Northeastern’s 3-1 win over Vermont last Saturday night at Matthews Arena was only its second of the season over a Hockey East opponent.
But third-year coach Jerry Keefe thinks his team’s conference record does not reflect how well it has been playing recently.
“If you look at our last 10 games, we’ve played better hockey,” said Keefe shortly after the Huskies beat the Catamounts to salvage a split of a weekend series and lift Northeastern’s record to 7-11-2 overall (2-10-0 Hockey East).
The numbers bolster Keefe’s belief. Since a 4-0 loss at New Hampshire on Nov. 18 — the Huskies’ seventh straight to open the Hockey East season — Keefe’s crew is 5-4-2, including a 5-3 win at Boston College, then ranked No. 1 in the USCHO.com D-I men’s poll.
The stretch also included a 3-3 home tie vs. then-No. 3 and defending NCAA champion Quinnipiac (ECAC Hockey) and a 4-3 overtime loss at then-No 2 (and current No. 1) Boston University.
It’s been a rough go for Northeastern, which was picked fourth in the Hockey East preseason coach’s poll. The Huskies turned in a winning season in 2022-23 (17-13-5 overall record), during which they were consistently ranked nationally.
“We’re trying to find our swagger again,” said Dylan Hryckowian, who netted the game winner vs. Vermont on Saturday. “We’re playing some good hockey, though, over these past few weeks. We’re just confident and we just have to stick with what we know, and that’s just working and sticking to our game plan.”
Keefe had high praise for the rookie Hryckowian.
“He started picking up some points, and all of a sudden, pucks are starting to go in for his linemates,” Keefe said. “He’s been good for us all year. He’s been one of our better forwards all year. He’s been consistently good. It’s good to see him getting on the scoresheet more. He can be a difference maker and we need him to be.”
Hryckowian is one of a number of solid performers this season for the Huskies. Sophomore forward Jack Williams (10-12-22) and senior forward Alex Campbell (11-10-21) lead the team in scoring, while freshman Cameron Whitehead has provided consistency at goalie, starting 19 of the Huskies’ 20 games.
Whitehead sports a 2.80 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage. Keefe said Whitehead is resilient enough to overcome a tough night — after giving up three third-period goals in just over a minute in a 5-4 loss against UVM on Friday, Whitehead turned in a 31-save performance the next night for the win.
“(He) knows we have a lot of confidence in him, simple as that,” Keefe said. “We go right back to him because we’re confident in his ability. That wasn’t even really a question in my mind.”
It would be an understatement to say Whitehead has big skates to fill after the departure of standout Devon Levi, the reigning Hockey East player of the year, a two-time Mike Richter Award winner as the nation’s best goalie and twice a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker award.
At the end of the college hockey season, Levi joined Buffalo of the NHL for its late-season playoff push and took the internet by storm with a timeout routine that was already well known to Northeastern fans. As meditative practice, Levi famously closes his eyes near the center of the defensive zone and kneels, blocking out the noise — both literal and figurative — around him.
Whitehead has a similar routine during timeouts, evoking memories of Levi for the Husky faithful. But as the rookie goalie pointed out, he isn’t necessarily mimicking his predecessor.
“I definitely knew of it, but my goalie coach in Lincoln (USHL), we kind of went through some stuff to see what works for me,” Whitehead said. “Obviously, I didn’t try to copy him. I try to make it my own.
“I’m just kind of working on my breathing, trying to be present in the moment,” he continued. “Games are pretty hectic, a lot of things are going on. The best you try to stay in the moment, the more success you’ll have.”
