2014 Recruits and Beyond

Given that I have been quiet for extremely long here, it’s time for an update. With the USHL draft just wrapping up, that gives me a good excuse to take a good look at where NU’s future recruits will be playing next year.

What’s interesting to see is that almost everyone will be playing in the USHL, minus two players who are likely too young to wind up on team’s rosters. This is a major turnaround from the last two years, where we had recruits all over the place in Canada and the United States. With recruiting being so far in advance, by the time players reach the USHL many of them have already committed, and most are committed by the end of their first year. When Madigan came in, it was hard for him to pick up players for 2011-2012, and the cupboard for 2012-2013 had already been looked over by many teams. 2013-2014 will be better, but 2014 and on is when Madigan was really going after an open talent pool with much of the NCAA.

Of the 8 players slated to come in from 2014 onwards, 7 of them were drafted by the USHL (the lone holdout was David Melaragni, who was born in 1998 and unlikely to make it onto a USHL roster this year). 5 of them are almost definitely going to be on USHL teams (the only one unlikely is Lincoln Griffin, born in 1997 and like Melaragni unlikely to make a USHL roster). Here’s who’s playing where:

Chad Duchesne- Sioux Falls

Ross Olsson- Cedar Rapids

Garrett Cockerill- Des Moines

Zachary Aston-Reese- Lincoln

Josh Couturier- Des Moines

Jason Cotton- Tri-City

Recruiting Update

As the Huskies’ season appears to be slipping away after their destructive defeat to Providence College last night, let’s turn to what is always a sunnier topic of discussion: next season, and future players for Northeastern (the grass is always greener on their other side of the hill for the Huskies).

Recently, the Huskies have picked up two future commitments. The first came from Lincoln Griffin, a ’97 currently playing in the Preps. Griffin is described as a guy who plays hard and can score (he currently has a 13-22-35 line in the Preps playing for a pretty bad Prep team). Griffin looks like a very solid pickup, and has been mentioned as one of the top ’97s last year by the US Hockey Report. Griffin’s father played baseball for Northeastern, and the university connection might help ensure he sticks with his commitment. Griffin is coming in the fall of either 2015 or 2016.

Northeastern also picked up a commitment from ’98 David Melaragni, a defenseman playing for Team Comcast. Melaragni is consistently mentioned as one of the top players in his year, and I’ve seen several mentions that he could play with ’97s. He is slated to arrive either 2016 or 2017 (though if these scouting reports are accurate and he ends up coming to Northeastern, I’d bet he’ll come in 2016).

Both of these kids look like top prospects, but it’s important to remember how far away from college these kids are. A lot of things could change between now and their arrival years. It’s really a no-lose situation for these kids. By committing they get their name out there and as young players they don’t need to sign any documents tying themselves to NU just yet, so if they decide to take their talents elsewhere, they certainly can.

In terms of the more immediate recruits, NU is pretty well set with players for next year. Garrett Cockerill, Zach Aston-Reese, and Ross Olsson have all been pushed back to 2014 instead of 2013. This means the incoming class will be 9 players, 7 forwards (Nathan Ferriero, Michael Szmatula, John Stevens, Dalen Hedges, Will Messa, Tanner Pond, and Michael Jamieson). Jamieson and Messa are probably non-scholarship guys, and Tanner Pond probably isn’t getting a ton of money, but Hedges, Stevens, Szmatula, and Ferriero are the headliners of next year’s class. The Huskies also bring in two defensemen: Jake Schecter and Matt Benning. Benning’s the main guy here, he’s already been drafted by the Bruins and is featured on the power play on a pretty stacked Dubuque team.

Finally we come to the elusive beast that is a goalie. Long story short, we have none. The main reason I suspect is we simply have no more scholarship money. Witt and Roy will probably take up a chunk of money, and with hockey only having 18 scholarships total, you can’t really afford to have 3 scholarships tied up on goalies when only one can play at a time.

I’m not terribly worried about the lack of another goalie for next year. Before Witt was overshadowed by Rawlings (literally, not a metaphor for Rawling’s strength in goal), he was  an NHL draft prospect, and put up solid numbers in the USHL. Give him an offseason to get back to healthiness and train, and give him the starting position and he’ll probably put up numbers similar to Rawlings in 2010/2011, especially with a stronger defense next year. I’d also prefer for the coaching staff to take their time and make a smart pick for the next goalie, rather than picking the best option for next year.

Fans will remember that Cronin scrambled to find a goalie midway through the 2008/2009 season and ended up with Rawlings, so waiting a year and picking the next Thiessen is fine by me. The three top goalies in goals allowed average in the USHL are all uncommitted and available for the future. If I had to guess which one I’d say Arthur Brey of the Dubuque Fighting Saints. He leads the USHL in GAA, and is the youngest of those three top goalies (born in 1994). While Brey has been splitting time with another goalie, the other goalie was traded away for a player who is clearly destined to be a backup, which indicates that the Dubuque coaching staff intends for Brey to be their go-to goalie for the rest of the year and next. There will certainly be other solid goalies for the 2014 season, but suffice to say Madigan and company will be able to find a talented goalie for the Huskies when the time comes.

