http://www.nunews.neu.edu/nu-news/Issues/022101/s3.html
Mischler helps NU split
By Mike Trocchi
News Staff
Leadership comes in all different forms. And for the Northeastern Huskies,
it's the tag team of senior Graig Mischler and junior Willie Levesque that have
the men's hockey team playing with a newfound attitude.
After Northeastern's 5-2 win over Merrimack before 3,041 fans (wink, wink) at
Matthews Arena Saturday, it's evident that Mischler and Levesque have grabbed
the leadership mantle for the Huskies.
Mischler (eight goals, 27 assists) had four assists on Saturday night to push
him to 101 points in his career, good for 38th on the all-time NU scoring list.
The senior currently leads Hockey East in assists.
Levesque (13 goals, 14 assists), who had a pair of goals and an assist in the
5-2 win, thinks the Huskies' first line, which also includes an improving Mike
Ryan, is starting to click.
"We just work well together," Levesque said. "Mischler scratches my back and I
scratch his, so to speak."
When asked if he's stepping up to lead the team, Levesque said he just wanted to
make the most of the rest of the season. "You have 45 seconds [each shift] and
you don't quit," he said. "You have eight shifts a period and you want to make
it count."
The Huskies (12-14-4, 6-10-4 Hockey East) face Boston University (12-15-3, 8-9-3
Hockey East) in a home-and-home series this weekend that could determine sixth
place in the conference. Friday's game is at Matthews Arena.
Saturday night's game was important for a bunch of reasons, the most important
being that Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder laid into his team after Friday's
4-2 loss to Merrimack in North Andover.
"It was an embarrassment on our behalf," Crowder said on Friday. "It was just a
total embarrassment that our kids let this get away from them. It was downright
embarrassing. All of a sudden a couple breaks don't go our way and it's throw in
the towel."
Crowder was asked then if any players on the ice that night deserved to be
emulated. "Not tonight," he said.
That's what made Saturday's turnaround a statement and a testament to how the
Huskies can play such a complete contest when they keep it up for 60 minutes.
NU jumped to a 2-0 lead on Saturday off goals by Levesque and Scott Selig, both
fed by Mischler. Ron Mongeau made it 2-1 22 seconds into the second and then
Merrimack tied it up as Joe Gray knocked one past NU goalie Mike Gilhooly, who
left the game shortly thereafter with a strained hamstring. Jason Braun made 17
saves in relief.
Gray proceeded to bow before the Dog House after his game-tying goal, which is
the sort of false bravado that shouldn't be expressed by an eighth-place team.
The Huskies responded as Mike Ryan, who has shown much more confidence and speed
in the past week, scored his 13th goal of the season off a feed by Mischler at
10:01 of the second.
Levesque added his 13th goal at 6:47 of the third and it was lights-out for
Merrimack. Mike Jozefowicz would add a slapshot off a pass from Jim Fahey that
started with, yes, Mischler at 11:42.
Four of Northeastern's five goals came off the power play.
"I thought we handled the challenge," Crowder said, noting the firepower of the
Ryan-Mischler-Levesque line. "They're doing it for us. Every time they're on the
ice, they have a great opportunity to create some offense."
Mischler, whose draft rights belong to the Vancouver Canucks, downplayed his
hitting the century mark for career points. "It comes down to having good guys
around you," he said.
Northeastern is also rebounding from the loss of defenseman Rich Spiller after
Spiller was kicked off the team following numerous team violations.
"We had a bad taste in our mouth [after Friday's game]," Mischler said. "We
thought [Merrimack] was going to roll over and die in their building. That's
never going to happen."
What could happen for the Huskies is a series win over the Terriers this
weekend, which could go a long way toward curing an up-and-down season.
