Northeastern Releases 2011-12 schedule

With the good news piling up of late for Northeastern - Jamie Oleksiak confirming that he plans to return to Boston next year, regardless of where he's drafted later this month, Greg Cronin not leaving, Vinny Saponari coming on board and bringing former Dubuque Fighting Saints teammate John Gaudreau with him, providing the offensive spark an already defensively-sound team desperately needs to compete in Hockey East - the Huskies have released their 2011-12 schedule, which features a Black Friday date at Michigan and two at Notre Dame the following weekend.

The Huskies start their conference schedule much the way that they ended it last year - with a challenge. Seven of their first 10 conference games are against fellow Hockey East quarterfinalists in, as the Huskies will face off  with UMass, UNH, Maine, Merrimack and Boston College to begin their season.

For the complete Northeastern schedule, please see below. It can also be viewed online here.

DATE	OPPONENT	LOCATION	TIMES/RESULTS
10/2/2011	ST. FRANCIS XAVIER (scrimmage)	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
10/7/2011	MASSACHUSETTS	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
10/14/2011	NEW HAMPSHIRE	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
10/16/2011	at Maine	Orono, Maine	7 p.m.
10/21/2011	at Merrimack	North Andover, Mass.	7 p.m.
10/22/2011	BOSTON COLLEGE	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
10/29/2011	at New Hampshire	Durham, N.H.	7 p.m.
11/4/2011	at Merrimack	North Andover, Mass.	7 p.m.
11/5/2011	MERRIMACK	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
11/11/2011	at Boston College	Chestnut Hill, Mass.	7 p.m.
11/12/2011	at Massachusetts	Amherst, Mass.	7 p.m.
11/18/2011	PROVIDENCE	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
11/19/2011	VERMONT	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
11/25/2011	at Michigan	Ann Arbor, Mich.	7 p.m.
12/2/2011	at Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	7 p.m.
12/3/2011	at Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	7 p.m.
12/10/2011	UMASS LOWELL	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
12/30/2011	vs Minnesota / Princeton / Niagara	Minneapolis, Minn.	TBA
12/31/2011	vs Minnesota / Princeton / Niagara	Minneapolis, Minn.	TBA
1/7/2012	UNDER-18 U.S. NATIONAL TEAM DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (scrimmage)	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
1/13/2012	BOSTON UNIVERSITY	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
1/14/2012	at Boston College	Chestnut Hill, Mass.	7 p.m.
1/20/2012	at UMass Lowell	Lowell, Mass.	7 p.m.
1/21/2012	UMASS LOWELL	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
1/27/2012	at Vermont	Burlington, Vt.	7 p.m.
1/28/2012	at Vermont	Burlington, Vt.	7 p.m.
2/3/2012	MASSACHUSETTS	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
2/6/2012	vs Boston College	TD Garden	TBA
2/10/2012	at New Hampshire	Durham, N.H.	7 p.m.
2/13/2012	vs Boston University / Harvard	TD Garden	TBA
2/17/2012	PROVIDENCE	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
2/18/2012	at Providence	Providence, R.I.	7 p.m.
2/24/2012	MAINE	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
2/25/2012	MAINE	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.
3/2/2012	at Boston University	Boston, Mass.	7 p.m.
3/3/2012	BOSTON UNIVERSITY	Matthews Arena	7 p.m.

Hockey East: Stephane Da Costa Signs with Ottawa Senators

The saga is over.

Merrimack sophomore forward Stephane Da Costa has signed with the Ottawa Senators. His contract is a two-year entry-level deal, likely to be laden with the same incentives that the contracts Tyler Seguin and Taylor Hall signed last off-season, making it worth up to 3.95 million dollars annually.

The all-Hockey East talent is slated to play in the NHL beginning on Saturday when the Sens face the Toronto Maple Leafs. Playing in the NHL at all this season will knock one year off of his contract, so he'll be under contract next season and will then be a restricted free agent.

Da Costa, who scored 90 points in 67 games as a Warrior, was one of the biggest forces behind the success of Merrimack over the past two seasons, a span which saw them make the NCAA Tournament for the first time as an affiliated school, earn their first-ever national ranking (as high as 4th in February), host two Hockey East quarterfinals and make it to their first-ever conference championship game.

He will be a big part of a rebuilding Ottawa squad that includes familiar face Bobby Butler, who graduated from UNH in 2010.

Merrimack fans will get one more chance to see Da Costa in Boston before the summer arrives, as Ottawa comes to face the Boston Bruins next Saturday, April 9th in a 1 PM matinee showdown.