Weekend Preview: Providence College Friars

While Northeastern faces off against Providence this weekend, UMaine and UMass square off against one another and Vermont faces off against the University of New Hampshire. At this point, here’s what Northeastern should root for:

1. Vermont to get swept

2. Either UMass or Maine to sweep the other.

3. The Huskies to sweep.

Unfortunately as a 10th place team, we cannot be merely satisfied at one team losing, we need two. Vermont has the unfortunate task of facing UNH, BC, and BU twice each for the rest of the season, and either UMass or UMaine is going to come out on top this weekend, so a split makes things more complicated. Having all three things occur puts the Huskies in a significantly better position for the last 2 weekends of the regular season and might elevate them to a playoff status. A muddled result will make it that much harder to make it to the post-season.

Now onto the actual weekend series. From a glance at the stats Providence is not too much to look at. Their top scorer has 20 points, while Northeastern has 3 guys above that threshold. However, Providence scores more on average in games than the Huskies do, because their offense is more spread out. Providence is without their top scoring defenseman, Miles Harvey. The real reason for the Friars’ success is NU-decommit Jon Gillies, who has phenomenal numbers in his freshman year.

The Huskies showed great spirit in coming back to beat UMass despite trailing for much of the game on Tuesday. The trick is to use that as momentum for this weekend. Providence is a very beatable team, and the Huskies need to beat them if they want the honor of losing in the quarterfinals. Play hard and score often so Northeastern can extend their season one extra weekend into March!

Weekend Preview: UVM

Here we are: the final stretch. After a season that started so well with so much promise, we’ve come down to this: 3 points out of the final spot in the playoffs, and playing every healthy player we have left.

Considering how well stacked we thought we were, we are now playing 2 defensemen on the 4th forward line. Our defense is weaker than ever with Ellement gone (at least Manson wasn’t hurt in the Beanpot).

And now we play Vermont in a series that likely makes or breaks us. 3 Points or better will put us in a good position for the playoffs, while anything less than that will doom us to missing the playoffs yet again.

It’s a sad state of affairs for the Huskies. They need to go out and win this series, if not for themselves, then for their fans, who haven’t seen a home win since the first month of the season. At least give the fans some sort of hope to hang on to.

The Beanpot final. As rare as unicorns and Santa Claus to Northeastern fans (yet still more frequent than Beanpot victories). Despite the relative rarity of either event, the Huskies have been on a bit of an upswing recently, making the Beanpot final in 2009, 2011, and 2013 (get excited for 2015, since apparently we make it every 2 years). Making it even more relatively impressive is that those appearance have happened against all three of their Beanpot opponents.
 
Here’s another fun statistic: The Huskies have a 1-2 record against Boston College in the Beanpot final. Disregarding the acual record, it’s amazing that in 61 years there have been 3 games in which Northeastern and Boston College squared off in the final. Given that Northeastern-Harvard have never faced off in the final, it just goes to show even more how much of a disparity it is in the tournament.
 
I’d also like to take this moment to people who start quoting the statistics here about how mathematically improbable it is that the Huskies have only won four times, and how crazy it is hat 50% of the teams have won 77% of the Beanpots. It’s not crazy because that’s not how this works. For almost the entire time the Beanpot has been around, every team but Northeastern has been a powerhouse. Harvard ruled supreme when Ivy league schools were the best college sports teams, and since that, Boston College and Boston University have proven their commitment and power at college hockey by winning almost every other Beanpot. Northeastern on the other hand had those 4 or 5 years back in the 1980′s when we were actually good.
 
Bottom line: stop wasting everyone’s time by using that utterly useless term. Don’t even bother to use it if you add the “if all teams were equal” part, because they’re not. Find some better statistic to use people.
 
But back to the game at hand. Tonight’s Beanpot is a David and Goliath story, if Goliath brought 20 friends with him (and wore a helmet like a smart person) to beat up on David. BC’s looking for their 4th Beanpot in 4 years, while Northeastern has 4 Beanpots in 61 years. If BC wins tonight their seniors will have as many Beanpots as every Northeastern hockey player ever. We’re also the only Beanpot team without a National title, and our win percentage in the tournament overall is just over 25%.
 
In other words, Northeastern is the red-headed stepchild’s red-headed stepchild of this tournament.
 
It’s a never-ending cycle of sadness. We go into the semifinal emotionally prepared to lose, and when we win everyone gets excited, because, hey, this could be the year! But every year it’s not our time, and us fans get even more depressed, which is then coupled with a disappointing end to the season. Everytime we make the final there’s one or two reporters who will jump on the NU bandwagon so they look astute when we win.
 
