Ahead of the second half of the 2025-26 season, we wanted to write a first half recap/second half lookahead piece. Inspired by the popular 32 Thoughts column and podcast done by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, we decided to have less of a formal structure and classic NUHB article, instead bouncing from player to player, idea to idea, as they felt topical. A little change from our norm.
Disclaimer: While Friedman is a real reporter, everything you see below is strictly the opinion and thoughts of the writer and should not be taken as gospel or fact as a representation of thoughts from the NU Mens’ Hockey program.
NU Hockey Blog Thoughts
1. The first half for the Men’s Hockey program should be seen as an absolute success story. Picked in the bottom half of Hockey East to start the season, and outside the top 20 in the initial USCHO poll this year, Northeastern sits 10-6-0 at the break, one year removed from winning only 12 games in the regular season. With fourteen newcomers this year, and after fifteen last year, the speed at which the new players assimilated into the system and team should be lauded, and the results followed.
2. Assisted by a front-loaded schedule to cram as many games into Matthews Arena as they could before the arena closed, Northeastern met the challenge to the tune of an 8-4 record at home, including its first victory over Denver since 1990 and its first weekend home-and-home sweep of Boston College ever. They also won at UMass-Amherst for the first time since early 2017, and notched one final victory over Boston University at the arena in mid-November in a sold-out thriller.
3. Of course, not every game went the way we all hoped they would. Losing to Army at home in early October continues to be a head-scratcher, and the blown leads at home against UConn and BU leading to eventual losses were every combination of frustrating, demoralizing, heart-wrenching, you name it. Especially the final game in Matthews against BU. That one will sting for a long time for fans. For the players, you hope they use it as motivation and a learning experience as they head into the next phase of the season.
4. Result aside, the final game at Matthews Arena hit all the right notes. The sold out arena. The special warmup jerseys honoring the building with the now-iconic Final Season logo, and those jerseys then being auctioned off. Bruins national anthem singer Todd Angilly belting out the Star-Spangled Banner to the 115-year-old rafters one more time. Hockey Hall of Famer and program legend Dave Poile making his return to Matthews Arena to drop the puck pregame. A standing room only DogHouse of students staying after finals were over to make sure the arena got the atmosphere it deserved. Over 100 Men’s Hockey alumni returning home, one final time. The torch-passing ceremony connecting over a century of history in the building and propelling the program into the future. The ever-poignant words of Jim Madigan echoing through the arena, verbalizing what we were all feeling. It was simply amazing.
5. In their four road games this Fall, the Huskies split 2-2, with wins over UMA and BC, losses to UConn and BU, but the record does not reflect the whole story. Both of those losses came after the Huskies erased multi-goal deficits, including a furious late third period comeback to tie BU at Agganis Arena before falling in overtime. To come back from multiple goals down against two quality teams, the resilience is there in the room. It shows that they can get back to even, and once even, it’s a brand new ballgame. As they head into the Homeless Huskies era playing every game in road territory, it’s going to take that resilience and “Us Against The World” mentality to make it through it all and still come out ahead.
6. On to some player thoughts: Jacob Mathieu has been just about everything we could have hoped for coming out of an illustrious career in the QMJHL. Coach Keefe said early on he looked like a veteran already, and you see that in his game- he’s a playmaker, he’s a fixture on the penalty kill, he’s trusted to help defend leads late, he blocks shots. He had points in 13 of the team’s 16 games, including a 6-game point streak. The only thing that has not quite popped as much as we thought is the goal scoring. He has 5 goals, with 3 on the powerplay and 2 into an empty net, so we’re still looking for his first even strength goal. He sits 3rd among forwards in shot attempts (50) and on goal (31), so we’d like to see him shoot more given his propensity to score and his skillset. His 18 points are second on the team and third among freshmen in the conference (T-6th overall).
7. Giacomo Martino has been another freshman that has met expectations, with 12 points (6 goals) in his first 16 games. This start to his career drew a comparison privately amongst NU fans to the start Aidan McDonough had to his career. In McDonough’s first collegiate half, he had 11 points in his first 14 games, before breaking out with a 4 point game against Dartmouth in game 15. Like Martino, most of McDonough’s first goals were on the powerplay; four of Martino’s six are on the man-advantage, while McDonough didn’t score at even strength until late January, his ninth of the year. Merely eight months removed from leading the USHL in scoring, expect Martino to continue piling up points as the year goes on.
8. Martino sits fifth among forwards with 25 shots on goal, fourth in shot attempts with 46. Between him, Mathieu, and Amine Hajibi (27 SOG, 46 shot attempts), we’d love to see them get a license to shoot similar to what Joe Connor (54 SOG, 95 attempts) and Dylan Hryckowian (55 SOG, 100 attempts) have earned, both due to the players’ individual skills with shooting but also to help generate more offense with goals, rebounds, and deflections.
9. When looking at the Northeastern defense, the discussion starts and ends with health. NU started the year with 8 defensemen on the roster (the other option was 9 given the roster cap incurred with opting into the House settlement), and quickly went down to 7 healthy bodies due to a preseason injury to junior Nolan Hayes. Hayes has since been removed from the roster and we wish him the best going forward. Once the season began, we’ve seen Jo Lemay miss extended time again, and late in the semester Jack Henry missed the final games of the year as well due to injury. Northeastern played their final game against BU with 5 defensemen, and Noah Jones only played 6:11 per CHN. Playing four defensemen nearly half the game or more just is not sustainable, especially with Dylan Finlay being the only other left-shot defenseman on the roster. You hope that the extended break helps Lemay and Henry heal up, and if bodies become limited again, we may need to see Marc Lund take time on the back end- Lund did suit up as a defenseman in the preseason scrimmage.
