Huskies Hit Low Point with 6-3 Loss to Bentley
It happened again. But this one just feels worse for some reason. 2 years ago, Bentley came into Matthews Arena and beat a Northeastern team that didn’t look like they wanted to be there. Last night, they did it again, scoring the final 3 goals of the game against a Huskies team that must have had something else on their mind. When it happened in 2010, the Huskies were a young team, getting off to a slow start in the early stages of the season. That game marked Clay Witt’s collegiate debut and Jamie Oleksiak’s first collegiate point. This year’s team has a fair amount of new guys, but it also has a senior goaltender and an older group of forwards, not to mention it is beginning the second half of its season.
Losing by 3 goals at home to an Atlantic Hockey team is not the way 2013 was supposed to start. The second half would be different from the dismal first half, we were all told. Just like we were all told that this year would be much different than last year’s awful season. But here we are and it just more of the same. Its been a full calendar year since this team has put together an extended stretch of good hockey.
This game truly had it all. First you have Ben Oskroba at forward, for what I assume was the first (and last) time of his career, due to injuries. Dan Cornell, who played forward in high schoo,l must have been busy. That experiment didn’t last long after Oskroba couldn’t get his stick free for an easy tap in early in the first. After that, the 4th line never saw the ice. In another curious decision from Madigan, he choose to stick with Rawlings throughout, despite the senior allowing 5 goals, with some definite softies mixed in. And to complete his mistake hat trick, Madigan pulled the goalie with about 2:44 left and saw Bentley score their 6th goal into vacant net about 30 seconds later. Maybe after this move burns him a few more times, he will stop trying it.
And speaking of Rawlings, while the defense certainly did him no favors, it’d be really beneficial for the team if he could step up and play well for more than one game at a time. His refusal to challenge shooters or really just move in general will be his downfall at the next level, if he even gets that far.
But as usual, the real problem was defensive breakdowns becoming easy chances for Bentley. Any team with a decent forecheck is a terrible matchup for Northeastern because they just cannot get the puck out their own zone. Madigan said after the game that the team had to get better in their own zone and that they had been working on it. It didn’t show.
As far as bright spots go, Cody “Non-Conference” Ferriero continued his torrid pace, picking up 2 more goals (and another penalty of course). Ferriero now has 20 career goals in what basically amounts to 2 seasons. 9 of them have come in non-conference play. Granted, some of those opponents were pretty good, but the Hockey East goals are what this team really needs from him.
Can this team turn it around? It doesn’t look likely. The supposed better relationship between players and coaches that we were promised this year is not evident at all. Players have stopped even trying to hide the fact that they are disobeying the coaching staff. But that’s fine, because some guys are exempt from benchings, no matter how many times they do stuff like this. And with the lack of bodies up front, they can barely afford to bench guys anyways.
So this team, with as much talent as they have issues, will likely play out the season in a manner like we saw Saturday. The Harvard win, much like the UMass one a month ago, was not a sign of things to come. It was a blip in the radar, an accidental glimpse of what this team actually could have (and probably should have) been. But we won’t get that this year. We will probably get another summer of roster overhaul and another “fresh start” next year. Maybe this time it will actually work.
For your information Ben had played some forward in the USHL and the puck hit the heel of his stick. He is a defenseman and can not catch a break with this coaching staff. He was a Cronin recruit and this staff has not giving him an opportunity. He has a+3 plus-minus rating and when given the chance had played quite well.In fact he was the 2nd star at New Hampshire but it was never talked about in the media.Could it be that Coach Madigan has too many others to promote?
Ben has definitely look better this season. But, this staff does seem to play favorites quite a bit. If you look at the two kids who left, they both seemed to be victims of this at times, especially Manno. Playing him at F is a weird idea, but if you are going to do it, I don’t know why you would abandon it so early in a non-conference game with nothing on the line. Just another curious decision from Madigan.
Madigan shortens the bench and allows the forwards way too long shifts. Look at his recruits and their cumulative PLUS/MINUS ratings.Ben should be getting regular play as well as his roommate Dan Cornell on defense.Two players leave the program and one recruit de-commits. Eight players left last year and seven had eligibility left. Manno is at a team with two players commited to NU,how is that going to work?
Drew, as usual, you are spot on. Since he got here, Madigan has played his bench same way – he has favorites who can do no wrong and others (with considerable upside) who were constantly on a short leash (Manno). Players have quit on this staff – its very apparent. I warned about trying to see silver lining in those 2 UAH games.
As far as Manno, he has too much class (even if some have tried to brand him a “hot-head) to slam this coaching staff with the 3 NE committements at Dubuque. BTW – my sources tell me he is biletting with Szmatula, who is the leading scorer on that team. Also, with respects to long shifts – it was the final drop that overflowed that “glass” with Manno – when good ol’Cody stayed on for a double shift at Manno’s expense. Madigan laced into Manno but Ferreiro received no reprimand for deciding to take a soft 2nd go-around. This coaching staff STINKS !
Bring back Rob Dongara,Rob if you can hear us we need your help!
I’m sure Rob would love to come back. It wasn’t exactly his idea to leave
Right ON Slammeister! I’ve always said it; “Madigan needs to GO” is it more than obvious that JM does not have what it takes to coach a HE team!is not only his lack of experience as an head coach but also he does not seem to motivate anybody on that bench. Good players left simply because they did not get a chance. I specially dislike the way he shortens the bench. Everyone should get a shot at playing decent minutes regardless of anything. this is not the nhl. Also can someone please explain to me why does he always pulls out Rawlings with almost always 2-3 mins to go to add the extra skater…? a move that always back fires.. Always. Please NU hockey get a real coach!!!