Jim Madigan had been through this before. Last season, his Northeastern men’s hockey team went 0-8-1 before recording its first victory.
And while this year started out with a win, it was followed by a 13-game winless streak.
The Huskies were floundering without the injured Kevin Roy and Dalen Hedges, their top two scorers from last season. But there was no reason to panic.
“We went through it, and the core of our team was still with us from last year, so there was believability, there was conviction, there was confidence that we were going to get out of it,’’ said Madigan, now in his fifth season at Northeastern.
And when Northeastern made a trip to Northern Ireland for the inaugural Friendship Four tournament over Thanksgiving weekend, that patience began to pay off. After an overtime loss to UMass-Lowell was succeeded by a convincing 7-1 win over Colgate, things began to click.
“I can look back on the Northern Ireland trip,’’ said Madigan. “When you lose two key players — they were the fifth- and sixth-leading scorers in the [Hockey East] last year — it takes your lineup a little bit of time to settle in.
“We went to Northern Ireland, it was a week, just our team. We shared planes, buses, hotels. We were at the rink, there were no distractions. It allowed us to bond a little bit together.’’
The trip provided the jump-start the Huskies (9-12-4, 4-8-3) were looking for, and they now ride an eight-game unbeaten streak, including six straight wins, into the first round of the 64th Beanpot against ninth-ranked Boston University on Monday night at TD Garden.
“For us as a team, we had a tough start and we’ve really turned it around and started to roll,’’ said junior forward Sam Kurker of Reading, a former standout at St. John’s Prep who is in his first season with the Huskies. “It’s just made me more excited about the whole tournament.’’
Not that he needs any extra incentive. Kurker has played in the Beanpot before, having spent his freshman and part of his sophomore season skating at BU, before going on to play in the USHL from 2013-15.
But it was his trips to the tournament as a boy with his father and brother that truly shaped his appreciation for Boston’s college hockey showcase.
“It’s always been kind of ingrained in me, so to win one would be very important to me,’’ said Kurker, who has 5 goals and 13 points through 25 games this season.
Kurker has been playing on the right wing alongside Roy, who returned from injury last weekend, on the left and Brendan Collier in the middle. The line has plenty of Beanpot and Boston connections, with Roy the 2013 tournament MVP and Collier a Charlestown native who played at Malden Catholic.
“It really is exciting,’’ said Kurker. “Kevin, everyone knows about him and the Beanpot. Me and Brendo are both very close from high school and before. We played growing up together in Boston and I think we both are willing to sacrifice everything to win this tournament.’’
To capture the program’s elusive fifth Beanpot championship — they have not won it since 1988 — the Huskies must get through BU (13-7-4, 7-4-3). The Terriers, who have won five of seven and play Merrimack Friday night, defeated Northeastern in last year’s championship game.
“The good news about playing a top-10 team is we played BU before when they were a top-10 team,’’ said Madigan, whose Huskies dropped both ends of a home-and-home set to the Terriers in early November.
“We’ll play a team that plays the game fast, highly skilled, pushes the pace, defensemen are very involved and engaged. They’ve got a real good skill set on the back end and we’re going to have to play smart and make sure that we eliminate the odd-man rushes, try to control the middle of the ice.’’
Getting ready
In the other Beanpot game Monday, fifth-ranked Boston College (16-4-4) meets seventh-ranked Harvard (11-4-3). Both teams play Friday night, with BC traveling to Notre Dame (14-4-7, 10-1-2 Hockey East) to face a team that has a nation-best 12-game unbeaten streak, and Harvard hosting Ivy League foe Princeton. BC coach Jerry York will be looking for win No. 1,001 against Notre Dame. College hockey’s winningest coach notched his 1,000th last Friday night with an 8-0 win over Massachusetts, a game in which 13 Eagles registered a point. York, in his 22d season at BC, now has a career record of 1,000-595-108.
Headed east
Arizona State is in its first season as a Division 1 program and will make its first trip to Massachusetts this weekend with games at eighth-ranked UMass-Lowell (15-5-4, 10-3-3) on Friday and Saturday and at Merrimack (7-13-5, 2-7-5) on Sunday. Arizona State played its first game against a Hockey East opponent in early October, a 5-1 loss to host Connecticut . . . Also in Hockey East, fourth-ranked Providence (16-4-4, 7-2-3) hosts New Hampshire (8-12-4, 2-6-4) on Friday and Saturday, while Maine (5-15-6, 2-8-2) travels to UMass (7-14-4, 2-9-4) for a two-game set.
Eric Russo can be reached at eric.russo@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @erusso22.
