The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

Column: NU, Cornell share same style

Yesterday at Stetson West dining hall, students gathered with members of the men’s hockey team to watch the NCAA tournament selection show on ESPN2. Based on the PairWise rankings, the mathematical formula used to determine seedings, geographic locations of schools selected to participate in the tournament and other factors, the Huskies were placed in the Midwest regional. In the first round of the tournament, the team will take on the Cornell Big Red. That game will be at 4 p.m. this Saturday in Grand Rapids, Mich. The winner will play the winner of’ Notre Dame vs. Bemidji State.
The Huskies and Big Red are very similar teams, especially in terms of shots on goal and scoring ‘- both offensively and defensively. Northeastern takes an average of 27.5 shots on goal per game, while Cornell allows opponents to take 27.2 shots per game. Northeastern gives up an average of just over 31 shots per game, but opponents only score just over two goals. This fits into the Big Red style of play, as they take more than 28 shots per game and score more than an average of 2.5 goals. The Huskies score three goals per game on average, but Cornell’s defense typically allows only two. The keys for both of these teams this year has been goaltending, as opponents of each team are only converting approximately seven out of 100 shots into goals.
Away from the numbers, there are other similarities that will make this Saturday’s matchup a very close game. In net, both teams feature good goalies, as Husky netminder Brad Thiessen and Big Red backstop Ben Scrivens both rank among the national leaders in nearly all major categories. Ten of NU’s 25 wins this year were decided by a single goal, as were 10 of Cornell’s 21 wins. With nearly identical save percentages, these goalies were often one of the biggest reasons for a win rather than a loss or tie. While Scrivens was edged by Princeton’s Zale Kalemba for the ECAC goaltending award and first team all-conference honors, he would have won both in other conferences. Cornell is where the ECAC’s best defensive forward, Tyler Mugford, plays. Does that award sound familiar? Joe Vitale won the same prize in Hockey East. Each team also had a number of players honored with other awards and had players on the first, second, and honorable mention teams all-conference, as well as representatives on the all-rookie team for their respective conferences.
Offensively and defensively, the numbers are very close between Northeastern and Cornell. Even closer, however, are special teams statistics. Northeastern converts on 15.2 percent of their power play opportunities, and Cornell converts 15.5 percent of their chances on the man advantage. Opponents of Northeastern score on 13.8 percent while Big Red foes find the back of the net on 13.6 percent of their opportunities. Number-wise, these teams are almost identical. This will be an excellent matchup Saturday, and will almost surely be one that college hockey fans talk about for a long time.

Check out 104.9 FM or at www.wrbbradio.org‘ to hear all the action of your Huskies. Hockey coverage is Saturday at 3:45 p.m. vs Cornell at the NCAA Tournament in Grand Rapids, MI.
‘- Andy Towne be reached’
at [email protected].

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