Luke Eibler to Leave Northeastern

Photo Courtesy of Dave Luca

The hits just keep on coming for Northeastern with the news that rising Junior Luke Eibler will not be returning to the team next season.  The news, which was first reported by Kristin Kim on Twitter, was confirmed to Husky Hockey Blog by a team source earlier today.   Eibler is 8th Husky to leave the program this summer.

Eibler, a Michigan native, came to Northeastern after a year in the USHL with the Youngstown Phantoms.  In his first year at NU, Eibler found himself paired with another freshman, Anthony Bitetto.   The two of them combined to put together a pretty impressive campaign.  Bitetto was the one who got the Hockey East accolades, but Eibler was a solid defenseman in his own right.  He managed 3 goals and 10 assists, but more importantly, he finished 2nd on the team with a +12 rating.

Eibler returned to NU for his sophomore season despite interest from the NHL, namely Washington.    During this past season, circumstances forced the coaching staff to break up the Bitetto/Eibler pairing.   The change did not slow down Eibler.    He had just 1 goal and 7 assists, but his +10 rating was again second best on the team. Down the stretch, it became clear that Eibler was the best defensive option on the team.  Losing Bitetto earlier this summer was unfortunate.  Losing Eibler is a catastrophe.   Northeastern has been hit with many losses this summer, but with the exception of Steve Quailer, none of those losses were extremely detrimental to the team.   This one is.   Eibler has been underrated in his time here and over the past 2 years has really developed into a solid defenseman.  The defense is now a gigantic question mark at best.

The Huskies have just 5 defenseman on their roster now, plus 4 recruits coming in.   Senior Drew Ellement is really the only sure thing.   Sophomore Josh Manson really came on in the second half of last season.  He should also be in the lineup every night.  After that the Huskies have  Junior Jake Hoeffler (4 career GPs), Sophomore Ben Oskroba (9 career GPs) and Sophomore Dan Cornell, who walked on to the team and played very well in the first half, but struggled towards the end of the season.  As far as recruits go, Mike Gunn should step right into the lineup.  After that, its anyone’s guess.   Former Lowell commit Colton Saucerman has missed most of this season with a torn ACL.  Then there are two kids coming from Canadian leagues that don’t typical put many kids in Hockey East.  Jarrett Fennell comes from the OJHL and Dustin Darou, who was once committed to Michigan, comes from the CCHL.   One thing all 4 of these recruits have in common is age. Darou and Fennell are both ’91s.  Gunn and Saucerman are ’92s.  All 4 will come with every chance of working their way into what has become a wide-open lineup.  Freshman defenseman generally struggle in Hockey East, but Madigan is hoping that he can buck that trend by bringing in some older guys.

One thing is for sure.  Its been a rough summer for Northeastern and we are only in April.  Next season can’t come soon enough.

Madigan Throwing Darts at Canada, Adds Another Defenseman for 2012

Jim Madigan and his staff are at it again.  For the 3rd time in 4 weeks, Northeastern has picked up a commitment from Canada.  First it was forward Mike McMurtry, a ’92, from the CCHL.  Last week, it was defenseman Dustin Darou, a ’91, also from the CCHL.  The latest pick up is another defenseman, Jarrett Fennell, a ’91, from the OJHL.

The big news from this is that the Huskies now have 4 defenseman slated to come in next season, joining the 6 defenseman that are returning (as of now).   While it hasn’t been officially announced, it is all but certain that Anthony Bitetto is leaving.  His not so cryptic tweet basically confirmed that.   Luke Eibler could leave, but there has been absolutely no talk of that so far.  The others should be back, unless they decided to transfer.

So it looks like NU will have 10 defenseman heading into next season:

1. Luke Eibler, Jr.
2. Drew Ellement, Sr.
3. Drew Daniels, Sr.
4. Josh Manson, So.
5. Dan Cornell, So.
6. Ben Oskroba, So.
7. Mike Gunn, Fr.
8. Colton Saucerman, Fr.
9. Dustin Darou, Fr.
10. Jarrett Fennell, Fr.

