‘ First, second and third year Huskies (myself included) ‘- Monday’s win was not for us. Monday’s win was for the fourth and fifth year students, and for the alumni, too, who have waited 16 years for Northeastern to beat a team other than Harvard in the Beanpot. Monday’s win was for those who followed the men’s hockey team during a three-win, 2005-06 season.
I came to Northeastern as a freshman in Fall 2006, as did junior goalie Brad Thiessen. In some ways, Thiessen was to the Huskies what Nomar was to the Red Sox in 1997.Both flashed superior athletic ability while starting almost every game at one of the team’s marquee positions. Both were recognized as one of the top rookies in their respective leagues. And, most importantly, both helped to energize a fan base that had long been yearning for success.
Thiessen started 33 games as a freshman, earning a spot on Hockey East’s All-Rookie team and helping the Huskies to a 13-18-5 record and a conference playoff berth. Northeastern was promptly swept from the postseason by Boston College, but one thing was clear:’ ‘ Northeastern hockey mattered again. In one season, the Huskies beat Michigan and Maine on the road, as well as Boston College and Boston University at home. With an incoming class that included talented forwards Tyler McNeely, Wade MacLeod and Steve Silva, as well as defensemen Mike Hewkin, Drew Muench and Dan Nycholat, another three-win season seemed about as likely as my mom divorcing my dad to marry a Yankees fan.
Northeastern won nine times during an 11-game unbeaten streak last season, hitting No. 7 in the USCHO.com poll in early January. Though the year ended bitterly, with a Beanpot collapse and another first-round playoff loss, head coach Greg Cronin seemed to be on his way to accomplishing one of the most difficult tasks in college sports:’ ‘ turning around a floundering program. College coaches like Cronin cannot go to George Steinbrenner or John Henry asking for $30 million to add an impact free agent. They have to find a way to change a losing culture by bringing talented players to a school where winning is anything but a sure thing. Cronin has done that, taking a team from the bottom of the conference standings three years ago to within one win of the Hockey East semifinals in 2008.
Now the Huskies sit atop Hockey East, two points ahead of Boston University. They are No. 3 in the country, and there is a buzz about this team that I never could have imagined as I stood in the mostly empty upper bowl of Matthews Arena, watching the Huskies play a game against New Hampshire during my freshman year. Now, we nearly fill those same sections for games against Bentley and Merrimack.
Freshmen, sophomores and middlers ‘- I’m sure some of you chose this school because you were hoping, like me, to experience a night like the one to come this Monday. But none of us can truly understand what it will mean to those that were already here, waiting.
‘- Jared Sugerman can be reached’
at [email protected].