10. Speaking of defensemen, Northeastern captain Vinny Borgesi was named the captain of the US Collegiate Selects team in the Spengler Cup. The team won their first-ever game on Saturday against HC Davos, the host team, by a score of 5-3 in Davos’ own arena. On a team with some serious talent and leaders from other teams in college hockey, what an incredible honor for Borgesi and a reflection of the type of leader and player he has become.
11. Another defenseman individual thought, it’s obvious the skill and brain of Dylan Compton gives him the potential to be the next great Northeastern offensive defenseman. One of the top USHL defensemen last year, you see it in Compton’s passing, particularly exiting the offensive zone, and in his hockey IQ trying to read a defense. More of a playmaker in juniors, he has a modest 2-1-3 line in 16 games, but the tools are clearly there for him to improve with.
12. Northeastern’s penalty kill has been a huge strength this year. It has bounced back strong after a bottom-third showing last year, succeeding at killing 90% of penalties taken by the Huskies, good for the fifth-best PK in the nation, third-best among non-Ivy League teams. Excellent work by Coach Harlow and that unit.
13. The powerplay has had its ups and downs so far. It currently sits at a 21.7% success rate, tied for 26th in the nation, making it slightly above average, but the process in getting there has been a grind. Often frustrating fans with a lack of motion and a propensity for seemingly overpassing, the unit has been better since October ended, clicking at a 24.1% success rate (7 goals in 29 powerplays), though it must be acknowledged that these numbers are also impacted by abbreviated powerplays due to penalties offsetting. Looking ahead to the second half, we’d love to see more motion through the middle of the ice, whether that’s players skating through to disrupt the defensive setup or using a player in the bumper position, players working to take the goalie eyes away, or at least a little more rotation if the setup continues to insist on living around the perimeter.
14. Shoutout Griffin Erdman having a nice little breakout as a sophomore, he has really found a nice role as a bottom six player on this team, and doubled his freshman points total in the first half of the season. Now with a 2-4-6 line, including a three game point streak in the middle of the semester, Erdman developing into a quality depth scorer who brings speed and good effort on the PK and forecheck and in the defensive zone will be invaluable for NU going forward this year and beyond.
15. Andy Moore has clearly found his comfort role as well, bringing a physical element to the Huskies that we have not seen much in recent years, especially at forward. A battering ram on the forecheck and in the neutral zone, you can tell that Moore is looking for contact nearly ever shift. Only 2 points in the first semester, with one massive goal against BU at home in November, but he’s clearly found his niche.
16. Arguably the most pleasant surprise this year among any player has been Amine Hajibi, the freshman forward from Quebec. With a 3-7-10 line in 16 games, he has been a very welcome addition to the Huskies’ top six, most recently slotted in the 1LW role with Mathieu and Hryckowian as linemates. He’s someone who wows you with the eye test- silky smooth hands, sharp tight edges, and top-end speed. Like Compton, you can see the gears turning in his brain too, and over time, those instincts will lead to more points. A foundational piece for Northeastern going forward.
17. The Huskies kick off the second half of the season and the post-Matthews Arena era this Friday when they travel to West Point, NY, to play Army in a return game after Army came to Boston in October. The first time Northeastern has traveled to West Point since 1998, anyone who knows me knows how much West Point means to me and my family, as we’ve been civilian fans of the United States Military Academy since my grandfather brought my dad to football games in the 1960s. Incredibly excited to drive over after the New Year’s holiday and watch the game, and bring some friends to those hallowed grounds for their first time.
18. While schedules are often long-settled many years in advance, it’s always fun to speculate how Northeastern could fill their eight non-Beanpot out-of-conference games during the homeless era. We know they’re going to Belfast for the Friendship Four in 2027, and I would expect them to try and get into more tournaments if they can. The Ledyard Classic at Dartmouth and the Kwik Trip Holiday Faceoff in Wisconsin are two they have history with, and it would be awesome to try and get into either the Adirondack Invitational at Lake Placid, which UMass-Lowell partakes in this year.
19. Travel budgets will certainly be stretched during this era, so while we’d love to see Northeastern head out to the CCHA and NCHC or Alaska and bank some “we owe you one” games for when the new arena is open, we’re expecting a lot of OOC games in the northeast region. Some fun potential ones from a historical perspective: Saint Lawrence, who Northeastern has not visited or played since January 2016; Dartmouth, who Northeastern has not visited outside the Ledyard Classic since 2000; Niagara, who the Huskies have only played once, in 2010, and never in upstate New York; and Yale, who has not played Northeastern since 2017 and only twice since 1995. If the team wanted to stretch the radius a little further, Northeastern has not played Penn State since 1977 either…
We are mere days away from the resumption of the Northeastern season, and for as much as the second half will be fixated on the lack of arena by media and commentators, the Huskies remain in prime position to make noise at the conference and national levels. As of this typing, they sit 16th in the NPI ranking, right on the bubble and primed to make a leap if they can take care of business against the teams in front of them. They are 12th in the USCHO and USA Hockey polls, and sit 5th in the Hockey East standings with one or two games in hand on every team in front of them. There’s still a Beanpot to be played for. There is not a single person in the NU locker room who will have a “woe is us” attitude- they are out to prove people wrong, and to chase some hardware. To be honest, there’s a little excitement with what’s ahead. Just go play hockey. Be a team. Become Road Warriors. For everything that has happened to Northeastern so far this year…hey, why not us?
As always, go Huskies!