So what is Madigan doing?  It seems to me like he is just throwing darts and hoping one or two guys work out, kind of like Dan Cornell this year.  Or there is the scary possibility that Luke Eibler is leaving with Bitetto and NU is in need of bodies.   That would be very bad.  But there may be more to this.

Saucerman suffered an ACL injury around Christmas.  The fact that Madigan has picked up two defenseman since then makes it seem like Saucerman will not be ready for this season.

There is also the possibility that one of these guys moves to forward to even out the numbers.  The two candidates for that are Josh Manson and Drew Daniels.  Daniels, like his brother, originally came to Northeastern as a forward.   He played one game there this year when injuries left the Huskies with a shorthanded lineup.

Here’s the deal with Daniels: there is a reason he was moved to defense.  He put up 8 points as a forward freshman year.  He put up 9 in his sophomore season splitting time between forward and defense.  He had 7 this season playing only defense.  Basically, he is useless as a forward.  And he isn’t really the guy you are looking for as a 4th liner.   And the biggest thing with Daniels is that he has done really well since moving to defense.  Moving him back would weaken the D and not really improve the forwards.

Manson played forward a bit in Juniors, but like Daniels, he really took off when he moved to defense.  He got off to a rocky start in his freshman season, but besides the Beanpot game, he played much better in the second half of the season.  I think if he stays on defense, he will be much better next season.   But, he did show flashes of offensive talent once he got more confident towards the end of the year.

So this situation is definitely one to watch.  There is still the possibility that somebody else leaves.  But as it stands, there is going to be a logjam to get into the lineup.   As a whole, this defense doesn’t look that great.  Eibler is great.   Him and Bitetto formed a great partnership in there freshman season.   When they split up this season, things went in different directions for the two.  Bitetto was a mess and Eibler was the best defenseman on the team.   The Huskies need him next season.  Ellement and Daniels are solid defenseman.   Then its a huge question mark.   You have 3 sophomores, none very proven.   Oskroba got almost no time this season.  Cornell did, but seemed to fall off towards the end.  Manson is probably the only one you can pencil in the lineup for next season.   Then you have 4 freshman.   Freshman defenseman usually have a rough go of it in Hockey East.  If 1 or 2 can step up, that’d be great, but thats not something you want to be relying on.   Its a long way off, but defense may be a problem area for Northeastern next season.   But ideally, this would be the defensive pairings:

Eibler-Gunn

Ellement-Manson

Daniels-Cornell

Oskroba, Darou, Fennell

 

If Eibler leaves, disregard all of this and begin panicking.

Final: Huskies 1, Providence 1

Northeastern skated to a 1-1 tie last night against Providence in what might have been the most boring game of all time.

Photo Courtesy of Dave Luca

 

The Basics

• Garrett Vermeersch scored the lone goal for the Huskies
• Josh Manson and Adam Reid picked up assists on that goal.
• Chris Rawlings saved 22 out of 23 shots, after allowing a terrible goal on the first shot of the game.
• NU had 21 shots to PC’s 23.
• Both teams were 0-4 on the PP.
• Robbie Vrolyk was injured late in the first and did not return.

What You Need to Know

• PC scored on a shot from the corner 30 seconds in and it looked liked the same old story for Northeastern.
• But for once the Huskies didn’t fold up after a soft goal and Vermeersch tied it up 5 minutes later.
• Then everyone fell asleep and when we woke up the game was over, still tied at 1.
• 1 Shot OT is still undefeated.

Lines:

Karlsson-Daniels-Saponari

Reid-Vermeersch-Pimm

Vrolyk-McLaughlin-Tuckerman

Manno-Stone-Morra

D:

Bitetto-Manson

Eibler-Oskroba

Ellement-Daniels

Thoughts

The Huskies were the better team for most of regulation, but that isn’t saying much because PC was pretty bad.  Their gameplan was a smart one: shoot pucks from weird angles and try to get some cheap goals off Rawlings.   Northeastern figured it out pretty quickly and after that PC had almost no chances.

