Attleboro, Mass. – Looking to build off of last Friday’s 2-0 win over the Rebels, the Northeast Generals NAHL squad will play a three game series against the Maine Nordiques on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. The first two games are scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday at the New England Sports Village while Sunday’s matchup will be played at the Colisée in Lewiston, ME at 3 p.m.
Season Series
So far this season the matchup between the Gens and Nords has been fairly even with the Generals holding the advantage 5-3. The two teams met in a season opening series in Maine that saw the Nordiques win game one 6-3, then the Generals bounce back in game two 4-1. From there the Generals picked up two straight wins in a home and home series on October 30th and September 1st, then the Nords won a mid-week matchup at the village 5-1 on October 15th. November 15th and 16th saw another series split between the Gens and Nords, and most recently on January 30th the Generals picked up a 4-1 win on the back of a 4 goal first period from Jake LaRusso.
After these three games only one more between these two teams remains on the schedule. April 4th the Nordiques come to the village to start the final week of the regular season.
Last Time Out
Riding a small four game losing streak the Generals picked up a 2-0 win over the Philadelphia Rebels to split a weekend set. Ryan Remick scored in the first period on a nice play that saw the New Jersey native, and University of Maine commit pull a toe drag around a defender and fire a shot to the back of the net. Paul Minnehan finished the game off with an ice length empty net goal. Earning his first career junior hockey shutout Toby Hopp made 22 saves for his 14th goal of the season.
College Commitments
Both teams will have one more college commit in their lineups than the last time they met a few weeks ago. Maine’s Tony Achille announced his commitment to play NCAA Division I hockey at the University of Arizona where current General Minnehan is also committed. Fellow 2002 birth year, and captain of the Generals Dave Andreychuk announced his commitment to play DI hockey at Yale University in the ECAC and IVY League. For Andreychuk finding a school that had both great hockey and academics was high on his priority list. The Chatham, NJ native leads the NAHL in assists and points with a 14-46-60 line through 43 games this season.
Division Standings
The East Division continues to be a tightly contested race for the four playoff spots as the number of games remaining continues to drop. Maryland sits in first place with 60 points while New Jersey and Northeast continue their battle for second place. The titans have 53 points and two games in hand over the Generals who sit in third with 51. Maine enters the weekend with possession of the fourth and final playoff spot with 45 points and the least number of games played in the division with 39. Johnstown and Philadelphia both sit outside of the playoffs, but within striking distance, while Danbury rounds out the table in last place and eliminated from contention.
Special Teams
Maine holds the best power play percentage in the division with 26.8% while also being the least penalized team. Should the Generals find themselves short handed it isn’t the worst thing in the world. Northeast is in the tied for 3rd in the NAHL with 6 shorthanded goals for.
The last time these two teams met LaRusso scored not just four goals in the first period, but four powerplay goals in the first period. In his first game back from suspension and being held off the scoresheet last week you can expect the Generals leading goal scorer to get plenty of looks while on the man advantage.
You can catch all of this weekend’s action on HockeyTV and find game updates and more on social media @negenerals!