good for the last 5 or 6 years. Hockey didn't have fans when I attended in the 80s either in fact it was much worse so I'll take whoever shows up, that said I am told 60% of the seats are actually sold. TV has likey affected the crowds too. Nice win tonight AM looks nasty.
 
They had 1,726 on Friday and 1,692 on Saturday for a paltry weekend total of 3,418. Pathetically embarrassing is an understatement. I've heard all the excuses about all of the things that compete for students' (and alums) time, attention, and dollars but none of those stopped BC from drawing 5,608 on Friday. Lowell, meanwhile, had a weekend total of 7,818 while UConn drew 5,026. Even BU drew 2,512 for a meaningless exhibition vs a Canadian team on Saturday. Something is very broken if a school the size of Northeastern draws less than 2,000 with a national Top Ten team that is overwhelmingly favored to finish first in a strong conference.

Totally agree with Rye re marketing (or lack thereof). Those involved in promoting the hockey programs need to get their heads out of wherever they're stuck. Matthews is not a difficult place to get to.
 
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Brutal. Half the students left part way through

Great game last night though. No periods where they were sleeping. Showed a lot more hustle than past husky teams and Ymir they keep it up it should be a really fun season. Had some crisp passing. Maybe took one two many passes a couple times.

The penalties are tough. Some of the calls were a little soft, but we’ve taken at least four really undisciplined ones. One led to the tying goal against LIU and another one of Vermont’s Friday goals.
 
What is the parking situation around Matthews these days? The T is a complete mess and traffic is awful as well so getting there probably discourages a lot of people. I am surprised how expensive tickets are now too.
 
Parking is free one hour pre and post game at Columbus garage. Just need to find the attendant and let them know you’re there for the game. It doesn’t seem like a lot of people utilize this option.

I’m not sure what the situation is at Gainsborough garage
 
I wish I could go to games but I havent lived within a day's worth of travel from Boston in years.

How is the Doghouse doing? I think part of the draw for students when I was in school was the Doghouse making it fun. I particularly remember 2009-2011 having students completely packed in the whole upper bowl. I know i have seen games in the Madigan years in which it was packed too.

The Beanpot in particular has seen NU student attendance grow an enormous amount over the last 15 years.

When students have fun at games, they talk about it. When students talk about it more students come. Are the games not fun these days?
 
RossiRules said:
I still go to the games and post on here. Tonight was my 39th season of going to at least one game..most seasons I go 5 or 6 home games and any away games vs BC and BU. I think we had under 1k paid tonight at the barn, two adult children who both live in walking distance Comm Ave and Myrtle St both stayed home to watch it on TV..Vermont and LIU are both horrible so that may have something to do with it. I don't know why attendance has not spiked as the team is really been quite good for the last 5 or 6 years. Hockey didn't have fans when I attended in the 80s either in fact it was much worse so I'll take whoever shows up, that said I am told 60% of the seats are actually sold. TV has likey affected the crowds too. Nice win tonight AM looks nasty.
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We need more support from alumni like you. BTW, 39 years makes you a bit of a newbie compared with Split-N who has been visiting the arena and supporting the team for more than 60 years :>). We must find a way to bring out more live bodies. It is important to the coach, the players and to the impression we make on recruits who are making campus visits. Recruits from top junior programs are often used to playing in front of crowds in excess of 3,000 and are inspired by playing in front of larger home crowds who appreciate their hard work.
 
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OnePack said:
Parking is free one hour pre and post game at Columbus garage. Just need to find the attendant and let them know you're there for the game. It doesn't seem like a lot of people utilize this option.

I'm not sure what the situation is at Gainsborough garage
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The Gainsborough garage will cost you approx $30 but donors at a certain level can apply in advance to get a free parking pass. The free parking at Columbus is a great deal but isn't effectively marketed. It's about a five-minute walk to Matthews but that's no different from the BU lots, which also require a short walk but will cost you $12.

Getting back to the attendance discussion, Agganis is at least as hard to get to as Matthews (maybe more so) but the ratdogs drew 5,504 for the opener vs Bentley and even 2,512 for an exhibition vs a Canadian opponent. So, what is BU doing that NU isn't? The sub-2K attendance at each of last weekend's games is a disgrace.
 
Split-N said:
The Gainsborough garage will cost you approx $30 but donors at a certain level can apply in advance to get a free parking pass. The free parking at Columbus is a great deal but isn't effectively marketed. It's about a five-minute walk to Matthews but that's no different from the BU lots, which also require a short walk but will cost you $12.

Getting back to the attendance discussion, Agganis is at least as hard to get to as Matthews (maybe more so) but the ratdogs drew 5,504 for the opener vs Bentley and even 2,512 for an exhibition vs a Canadian opponent. So, what is BU doing that NU isn't? The sub-2K attendance at each of last weekend's games is a disgrace.
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How is Agganis harder to get to than Matthews?
 
Scarlet said:
How is Agganis harder to get to than Matthews?
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If you have to drive--
  1. Have you tried driving across the BU Bridge from Cambridge at rush hour on a Friday?
  2. Have you tried driving Storrow Dr. outbound at rush hour on a Friday?
  3. Have you tried driving through Kenmore Sq. at rush hour on a Friday?
Via public transportation--
  • Agganis served only by the Green Line/B-Branch
  • Matthews served by--
    • The Orange Line (half block away)
    • The Green Line/E-Branch (a block away)
    • Commuter Rail (Ruggles Sta. on the edge of campus; not much farther of a walk than from the free parking garage
Yes, I know about the MBTA woes. We have many of the same issues here in WashDC (entire sections of subway lines shut down for months to rebuild platforms; wheels that slip off axles on our newest trains, etc. And our Metro system is less than 50 years old.
 
Ah, I thought you meant direction-wise. Traffic wise I agree. There's traffic EVERYWHERE in Boston on Friday nights. Mass Ave heading towards Symphony Hall is just as bad as going over the BU bridge.
 
All of this to say there is no incremental friction to attending NU games vs BU so why the poor attendance?

And just as important, how can we help be a part of the solution?

student attendance was great for LIU and ok for Vermont. I’m sure we’ll see it fluctuate based on opponent moving forward with average attendance Likely to be poor. The transfer rate from student to young alumni is terrible. Pretty sure our youngest alumni in regular attendance is the blog folk and I’m not sure they’re even considered young alumni any more.
 
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