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Icedogs take on Northeastern, UNH

The Boston University hockey team hits the road sort of this weekend in two conference matchups.

The Icedogs head over to Matthews Arena to take on Northeastern University tonight and then to Durham to face the No. 1 University of New Hampshire on Saturday.

The players know their hands will be full with two tough conference rivals on the weekend slate.

‘Obviously we’re looking for two wins here; this weekend is huge for us,’ said senior captain Freddy Meyer. ‘Two games in Hockey East and points that are critical to get. We come up with a few wins this weekend and it could help us nationally.’

One of Meyer’s assistant captains, senior forward Brian Collins, is looking to gauge the strength of the team.

‘I just feel it’s an indication of how we’re going to stack up against the rest of Hockey East’s teams,’ Collins said.

Friday night would appear to be the easier of the two matchups, with Northeastern expected to be weaker after losing several players to graduation, the most important being former captain and defenseman extraordinaire Jim Fahey. The Huskies have looked anything but the weak sister this season though, coming up with a tie against New Hampshire last week. Not to mention, Northeastern has plenty of motivation after losing to BU in the Beanpot finals last year.

‘They’re always a team that comes after BU really hard,’ Meyer said. ‘It’s a home game for them and they play even harder at their Matthews, so we have to match their intensity, if not have even more.’

The Icedogs will have to be especially wary of Huskies forward Mike Ryan, this year’s captain on Huntington Avenue. Ryan is a dangerous scorer anytime, but especially potent against the scarlet and white, tallying six goals and seven assists in 11 games.

The Huskies weakness may be in the back, with the loss of Fahey, who logged huge minutes last year, leaving the blue line duties to a young corps of defensemen.

‘I think we can exploit their defense down low because they’ve got some young defenseman,’ Collins said. ‘Just get on the forecheck and get a lot of shots on the goalie.’

On Saturday, the Icedogs face an even tougher test when they travel to the Whittemore Center to take on the top team in the nation on its Olympic-sized rink. The trip to New Hampshire was ugly last season, with the Wildcats sending the Terriers home with tails tucked between legs after an ugly 6-1 drubbing. While New Hampshire lost a ton of firepower with Darren Haydar’s graduation, it is still loaded with talent. The most notable player might be Colin Hemingway, who finished fourth in the nation with 66 points last year. New Hampshire is the only team that can match BU’s depth with a strong defense to go with the offense, and goaltender Michael Ayers, who was named Hockey East Goaltender of the Month for October.

Add to this the advantage of the big ice and New Hampshire poses quite a challenge for the BU team picked this year to win Hockey East. Despite a poor showing by the team last year in his home state, Meyer isn’t worried by the surface.

‘I’m not too worried about [the big ice] this year at all,’ Meyer said. ‘We played out at Wisconsin and they had a really nice facility, big ice sheet out there.’

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