{"id":97922,"date":"2013-03-04T06:00:05","date_gmt":"2013-03-04T12:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/hockey-east-blog\/?p=1017"},"modified":"2013-03-04T06:00:05","modified_gmt":"2013-03-04T12:00:05","slug":"the-huskies-demise-hellebuyck-and-the-friars-fourth-line-impress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2013\/03\/04\/the-huskies-demise-hellebuyck-and-the-friars-fourth-line-impress\/","title":{"rendered":"The Huskies’ demise; Hellebuyck and the Friars fourth line impress"},"content":{"rendered":"

These are the three things I think<\/em> I learned.<\/p>\n

1.  Northeastern’s season ends next week.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the Huskies managed only a single point in Orono, their season went from being on life support to a flat line.<\/p>\n

With a sweep of BU, they can catch Massachusetts for ninth place if the Minutemen also get swept by Merrimack.  (That will put the two teams in a tie with 18 points, but the Huskies take the tiebreaker having won the season series 2-1-0.)<\/p>\n

But Northeastern can’t catch Maine or Vermont for one of the final two playoff berths.  The season-long attrition that began with early departures to the pros and continued with transfers and suspensions, the latest of which was number-five scorer Garrett Vermeersch, resulted in a team that simply failed to match up.<\/p>\n

2. Connor Hellebuyck (and the Massachusetts-Lowell team defense) is even better than I thought.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I knew the freshman goaltender was playing exceptionally well and posting some terrific statistics, but the reality is even more impressive.<\/p>\n

It’s deceptive to take any goaltender’s worst game and say, “If you just remove that one game…” because any<\/em> netminder looks a lot better when you give him a mulligan.<\/p>\n

But it’s appropriate when that worst game is his collegiate debut, as is the case with Hellebuyck.  (To continue the golf analogy, many hackers allow a “breakfast ball” on the tee of the first hole, but only the self-deluded allow it on random holes.)<\/p>\n

Including his first game at Denver when he allowed five goals, Hellebuyck’s numbers are stunning: a 13-1-0 record, a 1.41 goals against average, and a .947 save percentage.<\/p>\n

(Put it this way, you could look in the wrong column, see .929 and assume you’re looking at an excellent save percentage when instead, it’s a stunning<\/em> winning percentage.)<\/p>\n

(Put it another way, 25 percent of his entire season’s total of goals allowed came in those first 50-plus minutes.)<\/p>\n

Without that shaky debut, Hellebuyck’s numbers become staggering: a 13-0-0 record, 1.13 GAA, and a .957 save percentage.<\/p>\n

Any wonder why Lowell is in first place?<\/p>\n

3. Providence’s fourth line is making a difference.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Friars’s fourth line scored three — count ’em, three — goals in Saturday’s huge win at Boston College.<\/p>\n

A fluke?<\/p>\n

The previous Saturday, the fourth line scored first in a 3-2 win over Northeastern.<\/p>\n

“This is back-to-back weekends that our fourth line was our best line on Saturday night,” Providence coach Nate Leaman said after the BC win. “So that’s a really good positive for us going forward.”<\/p>\n

With Hockey East experiencing such a logjam at the top, every advantage becomes magnified so fourth lines like the Friars’ have and will make a significant difference in the Hockey East race and playoffs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These are the three things I think I learned. 1.  Northeastern’s season ends next week. When the Huskies managed only a single point in Orono, their season went from being on life support to a flat line. With a sweep of BU, they can catch Massachusetts for ninth place if the Minutemen also get swept […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1425],"tags":[1236,1490],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Huskies' demise; Hellebuyck and the Friars fourth line impress - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"These are the three things I think I learned. 1.  Northeastern's season ends next week. 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