Photo Credit: Brian Jenkins
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BURLINGTON, Vt. - It’s been a roller coaster ride for No. 18 Vermont in the first two months of the season.

The Catamounts won the season series against Boston College, won at No. 1 Denver and outplayed No. 3 UMass-Lowell in a 3-3 tie. On the flipside, Vermont lost at Maine and Merrimack, dropped a 7-1 decision at BC and suffered a 6-2 loss at home against UMass on Tuesday. It’s tough to predict what to expect on Friday at Northeastern at 7 p.m. (Radio – WVMT).

“It’s just getting guys to go for 60 minutes,” Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon said. “That’s my job and I take full responsibility for it. One thing is for sure I’ll do what ever it takes to turn it. If it’s got to be tough love, it’ll be tough love.”

A bright spot for Vermont (4-5-1, 3-4-1 HEA) in Tuesday’s loss to UMass was the play of freshman David Pacan. The Chicago Blackhawks draft pick scored his first career goal and had an assist. Pacan became the 14th different Catamount to score a goal this season.

The defense struggled in allowing six goals on Tuesday and now has allowed 15 goals in the last three games. The Catamounts rank 50th in the nation in scoring defense (3.70) and 53rd on the penalty kill (.737), after allowing six power-play goals in the last three contests.

Northeastern has battled to a 5-5-1 (3-4-1 HEA) start to the season despite several early injuries and the loss of goaltender Brad Thiessen, who signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins after his junior season last spring. Thiessen was a Hobey Baker finalist last year and helped lead the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament. Freshman Chris Rawlings has been up-and-down in goal as Thiessen’s replacement. He enters Friday’s game with a 2.94 goals against average and a .915 save percentage.

The Huskies are unbeaten in three straight after earning a win and tie against Providence last weekend.

“They're a tough team to play,” Sneddon said. “It’s a tough building to play in. Hopefully our character will rise again and we’ll be able to respond.”

Vermont is 8-3-4 against Northeastern since joining Hockey East but went 1-2 against the Huskies last year. The Catamounts hope Friday’s matchup is when they start to find consistency this season.

“We’ve got an older team,” senior Mike Spillane said. “It’s not coach’s job to play rah, rah, rah. It’s on the juniors and seniors on this team and that includes myself.”

“We’re doing everything possible to make things work here and you know there’s no real answer for it as to why things aren’t clicking. If we had the answer we wouldn’t be looking for it right now, so that’s part of the game and that’s also part of what makes it fun. We need to talk things out here and figure it out as a collective unit.”

NOTES: Friday’s game will be the first at the newly renovated Matthews Arena for the Catamounts … The world’s oldest indoor ice hockey arena under went a 12 million dollar refurbishment this summer … Brayden Irwin has three goals and seven points in 11 career games against NU … Vermont leads the all-time series against Northeastern 21-15-4.