On the other hand, Northeastern was doing an ok job of getting the puck in the zone but as usual no one wanted to shoot.  So instead of challenging Beaudry to make a save, they just pass it back to the point.  The defenseman make the forwards look trigger happy.  They just wait and wait and wait until an opponent comes to them.  When that finally happens, they fire a shot right into their legs.  Absolutely brutal.   If the Huskies had just taken a few more shots, they probably would have won last night.  But I suppose that has been true for more than a few of their losses.

But then came overtime where the wheels just fell off.  The Huskies didn’t manage a shot on net in the 5 minutes, but they almost gave the game away plenty of times.   Rawlings came up with a couple big saves, but also had some shaky moments, including one with about 30 seconds left where the puck trickled through his legs and went just outside the post.   It seemed like Northeastern was just daring PC to score on them with countless neutral zone turnovers and when that didn’t work, Alex Tuckerman decided to up the ante and do it in his own zone.  Somehow they survived with the point.

Power Play was beyond brutal.  Again.   Just unacceptable, but its not going to change.    Justin Daniels actually played pretty well on the first line.   And Josh Manson saw more ice time than he has seen all season and he handled it pretty well.   He is still getting a bit risky when he tries to rush the puck, but he was impressive last night.  Ludwig Karlsson also looked good after being a bit quiet lately.

With other results going NU’s way, the point was big, but they will need 2 more tonight to make it a good weekend and keep themselves in the playoff hunt.

Preview: Huskies vs UMass Amherst

Photo Courtesy of Dave Luca

The Beanpot is looming for the Huskies, but they have a huge Hockey East game on their plate before they can worry about that.  The Huskies play host to UMass Amherst who they are tied with for 7th in Hockey East.

This game will have big implications on the Huskies playoff hopes.  Despite being tied in the standings, UMass has played 2 less games than the Huskies.   And if UMass can get a win or tie tonight, then they will win the season series and own the crucial tiebreaker.   So a loss tonight would give UMass a 3 point lead in essence and they would have 2 additional games to be played.

UMass is 0-8-2 in road games this season.   One of those ties came at Matthews in the season opener.  Danny Hobbs, TJ Syner, Bredan Gracel and Conor Sheary are the ones to watch.  The only question for the Minuteman is who will be in net.  Kevin Boyle was in net for both of the first two games, but he hasn’t seen much action of late.  Its been mostly a rotation between Steve Mastalerz and Jeff Teglia.  Neither of whom NU has faced before.

Northeastern is 23-33-3 in the games directly before the Beanpot.  They are 4-2-0 against UMass in those games.

The stats have become less embarrassing for the Huskies after last week.   The Power Play is finally in double digits (11%) and they are averaging 3.0 goals per game after last week’s outburst.

The Huskies could be without Steve Quailer, which would cause some lineup reshuffling.   In that case, the best bet would probably be to move Manno up to Quailer’s spot.   Then put Stone back in the lineup in his 4th line spot.   It will be interesting to see how Madigan handles it, if Quailer is indeed out.

Some Interesting Statistical Notes on NU:

• The Huskies are 8-2-0 when leading after the 2nd period, 0-5-2 when trailing, and 2-4-1 when tied.
• The Huskies are 3-11-3 when scoring less than 4 goals.
• The Huskies are 6-2-1 in games following a win
• The Huskies are 8-0-2 when Cody Ferriero scores a point, 4-0 when Adam Reid and Dan Cornell score a point, and 3-0 when Josh Manson, Zak Stone, and Robbie Vrolyk score a point.
• In games when Quailer-Pimm-Ferriero line isn’t together, the Huskies are 2-7-2

Final: Huskies 8, Vermont 3

Northeastern snapped their 4 game losing streak with a huge 8-3 win at Vermont last night.

