Thursday, December 11, 2025

Men’s Notes: Final Farewell for Venerable Matthews Arena

Northeastern Plays Final Series in Longtime Home Rink

It’s been a week of reminiscing and a week of goodbyes at Northeastern’s Matthews Arena, the oldest rink in college hockey, which is soon closing its doors after 115 years.

Last weekend, Northeastern’s women’s hockey team played its final game in the legendary rink, completing a Hockey East sweep of rival Boston College with a 4-2 win.

This Saturday, Matthews Arena will host its final game of any kind, a men’s Hockey East clash between the Huskies and rival Boston University (NESN, ESPN+).

The historical significance of the game has afforded plenty of pomp and circumstance, not only on Saturday but in the week leading up to puck drop.

Former Northeastern captain David Poile and former BU captain and coach Jack Parker – both Hockey Hall of Famers – will handle the ceremonial faceoff on Saturday. Todd Angilly, the official anthem singer of the Boston Bruins, will perform The Star-Spangled Banner. More than 200 Northeastern hockey alumni are expected to be in attendance. And earlier this week, more than 40 former coaches gathered for one final lap at Matthews.

It’s a fitting sendoff for the arena – where the student section is known affectionally as “The Dog House” – that opened in 1910 (as Boston Arena) and began hosting Northeastern games in 1930.

Oldest Arenas in College Hockey
1910: Matthews Arena, Northeastern
1923: Hobey Baker Rink, Princeton
1923: Yost Ice Arena, Michigan (did not have ice until 1973)
1949: Houston Field House, RPI
1951: Appleton Arena, St. Lawrence
1956: Bright-Landry Hockey Center, Harvard (originally Watson Rink)
1957: Lynah Rink, Cornell
1958: Ingalls Rink, Yale

Northeastern will hold a closing ceremony following the game. After that, time, as it does, marches on – demolition prep will already begin later that same evening. That demolition will be a months-long process during which time Northeastern’s men’s and women’s hockey teams will play their home games at various venues throughout the Boston area for the remainder of this season.

Remembering Matthews Arena

Eventually, the Huskies will move into a new state-of-the-art home that offers modern amenities for both the student-athletes and their fans. It will usher in a new era of Northeastern hockey.

But for this week, the spotlight will be firmly fixed on the iconic Matthews Arena and the college hockey memories it leaves behind.

Daily Scoreboard | Weekly Schedule | Scoring Leaders | Goaltending Leaders

Stavroff Going Off:

Dartmouth F Hayden Stavroff (Columbus, Ohio) is on an absurd heater to start his sophomore season.

In last Friday’s 7-3 win over Brown, Stavroff blitzed the Bears with four goals and an assist. It was the first four-goal game by a Big Green skater since Hugh Jessiman in November 2003. The following night, Stavroff had two goals and an assist in a 6-1 win over Yale, capping a nine-point weekend in which he also had 13 shots on goal and a plus-6 rating.

Stavroff now has 13 goals and 20 points in his first 10 games – all Dartmouth wins – and is the only player in NCAA Division I hockey averaging two points per game.

More Bang for the Buck:

Denver junior D Boston Buckberger (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) owns a career plus/minus rating of plus-82, which leads all active NCAA Division I players. The next-closest player is Minnesota senior D Luke Mittelstadt (Eden Prairie, Minn.), who is a very distant second:

Active Career Plus/Minus Leaders
1. Boston Buckberger (Denver), +82
2. Luke Mittelstadt (Minnesota), +56
3. Eric Pohlkamp (Denver), +54
4. Mason Marcellus (Quinnipiac), +50
5. Rieger Lorenz (Denver), +47

Buckberger is already an NCAA-leading plus-20 in 17 games this year after finishing in the top six nationally in each of his first two collegiate seasons.

Vanek Headed to Hall:

Former Minnesota standout Thomas Vanek (2002-04) will be inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2026. The seven-person class also includes former Northeastern goaltender Florence Schelling.

The 2003 WCHA Rookie of the Year, Vanek racked up 57 goals and 113 points in 83 games over two seasons with the Golden Gophers, leading Minnesota to a national championship as a freshman while earning Frozen Four MVP honors.

He went on to enjoy a 14-year NHL career and represented his native Austria at the 2014 Olympic Games, the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, and three IIHF World Championships.

SID Corner:

Wisconsin improved to 12-2-2 overall with a Big Ten sweep of Notre Dame last weekend, the best 16-game start for the Badgers in 20 years according to UW SID Paul Capobianco. That 2005-06 Wisconsin squad started 13-1-2 on its way to a national championship under then-head coach Mike Eaves.

This year’s Wisconsin team will enter its Christmas break alone in first place in the Big Ten with an 8-2-0 conference record, two points better than Michigan.

Notebook Quotebook:

“It didn’t go our way. That’s life sometimes. But that’s how we have to play every night. We have it inside of us to go toe-to-toe with anyone in the nation. I’m not trying to blow smoke – a loss is a loss – but there’s something to be said for how we played that game, and our guys need to know that.”

— Vermont head coach Steve Wiedler (Southern Maine ‘11) on his team’s 2-1 loss at No. 18 Boston University on Friday (source: UVMAthletics.com). The Catamounts responded with a 3-2 win over the Terriers the following night.

NHL Note of the Week:

Former Arizona State D Ty Murchison (2021-25) played in his first NHL game on Tuesday night with the Philadelphia Flyers, becoming the 16th NCAA alumni this season to make his NHL debut.

Murchison was a four-year stalwart on the Sun Devils’ blue line and appeared in 145 career games, second-most in ASU history.

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:

Brown sophomore F Andrew King (Dubuque, Iowa) made his season debut and scored all three of the Bears’ goals in Saturday’s 7-3 loss at Harvard, the first three tallies of his NCAA career. Brown had one assist in 14 contests as a freshman … The Saturday win by Harvard was the 325th career victory for Ted Donato (Harvard ’91) behind the bench of his alma mater, surpassing Bill Cleary as the winningest coach in school history … Derek Schooley (Western Michigan ’94) collected his 300th career coaching win at Robert Morris with Saturday’s 6-3 victory at Air Force … Both Minnesota (Friday) and Ferris State (Saturday) blocked 27 shots in a game last weekend to tie this year’s NCAA single-game high. The Gophers did it in a 6-5 overtime loss at Ohio State, while the Bulldogs matched the effort in their 4-1 win at No. 11/13 Minnesota State. Five other teams had previously blocked 27 shots in a game this season.

Longest Active Team Winning Streaks:

10 games, Dartmouth (began Nov. 1 at Stonehill)
5 games, Wisconsin (began Nov. 15 vs. Ohio State)
4 games, New Hampshire (began Nov. 22 at UConn)
4 games, North Dakota (began Nov. 28 at Bemidji State)

Longest Active Point Streaks:

8 games, F Sam Harris (Denver)
- 4-5—9, began Nov. 8 at Western Michigan
7 games, F Cullen Potter (Arizona State)
- 4-5—9, began Nov. 8 vs. Colorado College
7 games, F Lucas VanVliet (St. Thomas)
- 6-4—10, began Nov. 15 at Augustana
6 games, F Nick Sajevic (Air Force)
- 2-9—11, began Nov. 21 at Army

Longest Active Goal Streaks:

5 games, F Lucas VanVliet (St. Thomas)
- 6-1—7, began Nov. 22 vs. Bowling Green

Conference Websites

College Hockey Inc. Resources:

Did you know? 93% of NCAA Division I men’s hockey players earn their degree!