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BOSTON, Mass. — It wouldn’t be stretching the truth to say that Dylan Sikura is a true thoroughbred in Hockey East, or wherever else you might find him. The junior winger had four assists in Northeastern’s 7-3 win over Bentley at Matthews Arena Saturday night, but that is not the only sports palace that you might find him.
He says you won’t find him mucking out stalls or helping to foal mares, but on a nice day you might see him at Woodbine Racetrack outside of Toronto, or at the Breeders’ Cup races wherever it is run in this country. His uncle John and his father, Glenn, run one of the most respected thoroughbred breeding and racing operations in the whole world (Hill ‘n Dale Farm).
His late grandfather, John Sr., introduced the family to the horse business many years ago. It is in Dylan’s blood, but he also has the pedigree to be a top class hockey player. Uncle John was a highly touted junior prospect back before Dylan was born before a career ending injury diverted the Sikura brothers to the fields of Lexington, Kentucky and anywhere else good horses grow.
“This is a very skilled hockey player,” coach Madigan said about Sikura, who runs the Northeastern power play from the blue line and keys a talented line with Adam Gaudette and Lincoln Griffin as his mates. Sikura is the playmaker on this line and he admits that coach Madigan is always after him to shoot more.
“Dylan has great vision to go along with great skills. He actually has a great shot. We try to get him to shoot more so that teams have to respect him as a goal scorer and can’t just concentrate on shutting down his playmaking skills,”. Madigan said. “He isn’t the biggest guy on the ice (six feet but just 166 pounds) and he knows it and spends countless hours in the weight room.”
Sikura smiled when told of his coaches assessment. “He is constantly on me in practice to shoot more,” Sikura admitted. “But when I have a guy like Adam Gaudette on my line, I don’t have to be the one to put in the goals.
For Northeastern’s fourth goal Saturday night Sikura dashed into the offensive goal with a clear path to Bentley goalie Jayson Argue. But, instead of taking the route that 99 out of 100 college players would choose, he took the puck to his left, neared the corner and dished a perfect pass to Gaudette for the easy backdoor goal.
Following praise for Sikura and teammate Zach Aston-Reese, who scored two goals, coach Madigan couldn’t help but talk bout the pride his team felt as the Hockey East champion banner from 2016 was raised to the rafters at Matthews Arena. “We all felt the pride and even the new guys (four freshmen in the lineup) got a lift from seeing that banner go up.”
Before the game, Madigan said he was looking for a better forechecking and a quicker transition than he has seen so far from his team. “I think we got what I was looking for in the first and third periods,” he said. “And, I like the way that our goalie Ryan Ruck played. He reminds me of Billy Smith from the Islanders when they were winning four Stanley Cups in a row.
“Smith never had the greatest save percentage or goals average,” he explained, “but he was always there when you needed the big save. Ryan gives us that.”
Madigan said that the win over Bentley was a good first step for his team as the season will soon evolve into steady Hockey East play.
“I think we have much more speed than we showed tonight but I am happy with where we are right now,” Madigan said. “But, this is just the beginning. I call this our evolution phase.”
Other Hockey East results:
UNH 5, Clarkson 3
New Hampshire hit the win column for the first time this season, 5-3 over Clarkson. Tyler Kelleher scored twice in the final 1:39 for the Wildcats maiden victory.
#15 St. Lawrence 4, Merrimack 1
Four different players scored and Mike Marnell added three assists as St. Lawrence improved to 4-1 on the season. Hampus Gustaffson netted the lone goal for Merrimack.
#3 Quinnipiac 3, Maine 2 (OT)
Craig Martin scored in overtime to lift No. 3 Quinnipiac to a 3-2 win over Maine and salvage a weekend split with the Black Bears. Tommy Schutt and Tim Clifton also scored for the Bobcats while Blaine Byron and Nolan Vesey tallied for Maine.
Connecticut 1, RIT 1
Kasperi Ojantakanen scored a third period goal for UConn and Chase Norris added the equalizer for RIT. Adam Huska stopped 26 shots for the Huskies.
Holy Cross 2, #11 Providence 1
Johnny Coughlin netted the gane-winner at 1:41 of overtime as Holy Cross upset No. 11 Providence. Neil Robinson also scored for the Crusaders and Erik Foley found the net for the Friars.
#5 Notre Dame 3, #4 Minnesota-Duluth 1
Jordan Gross and Dylan Malmquist scored goals in a one-minute span late in the third period to spark No. 5 Notre Dame past No. 4 UMD 3-1.
#8 UMass-Lowell 4, Colorado College 0
C.J. Smith scored a pair of goals and Tyler Wall stopped 29 shots as No. 8 UMass-Lowell improved 2-0-2 on the season.
#10 Denver 3, #2 Boston University 1
Boston University’s Kiefer Bellows scored early in the third period to tie the game, but Henrik Borgstrom scored his second goal of the evening to lift No. 10 Denver past the third-ranked Terriers.
