Northeastern 2018 Off-season: Dog Day Afternoon

[NU_Husky]

On the QMJHL Draft https://northeasternhockeyblog.com/re...sam-colangelo/

[northeastern]

On the QMJHL Draft https://northeasternhockeyblog.com/re...sam-colangelo/

..great read, thx. Up to the kids & family really, to do what's best.
On the Coaches front.. hope Grier or someone BU gets the Assistant gig there.. Grier would actually be a good hire for them. Great guy.
Would hate to lose Jerry Keefe on that front. Hopefully his name being mentioned is just that.. names being mentioned.

[northeastern]

nice to hear Keefe staying put. The development of the program, the kids developing under current team.. kudos to NU on that front.

[NU_Husky]

Recap of Monday's Friends of NU Hockey meeting, with some good insight and information from coach about schedule stuff, recruits, and what he thinks about the upcoming year

https://northeasternhockeyblog.com/ge...-northeastern/

[Thiessen'sBetter]

Recap of Monday's Friends of NU Hockey meeting, with some good insight and information from coach about schedule stuff, recruits, and what he thinks about the upcoming year

https://northeasternhockeyblog.com/ge...-northeastern/

Thanks for the post, its going to be an interesting season. I feel great about the goaltending and good about the defense, but I'm still wondering where the goals are going to come from. Not only do we not have a clear first line, do we have one forward who is a definite first line player in Hockey East? Madden should be down the road, Filipe and Solow could be, Hawkins has a RW1 shot but no returning forward has scored 10 goals in a year for NU (Hawkins did score 16 and 14 with BG). If the 6 D's are Davies, Shea, Williams, Harris, Villella and Kislin, that seems like a very offensively capable group who will push the play from the back-end so maybe that's where the offense comes from? Certainly wouldn't surprise me if Davies led the team in points.

[NU_Husky]

Thanks for the post, its going to be an interesting season. I feel great about the goaltending and good about the defense, but I'm still wondering where the goals are going to come from. Not only do we not have a clear first line, do we have one forward who is a definite first line player in Hockey East? Madden should be down the road, Filipe and Solow could be, Hawkins has a RW1 shot but no returning forward has scored 10 goals in a year for NU (Hawkins did score 16 and 14 with BG). If the 6 D's are Davies, Shea, Williams, Harris, Villella and Kislin, that seems like a very offensively capable group who will push the play from the back-end so maybe that's where the offense comes from? Certainly wouldn't surprise me if Davies led the team in points.

It's too early for me to be projecting lines but if I had to put some names together, I would expect Solow, Madden, Filipe, Hawkins, and Jozefek as top 6 guys. Others who could get put into those roles include Plevy, Pecararo. I hope Coach keeps Picking/Griffin together, they worked great as a defensive/forechecking unit, and worked well whether paired with Goldstein or Schultz. Lerario increased offensive output last year, so I could see him getting a look. I truly feel that we will be rolling lines more regularly next year and will have more scoring-by-committee, which isn't the worst approach to have.

[mookie1995]

nice to hear Keefe staying put..

the night is young

[HHound]

the night is young

It will soon dawn on you that the Keefe to bu rumor is old, old, old. It has whiskers and they've gone gray! It's as real as Santa Claus. You've swung and missed twice now. You do know the definition of insanity, don't you? You have so many terriers in the coaching ranks. Go find one of your own, if one is wiling to return. McEchearn is a fun guy. Is Eruzione free? - great name recognition among the over 50 crowd.

[Thiessen'sBetter]

I truly feel that we will be rolling lines more regularly next year and will have more scoring-by-committee, which isn't the worst approach to have.

Agreed. Under Cronin we had some success doing that, or at the very least we had the "hard to play against" moniker. If Keefe can take that group of forwards and produce a +20% PP he truly is the power-play whisperer.

[Split-N]

...I feel great about the goaltending and good about the defense, but I'm still wondering where the goals are going to come from...

