Editor’s Note: This story is a collaboration with the Boston Hockey Blog, a student-run media outlet covering Boston University hockey.
Though the Northeastern and BU men’s hockey teams enter this weekend’s series headed in opposite directions, both sides are prepared for tight games in their only two regular season meetings of the season.
The last time the Huskies and Terriers squared off for the first time this late in the year was back in 2015, when the Beanpot final was postponed by two weeks due to a snowstorm.
The two sides met four times last season, splitting the series 2-2 (including three overtime contests) and finishing with a score differential of 14-13 in favor of BU.
This year’s home-and-home series begins Friday night at Agganis Arena, before shifting to Matthews Arena Saturday night.
Northeastern beat writer Matty Wasserman of WRBB Sports and Mitch Fink of the Boston Hockey Blog are here to break it down.
Fink: Clearly, Northeastern is having a down year. The Huskies (10-15-3, 5-10-3 Hockey East) are 30th in the PairWise rankings and 10th in the conference standings. They also fell flat in the Beanpot, coming dead last after winning five of the previous six tournaments. Even still, Northeastern has some top talent on its roster and always seems to play the Terriers tough.
For BU fans who haven’t been following closely, what’s most important to know about this Northeastern team?
Wasserman: For the second straight year, Northeastern entered the season with high expectations, only to go winless in their first seven Hockey East contests and spend the rest of the season attempting to dig out of a hole. The difference is, last year’s team finished with a 10-4-1 record in the last 15 games, while this year’s team has never really turned the corner.
As you alluded to, the Huskies have legitimate offensive talent atop the roster: Junior Jack Williams (14-17-31), junior Cam Lund (11-16-27) and sophomore Dylan Hryckowian (13-12-25) are producing up to expectations and lead all Hockey East forwards in ice time per game, and junior defenseman Vinny Borgesi (5-15-20) leads the country in ice time and is a major driver of offense.
But the depth scoring has been completely absent for Northeastern, both from once-promising transfer additions such as senior Ryan McGuire (2-1-3) and junior Nick Rhueme (2-1-3) — those two combined for 39 points last season at their previous schools — and also from the forwards in the bottom six, who have combined for a total of five goals this year.
On top of that, the Huskies went from a 25% power play last season to just 9.1% this year, which is the worst in the country.
Of course, Huskies fans watched from the sidelines as BU captured the Beanpot title last week, but how has the young team been rounding into form in the second half?
Fink: Consistency remains a work in progress, but the Terriers have enjoyed an impressive second half so far.
Much of that success is a credit to BU’s freshman class, which has really come along since the calendar turned to 2025. BU is very reliant on its younger players — seven freshmen see regular ice time, and they’ve combined for almost a third of the Terriers’ points this season.
In the fall, there were growing pains. Freshman blueliner Cole Hutson struggled with turnovers and discipline, for instance, and went as far as to say he “took full responsibility” for BU’s up-and-down first half. Other freshmen faced similar challenges. But in the second half, the class has begun to find its groove.
Hutson went on to dominate for Team USA at World Juniors, leading the tournament in scoring with a 3-8-11 line in seven games, alongside classmates Brandon Svoboda (3-3-6) and Cole Eiserman (3-4-7). All three have emerged with renewed confidence.
The biggest storyline has been the emergence of goalie Mikhail Yegorov, who left the USHL’s Omaha Lancers to enroll early at BU in mid-January. Since getting to Boston, he’s been nothing short of dominant.
He won BU’s starting goalie position from senior Mathieu Caron in a matter of weeks, and has notched a .944 in seven starts. His presence has been a game-changer, to say the least.
Wasserman: The other side of the coin from the Yegorov hype is Northeastern’s goalie situation, which has been in a state of flux in recent weeks.
It’s been an inconsistent sophomore season for Cameron Whitehead, who started each of the Huskies’ first 26 games, but posted just a .905 save percentage, logged one shutout, and was pulled on three separate occasions.
Whitehead’s most recent time getting pulled came after he allowed three goals on the first seven shots he faced against Harvard in the Beanpot consolation game. Freshman Quentin Sigurdson did solid work in relief, which earned him his first two career starts this past weekend against UMass Lowell. After notching a shutout on Friday, Sigurdson ceded two goals in Saturday’s 3-1 loss (the second of which head coach Jerry Keefe said afterwards “we want that last one back”).
Keefe said after Saturday’s defeat that Whitehead will regain the net against BU on Friday. And needless to say, the best version of Northeastern is with Whitehead in net and playing up to his usual standards.
Fink: Regardless of how well Whitehead plays this weekend, the Terriers will need to sweep Northeastern in order for this weekend to feel like a true victory.
With its outstanding performance in the Beanpot, BU showed flashes of Frozen Four potential. But the Terriers have yet to play that way consistently. BU has only swept two teams this season, and they’ve both been Hockey East bottom-feeders: Vermont (Jan. 10-11) and New Hampshire (Jan. 17-18).
Even if Northeastern doesn’t rank much higher than those teams in the standings, the Huskies are one of the Terriers’ biggest rivals, and BU hasn’t swept Northeastern since 2015.
Will the Terriers fall into their inconsistent tendencies, or can they put their foot down and sweep an inferior team — even in a rivalry setting? If the team wants to be taken seriously as a national title contender, they’ll need to achieve the latter.
What do you think would constitute a successful weekend for Northeastern?
Wasserman: For Northeastern, a successful weekend would be a split. The NCAA tournament has long been out of the picture, but earning a home game in the Hockey East tournament is still well within reach — they are just four points behind UMass for eighth in the league standings.
Despite the ghastly 8-2 loss to BC in the Beanpot semifinal indicating otherwise, the Huskies have delivered some big-time performances against good teams — most notably a 4-2 win over BC at Matthews back in November, and also an impressive 5-1 win against Quinnipiac on the road last month.
What do you think will be key points of emphasis for the Terriers this weekend?
Fink: Keep it simple and stay level-headed.
If the Terriers can play direct and stay out of their own way, they should be in position to sweep this series. BU has the edge in talent, and the team is still riding the momentum of the Beanpot win.
But the Terriers will need to keep their emotions under control in a heated rivalry matchup. BU has been prone to taking bad penalties this year — several of them majors. Even if Northeastern has a weak power play, the Terriers can’t afford to let the Huskies get under their skin.
What do you think Northeastern will be keying in on?
Wasserman: Likewise, Northeastern will need to stay out of the penalty box — UMass Lowell had nine minutes of power play time in the second period alone on Saturday, and the Huskies have taken six major penalties this season which have derailed a number of games.
Northeastern has scored first in three straight games, two of which came in the opening six minutes, and finding an early lead will be critical. In that aforementioned 4-2 win over BC, they scored three times in the opening period. Contrast that to their total inability to come back in games; the Huskies are 0-12-1 this year when trailing after two periods.
WRBB Sports will have live coverage of both games this weekend, beginning with Friday’s 7:00 p.m. tilt at Agganis Arena. Amelia Ballingall, Daisy Roberts, and Armaan Vij will have the call on WRBB 104.9FM.