UMass at Northeastern: Pregame Notes and Line Combinations

BOSTON -- Welcome inside historic Matthews Arena on the campus of Northeastern University where the Huskies look to continue their recent success against UMass in the back half of a Hockey East home-and-home series on this Saturday night.

Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on GoNUxstream with Rob Rudnick and Greg Costa on the call.

The Huskies won their second straight game and improved to 9-1-2 in their last 11 games with last night's 5-0 win at Mullins Center. Freshman Ryan Ruck needed to make just 16 saves in his second shutout of the season for NU, which is 9-1-1 in its last 11 games in Amherst since 2010.

Junior Zach Aston-Reese and sophomore Garret Cockerill each posted three-point nights in Amherst to lead the Huskies attack. Cockerill's goal and two assists combined to set a new career high as he became the first NU defender to score three points in a game since Matt Benning did so against UConn a year ago today.

Ruck has posted a 1.48 goals against and .939 save percentage in his last 12 games in the NU net, while allowing two goals or fewer in each of the last ten.

UMass senior Shane Walsh had a three-game point scoring streak snapped in Friday night's game, but his 16 goals are still good enough for a commanding team lead. Junior Ray Pigozzi is one of five Minutemen with double-digit assists on the season, leading the team with 18 among his 26 points.

Freshman Nic Renyard made 22 saves in net for the Minutemen last night, but junior Alex Wakaluk is likely to make his fourth start of the season and first since Jan. 9 tonight.

Here are tonight's lines:

MINUTEMEN (8-18-4, 2-13-4)

Austin Plevy - Steven Iacobellis - Joseph Widmar
Ray Pigozzi - Dennis Kravchenko - Anthony Petrella
Patrick Lee - Kurt Keats - Shane Walsh
Dominic Trento - Jake Horton - Maddison Smiley

Ivan Chukarov - William Lagesson
Ben Gallacher - Callum Fryer
Marc Hetnik - Carmine Buono

Alex Wakaluk
Nic Renyard
Henry Dill

HUSKIES (11-13-5, 5-8-4)

Nolan Stevens - John Stevens - Zach Aston-Reese
Dylan Sikura - Adam Gaudette - Mike McMurtry
Kevin Roy - Brendan Collier - Sam Kurker
Lincoln Griffin - Tanner Pond - Mike Jamieson

Dustin Darou - Matt Benning
Colton Saucerman - Eric Williams
Jake Schechter - Garret Cockerill

Ryan Ruck
Derick Roy
Jake Theut