I'd expect the goal scoring to take care of itself. Hawkins is already a beast. Matt Filipe is a potential 20+ goal scorer. Then there's the international man of mystery (Liam Pecararo). And let's not forget Austin Goldstein, who impressed at least me, especially toward the end of the season. Zach Solow should be more of a factor with a year of experience now under his belt. Beyond that, the D-corps should pose its own scoring threat. Maybe an offensive surprise or two (or more) among the incoming frosh?

Bottom line as I see it: The offense should be less spectacular but much more distributed, which isn't entirely a bad thing.

[northeastern]

only way Filipe is going to get consistent with the points is if he uses his teammates during the gm. cant do it alone.

[Split-N]

only way Filipe is going to get consistent with the points is if he uses his teammates during the gm. cant do it alone.

Thus the modifier in front of 20+

[turk181]

Looks like Saint John likes your recruits. Today they selected Jack Williams with the 1st pick in the two round American Draft https://theqmjhl.ca/draft/2018QMJHL_US

hope Williams stays.. grass always looks greener on the other side..

oh well, nature of the beast.
NU Hockey just gotta keep plugging away Go Huskies

I’m not totally up on NCAA rules but Jack Williams is in Saint John camp......Many of the observers at the qplex were pleasantly surprised to see Jack Williams (from Maine) and Connor Bradford (from Massachusetts) participating in the development camp. Williams looked excellent while skating along side his South Kent roommate – Josh Lawrence. Williams is a strong skater with a nose for the net. It would be quite a coup for the Sea Dogs to have those two together for the next few years. Bradford (10th round, 165th overall), already 6’2” with his 16th birthday coming up in August, Bradford showed very good positioning and movement. https://stationnation.blogspot.com/20...ment-camp.html

[NU_Husky]

Re: Williams, he will also be participating in USA Hockey camp in Buffalo in July. Has not signed anywhere yet, we will see where he goes after the USA camp.

Tyler Madden taken 68th overall by Vancouver. 3rd round.

Jordan Harris 71st overall by Montreal. 3rd round.

Riley Hughes 216th overall to New York Rangers. 7th round.

[TheRevengeance]

Three Huskies picked in NHL Draft (and some who weren't).

https://northeasternhockeyblog.com/ge...the-nhl-draft/

[Split-N]

Maybe the biggest media deal in NU sports history? A harbinger of things to come from the Jeff Konya administration? https://gonu.com/news/2018/6/25/athle...rtnership.aspx

[NU_Husky]

Maybe the biggest media deal in NU sports history? A harbinger of things to come from the Jeff Konya administration? https://gonu.com/news/2018/6/25/athle...rtnership.aspx

I think it's certainly a sign of what Konya plans to do in terms of pushing NU beyond what we have become accustomed to in terms of regional branding. I have loved his drive and his passion to get things going ASAP, and I think this is another notch in his belt towards that goal. This is going to help all sports involved, not just hockey. Exposure is good and critical to get people interested in seeing the team live. Bravo, Mr. Konya

[Split-N]

If this is a signature external-facing initiative, I can only wonder what he might have up his sleeve for internal-facing initiatives, like the game-day experiences at Matthews and other venues, energizing the undergrads, expanding the season ticket base, tapping general public priced out of B's a C's, etc., etc.

New day...new way.

[scorer]

If this is a signature external-facing initiative, I can only wonder what he might have up his sleeve for internal-facing initiatives, like the game-day experiences at Matthews and other venues, energizing the undergrads, expanding the season ticket base, tapping general public priced out of B's a C's, etc., etc.

New day...new way.

I talked with Konja a bit prior to the Beanpot Final, and he impressed me as a big guy with big ideas - a man of action. He's well aware of all of the issues you listed and he was eager to address them. One can only hope he will have the kind of impact that Huskies fans would love to see.

Normally, I don't expect much from ADs but with him I am optimistic.

[njdevscup30]

Something puts me off with the new Howlin' Huskies branding the athletics department is doing. I don't know why, and maybe it'll grow on me, but I'm not feeling it.