Competing For Completion

With Lofty Offensive Totals, Aston-Reese Out To Prove He's The Best In All Three Zones

by Mike McMahon/Staff Writer (@MikeMcMahonCHN)

As well as he's played all season, Northeastern senior Zach Aston-Reese is saving his best for last.

In a season with no clear-cut Hobey Baker Award candidates going into it, Aston-Reese has certainly become one, if not the favorite.

Last week, the senior from Staten Island had a hat trick in a win over Connecticut. Then Friday night at Maine, Aston-Reese score twice more and setup Nolan Stevens for an overtime winner, securing a home-ice spot for the Huskies in the opening round of next week’s Hockey East playoffs.

With five goals in his last two games heading into Saturday’s season finale against the Black Bears, Aston-Reese leads the nation in scoring with 59 points and in goals with 29. Yet, when you ask Northeastern head coach Jim Madigan about what makes his senior such a dangerous player, Madigan focuses as much on Aston-Reese’s play without the puck.

“To understand him as a player, you can’t just look for a measurement in points alone,” Madigan said. “He’s a 200-foot player. He battles and he’s physical and he wins those battles along the wall for us. He’s out there killing penalties and we have him out there in every situation.”

Oddly enough, Aston-Reese wasn’t a big offensive threat when he was a junior player in the United States Hockey League. Playing three seasons with the Lincoln Stars, he combined for just 16 goals in 140 games. By comparison, in his last 74 collegiate games (combining his junior and senior seasons), Aston-Reese has 43 goals.

But those offensive struggles is what turned Aston-Reese into a dangerous two-way player. It forced him to evolve his game.

“After struggling a bit in juniors, I learned that those details are more important than dangling a guy and going up shelf,” he said. “Not that it’s not important to work on skill, but it’s the little details that separates players. NHL players, the ones who aren’t big names but contribute to their team’s success, that’s what they’re doing, they’re playing 200 feet. That’s how I see myself, and that’s how I want to play, I want to be a 200-foot player.”

The fact that Aston-Reese has developed that part of his game, combined with his skill as an offensive player, has NHL scouts drooling over the potential of signing him at the end of this season. Aston-Reese has NHL measurables at 6-foot tall and 204 pounds.

“We’ve watched him all season,” said one Western Conference scout. “To be honest, we watched him last season. The free-agent class in the NCAA isn’t huge this year, and I don’t think there is a Johnny Gaudreau out there, but (Aston-Reese) is someone who I think can contribute to an NHL team. To me, once he gets adjusted to the speed of the game at the next level, I think he can be a player who fits nicely on a club and can kill penalties and be an effective two-way player.”

Madigan was an NHL scout for 18 years before taking the Northeastern job in 2011, spending time with both the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. He looks at Aston-Reese as being the most pro-ready player in college hockey. That list includes fellow undrafted free agents Tyler Kelleher (UNH), Mike Vecchione (Union) and Anders Bjork (Notre Dame), a Boston Bruins draft pick. All of those players, and a few more, are considered to be in the handful of favorites to win the Hobey Baker Award at the Frozen Four in April.

“People think he’s just coming on this year, but he had 43 points last year as a junior,” he said. “There are some other players out there that might be more flashier and more crafty offensively, but Zach has a game that translates perfectly to the National Hockey League. That’s why everyone is on him. He’s plays defense and he’s really intelligent. We give our offensive players some latitude, but our guys know that they need to manage that and can’t risk things too much. He’s incredibly smart when it comes to that.”

Aston-Reese says it’s been easy to tune out the noise, and there’s plenty of noise to tune out when you’re one of the top undrafted free agents on the market. It’s common to see NHL scouts, and some even higher up in front offices, linger in locker room hallways after games waiting for some one-on-one face time with their free-agent targets. Aston-Reese hasn’t been immune to those meetings, of course, but said it hasn’t affected his focus.

“I think it’s been simple to tune that out,” he said. “Some teammates might bring stuff up and joke around, but it’s fun. When it comes to practice though, when we’re at the rink, it’s time to work. All the noise goes out the window. Monday we’re focused on that next Friday game and everything we need to do to win that game. For me, that noise goes away. I don’t like to pay attention to it.”

Aston-Reese has helped the Huskies charge on a similar run to last season, when they had just three wins through December but finished the season on a 20-2-2 run, winning a Hockey East championship. The Huskies had a slightly better first half this season, but are currently on a 9-2-1 run since Jan. 14.

With a win over Maine last night, the Huskies passed Merrimack and moved into seventh place in Hockey East. That secures a home-ice spot for the Huskies in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs, which begins next weekend.

“The tipping point for us was losing the first Monday in the Beanpot,” Aston-Reese said. “We talked as a team afterwards, and the message was that everyone needed to buy in. Everyone needed to play their role.

“For us, it’s about keeping it simple. Guys like myself, (Adam) Gaudette, (Dylan) Sikura and Nolan (Stevens), we can put pucks in the net, but we need to get back and grind harder. That’s our mentality. We are a really hard team to play against when we play like that.”

Aston-Reese’s rise as an offensive player has coincided with several of his teammates also seeing huge upticks in production. Sikura has 52 points this season (19 goals, 33 assists) after he had 28 points as a sophomore. Gaudette has 51 points, including 25 goals, after a 30-point freshman season.

Northeastern has also been without Nolan and John Stevens for big chunks of this season. The Huskies got John Stevens back in the lineup last night, and he chipped in with two assists at Maine. Stevens now has 101 career points. Nolan Stevens returned the lineup earlier this month and has 14 points in 12 games after a 42-point sophomore campaign.

“Getting those guys back really bolsters our roster,” Aston-Reese said.

“The Dog House,” as Northeastern’s fans are affectionately known, hope that Aston-Reese can once again help bolster the Huskies to success this postseason. At the end of the road there could be some trophies waiting, including one with the name “Hobey” engraved on it.