Photo Courtesy of Dave Luca

The Basics

• Cody Ferriero picked up a natural hat trick for the Huskies.   The other goals came from Garrett Vermeersch, Mike McLaughlin, Adam Reid, Ludwig Karlsson and Steve Quailer all had goals for Northeastern.
• Drew Ellement, Josh Manson, Anthony Bitetto, Steve Quailer (2), Justin Daniels, Braden Pimm (3), Ludwig Karlsson (2), Vinny Saponari (2), and Cody Ferriero all picked up assists.
• Chris Rawlings saved 31 out of 34 shots.
• Vermont outshot NU 34-30.
• NU was 3-6 on the PP, but gave up a shorthanded goal.   Vermont was 1-6

What You Need to Know

• The Huskies traveled on Thursday morning and they reaped the benefits.
• In a must win game, he team came out fresh and jumped out to an early 2 goal lead and controlled the game from there.
• 3 power play goals for the this time is huge.   Giving up shorthanded goals  is becoming an issue for this team.  Luckily it didn’t hurt them last night.  Also, the shorthanded goal was scored by Kyle Mountain, who is the younger brother of NU’s backup goalie Bryan Mountain.
• 12 out of 18 Huskies had points.  5 had multipoint games (Quailer 3, Pimm 3, Karlsson 3, Saponari 2, Ferriero 4)
• It was a good night for NU as they got they win they needed and they were able to break out their offensive slump.     But if they can’t compete like this for the rest of the season, then it won’t matter much.

Lines:

Karlsson-Vermeersch-Saponari

Ferriero-Pimm-Quailer

Vrolyk-McLaughlin-Tuckerman

Reid-Daniels-Manno

D:

Bitetto-Cornell

Eibler-Manson

Ellement-Daniels

Weekly Stats Leaders:1/26

Here are your Weekly Stats Leaders for the Huskies

With Justin Daniels being scratched this weekend, only 5 Huskies have played in all 22 games this season: Garrett Vermeersch, Vinny Saponari, Anthony Bitteto, Drew Daniels and Drew Ellement.

	Goals
Braden Pimm	9
Ludwig Karlsson	8
Steve Quailer	7

 

	Assists
Vinny Saponari	13
Steve Quailer	12
Ludwig Karlsson	11

 

	Points
Steve Quailer	19
Ludwig Karlsson	19
Vinny Saponari	16

 

	+/-
Braden Pimm	+14
Josh Manson	+10
Drew Ellement	+9

 

	PIM
Josh Manson	44
Luke Eibler	37
Joseph Manno	33

	Shots
Steve Quailer	65
Braden Pimm	52
Garrett Vermeersch	51

 

	GW Goals
Cody Ferriero	2
Steve Quailer	2
Braden Pimm	1

 

	PP Goals
Steve Quailer	3
Ludwig Karlsson	2
Anthony Bitetto	1

 

	SH Goals
Braden Pimm	2
Vinny Saponari	1
Steve Quailer	1

 

	PP Points
Garrett Vermeersch	5
Ludwig Karlsson	4
Justin Daniels	4

Weekly Stats Leaders:1/19

Here are your Weekly Stats Leaders for the Huskies

Interesting note: just 6 Huskies have played in all 20 games this season: Justin Daniels, Garrett Vermeersch, Vinny Saponari, Anthony Bitteto, Drew Daniels and Drew Ellement.

	Goals
Ludwig Karlsson	8
Braden Pimm	8
Steve Quailer	7

 

	Assists
Vinny Saponari	12
Steve Quailer	12
Ludwig Karlsson	10

 

	Points
Steve Quailer	19
Ludwig Karlsson	18
Vinny Saponari	15

 

	+/-
Braden Pimm	+16
Josh Manson	+10
Luke Eibler	+10

 

	PIM
Josh Manson	42
Luke Eibler	37
Joseph Manno	33

	Shots
Steve Quailer	53
Vinny Saponari	51
Braden Pimm	47

 

	GW Goals
Cody Ferriero	2
Steve Quailer	2
Braden Pimm	1

 

	PP Goals
Steve Quailer	3
Ludwig Karlsson	2
Garrett Vermeersch	1