Hockey East: Where Do They Go From Here?

Of Hockey East’s top 15 scorers in 2010-11, only two - Maine’s Brian Flynn and Spencer Abbott - will be returning to school in the fall of 2011. With a large crop of offensive talent having graduated and the cornerstones of a strong junior class - BC’s Cam Atkinson and Jimmy Hayes and Maine’s Gustav Nyquist among them - cashing in their NHL paychecks (and let’s not forget all-world sophomore Stephane Da Costa from Merrimack, either), the teams that succeed in the conference next year are going to be those who get a lot of production from their youngsters.

The top 25 returning scorers are as follows:

Spencer Abbott, Maine 17-23=40
Brian Flynn, Maine 20-16=36
Alex Chiasson, BU 14-20=34
Ryan Flanigan, Merrimack 16-18=34
Brian Dumoulin, BC 3-30=33
David Vallorani, Lowell 12-19=31
Jesse Todd, Merrimack 17-14=31
Riley Wetmore, Lowell 14-16=30
Mike Collins, Merrimack 14-16=30
Pat Mullane, BC 8-21=29
Daniel Hobbs, UMass 12-16=28
Chris Connolly, BU 10-18=28
Sebastian Stalberg, Vermont 9-19=28
Brodie Reid, Northeastern 11-17=28
Corey Trivino, BU 8-20=28
T.J. Syner, UMass 9-18=27
Karl Stollery, Merrimack 6-21=27
Blake Kessel, UNH 5-22=27
Charlie Coyle, BU 7-19=26
Paul Carey, BC 13-13=26
Stevie Moses, UNH 14-12=26
Adam Clendening, BU, 5-21=26
Michael Pereira, UMass 12-13=25
Sahir Gill, BU 6-19=25
Chris Kreider, BC 11-13=24

By school:
BU (6) 50-117=167
Merrimack (4) 53-69=122
BC (4) 35-77=112
UMass (3) 33-47=80
Maine (2) 37-49=76
Lowell (2) 26-35=61
UNH (2) 19-34=53
Vermont (1) 9-19=28
Northeastern (1) 11-17=28
Providence (0)

Strangely, Northeastern - despite returning only one top-25 scorer - is in some of the best shape of all the schools. Merrimack will be a different team without Da Costa, BC will be a much younger team that will have to work harder to open the ice for guys like Kreider and Mullane, and while BU could be a threat, the way they mailed it in a few weeks ago leaves a lot of question marks.

A look at the total offense each team has lost:

BC (5) 75-93=168
UNH (6) 55-105 = 160
Maine (6) 51-87=138
Merrimack (8) 36-94=130
Northeastern (5) 48-74=122
Providence (7) 34-57=91
Vermont (7) 29-43=72
Lowell (5) 16-24=40
BU (2) 22-21=41
UMass (7) 16-16=32

The picture becomes clearer. Is there any reason why BU shouldn’t walk to a Beanpot and Hockey East title? If there is, it’s either UMass or UNH, two schools which proved that they can get offense from underclassmen without any problem. But the effect of losing players isn’t just felt in points. UNH’s Sislo-DeSimone-Thomspon line was the best the league had last year; Northeastern’s line of Wade MacLeod, Steve Silva and Tyler McNeely was one of the reasons the Huskies had such a strong second half. While BC announced the promotion of Tommy Cross from Assistant Captain to full-fledged team leader earlier this week, both of those teams are losing their captains (UNH, it seems, will name Kessel its captain for 2011-12 sooner than later).

Of course, there’s still time for underclassmen to sign with agents and depart. There are very strong and very talented recruiting classes coming to Vermont, Boston College and UNH - more on those at a later date. There’s the chance that coaching staffs may recognize their offensive deficiencies and change their game to stymie opponents and try to win a bevy of 2-1 games. But that’s hardly par for the course in Hockey East.

BC will still be good. UNH will still be good. Providence will again be awful, as they rebuild from the loss of nearly 50% of their offense and their coach. Lowell should improve under new leadership. UMass, Northeastern and Vermont are the wild cards. BU should be great. Maine will likely slip a bit.

But this is all on paper. The same paper on which Boston College should have thumped Colorado College. The same paper where UNH had no chance against Miami. The same paper where Merrimack couldn’t be ranked in the top-five nationally if everyone else let them six months ago.

That’s the problem with an extended offseason. There’s always too much time to think.