Well, it’s time to crush emotions and tamp down on expectations. Don’t expect anything and be pleasantly surprised when we manage to score a goal tonight. Don’t be shocked that Johnny “Benedict Arnold” Gaudreau will score a hat trick against the Huskies. Don’t be disappointed when the Huskies ends up like a turtle on its back in the 3rd period and the Eagles outshoot them 20-1. Try not to cry to hard when NU ends up scoring with 10 seconds left to tie the game only to lose in OT to some unknown 4th liner.
 
Just remember: we haven’t been a good team all year, so don’t expect a “Miracle” performance out there tonight. If they win it’ll be a joyous moment that could forever change the face of this team. But they probably won’t.

Beanpot Semifinal Recap

It took long enough: The Northeastern Huskies finally upended Boston University in the Beanpot after 25 years (their last win over the Terriers being in 1988, also the last year they won the Beanpot). Now the Huskies will face off against the Boston College Eagles on Monday night at 7:30. Excitement already seems to be quite high, tickets are by and large sold out (a handful might exist on secondary sites for jacked up prices). Beating BU in the opener is a huge morale boost for Husky fans, who (including myself) just expect Northeastern to not advance in years they play BC or BU in the opener. I’m glad to see that wasn’t the case this year.

Northeastern won because they played a complete game, and didn’t make a lot of mistakes. Both BU goals came because the Terriers are a overall faster team than the Huskies, and Northeastern’s defense is relatively thin (I don’t even remember seeing NU’s 3rd defensive pairing, Madigan opting for 4 defensemen most of the game).

Northeastern scored because they played they game they needed to: they drove to the crease and buzzed around the net to get the necessary rebounds, and their PK was excellent. Kevin Roy and Chris Rawlings were obviously the standout guys who are responsible for the Huskies’ win, but players like Vinny Saponari and Cody Ferriero played key roles in setting up offensive plays and running a tight defense.

On Monday, the Huskies will face off against Boston College, after already playing them 3 times this year in a range of outcomes. There’s going to be a lot of emotion and adrenaline running in this game, and it will no doubt be thrilling to watch.

Ah the Beanpot. The groin-kick of a hockey tournament that Northeastern fans must endure every year. The first two Monday’s of every February fans of the Huskies gather at the TD Garden or their television sets and usually commence to cursing and/or crying by the end of the 2nd period. Either that or we’ll stay excited and energized right up until the moment that the opposing team scores an overtime goal to curb-stomp our dreams for yet another year.
 
The Beanpot is like Christmas, except if every year Santa Claus handed presents to every other child but you.
 
Every year there’s some fresh hell that fans seem to experience. In the 2009 Beanpot, Northeastern was the #3 team in the nation, riding high after crushing BC 6-1 in the semifinal game. After a pretty close first two periods, the Huskies manage to give up 2 shorthanded goals on the same powerplay and lost 5-2.
 
The next year the Huskies were doing pretty badly when they showed up to the semifinal game against Boston University, but hey, they had already beaten them earlier in the season, it must go well this time! Alas, it was not to be, and NU lost 2-1.
 
In 2011 we looked pretty good, rolling over Harvard 4-0 in the semifinal. The final game was actually pretty epic, a back-and-forth rollercoaster that saw leads gained and lost. Once again, however, Boston College destroyed Northeastern’s chance with an overtime goal to seal the deal.
 
Last year Northeastern had gone from a long win streak to a series of losses, and was embarased by BC, losing 7-1. Adding insut to injury of course was former NU-recruit John Gaudreau, who scored a hatrrick against the Huskies and ended up being the league MVP.
 
Now we’ve all heard the stories for this year. Every year sports columnists make the case for why each team could win the Beanpot (no doub snickering as they write up Northeastern’s case in some ironic fashion). This year Northeastern has already beaten BU, BC, and Harvard. This is the same date in 1980 that NU beat BU in the semifinal to win their first Beanpot. The last time Northeastern defeated Boston University was in 1988 when the Huskies won their last Beanpot.
 
But having watched Northeastern play all season, and knowing our lack of anything resembling luck in the Beanpot I can say that it’s highly unlikely this is our year. The Huskies will find some hilarious way to lose yet again and fail to get the Beanpot for the 25th year in a row. Maybe we’ll miraculously beat BU in the semifinal only to be mercilessly destroyed by BC. Maybe for the first time in Beanpot history it’ll be a Harvard-Northeastern final matchup that Harvard will no doubt win. Maybe it’ll be a BU-BC final, much to the shock of everybody who couldn’t possibly have seen that outcome. Every year seems to be the same though: there’s a decent amount of hype, fans get optimistic again, and then the Huskies lose, rinse and repeat every year.
 
Regardless, I’m feeling quite pessimistic this year so let’s see what happen and not get our hopes up