Focused, hungry Huskies headed to NCAA tournament

For the second time in three seasons, the Northeastern men’s hockey team is headed to the NCAA tournament.

The No. 3 seed Huskies (23-9-5) will face No. 2 seed Michigan (20-14-3) on Saturday afternoon in the first round, and the team won’t have to travel far. The Huskies are seeded in the Northeast Regional, held in Worcester, Massachusetts. The game will begin at 4:30 p.m. and air on ESPNews.

The team gathered in the Varsity Club at Matthews Arena on Sunday to watch the NCAA Selection Show, and the players roared with excitement when Northeastern’s region and opponent were announced. Here are some reactions from some of the team members:

Nolan Stevens

senior forward

“Obviously it’s a pretty exciting day. We’ve worked all year to make this happen and get this opportunity, and we were kind of hoping we’d be able to play close to home. It’s exciting we have a great matchup like Michigan. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Adam Gaudette

junior forward

On playing in the NCAA tournament: “It gives us a little extra boost of energy. I think a lot of guys are excited, and I think it’s something special that we’ve got going on here.”

Cayden Primeau

freshman, goalie

“The team has a lot of confidence in each other. Going into games, we’re extremely confident in what we can do. Obviously coming up short in the Hockey East tournament is a bummer, but it just makes us hungry.”

Tickets are available via tickets.GoNU.com, and Northeastern students can also sign up for a bus ride to Worcester by visiting GoNU.com/NCAAbus. The bus ride is free of charge, but students must purchase a ticket to the game. The bus will depart from Chicken Lou’s two hours before puck drop on Saturday and return immediately following the Northeastern game.

The university is also planning a send-off Thursday when the team leaves campus for the tournament.