The 2010-2011 Northeastern University men’s hockey team’s season started off like many a Husky hockey season. The team lost. A lot.
It began on Oct. 10, in an exhibition game at Northeastern’s historic Matthews Arena against Acadia University. The Huskies lost 3-2 to open the home season, another year likely to be filled with little hope for their postseason chances.
The losing continued throughout the month of October, into November and December. Providence College, Boston College, College of the Holy Cross, Bentley University, Niagara University, University of Maine, Merrimack College and Boston University can all thank Northeastern for early wins.
It took 20 days for NU to get a win – at University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Not exactly a signature win to impress the selection committee. The Huskies’ other two wins before 2010 turned into 2011 came against Merrimack and Providence, almost revenge victories against teams who had beaten NU previously.
So, another year, another waste of an effort for Northeastern. They were headed back to their usual home at the bottom of the Hockey East standings sheet, far, far away from the world of the other Boston colleges near the top. A typical performance from a simply bad team. It’s as if they were undressed and embarrassed in front of the hockey world.
It’s easy to dismiss Northeastern as a whole. They don’t have the lengthy tradition and history of Harvard, the vast knowledge of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the athletic success of BC or the research academics of BU. They are located on Huntington Avenue, out there with smaller schools, ones with niches and concentrations. The neighborhood surrounding campus is not exactly ideal: bordered by the poverty of Roxbury on one side, and the historically crime-infested Back Bay Fens on another.
They are even unique academically, with a five-year plan basically written into their graduation requirements, thanks to their co-op program. They are, much like BU, a research university, but they do not have nearly as large a reputation as the latter.
When it comes to athletic power, you can almost tell the same story about Huskies athletics as you can for the school as a whole. They are the ugly red-headed stepsister of their conference, the Colonial Athletic Association, mainly because of NU’s location far away from the conference core in the Mid-Atlantic.
The only NCAA Division I championship the Huskies can lay claim to is in the hammer throw in 1975. A noble achievement yes, but lacking the same pizzazz as a championship in something such as, say, hockey.
On the subject of hockey, their program has long been regarded as the weakest link among the four major Boston teams. In the five-decade existence of the Beanpot, Northeastern has only spent one decade being consistently competitive, the 1980’s. Most seasons, they make an early exit from playing meaningful games sometime in late November or early December.
Their coach Greg Cronin has only gotten close to the national spotlight once, when he was an assistant with University of Maine in the late 1980s and early 90s. Cronin was the interim head coach during the 1995-96 campaign, leading the Black Bears to the Hockey East championship game before losing to Providence College. Since joining Northeastern in 2005, Cronin has posted a record of 73-88-21. With the exception of the 2008-09 season, every team he has coached at NU has finished below .500.
This weekend, Northeastern will come to BU, and BU will go to Northeastern, for a home-and-home series to close out the season. Given the history of Northeastern, and their poor play at the start of the season, Terrier fans should be getting a free pass to two conference wins, four points and second place in Hockey East.
Newsflash: that’s wrong.
See, the funny thing about Northeastern is, they’ve come back from the dead. Since the start of 2011, the Huskies have posted a record of 8-4-4 in 16 games. Their most impressive work came in a week-long turnaround against BC in the middle of February.
The week started out with Northeastern dropping a heartbreaker, a 7-6 overtime loss in the Beanpot championship. Then on Friday, Cronin and his main assistant, Albie O’Connell were suspended indefinitely by the school for improper recruiting, specifically illegal phone calls and text messages with potential recruits.
But that weekend, NU played BC again, a home-and-home series that began on Friday night in Chestnut Hill. Northeastern hung on for a 7-7 tie that night, decent payback for that sad loss. The next night, the Huskies pulled a shocker, beating the Eagles 2-1 in front of the home crowd at Matthews Arena.
Even though they only had one win in those three games, Northeastern tied BC 15-15 in total goals. Let me repeat that: Northeastern, the sixth best team in the conference, on a turnaround from a horrid start, scored at an even rate with the then-No. 1 team in the entire country.
Wow.
With Northeastern and BU facing off this weekend, there is no reason to think the Huskies can’t perform the unpredictable again. Given that the Terriers aren’t playing at BC’s level this year, losing or tying one of the contests seems bound to happen, a threat that just a few months ago seemed highly unlikely.
While we may want to write off Northeastern as an opponent not worth of a member of the Dog Pound’s time, the reality is they are. When the Terriers cross over to Matthews Friday night, and the Huskies come into Agganis Arena Saturday night, there is a good chance the team with the better record could drop a game. A shocker? Historically, yes. Currently, no.
Update: This column has been edited to reflect the correct scores of stated games and records of stated teams.
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Last time I checked Northeastern had multiple National Championships in Mens Rowing, had a better Men’s Basketball team than bu, had a higher average SAT score, and most importantly the last time both teams went to the NCAAs was the same year. And you won’t be making it this year either.
The NU basketball team moved out of America Least b/c they were not challenged in it (that’s the conference your team plays in, in case bu students are unaware). The CAA is currently a 2-3 team lock for the NCAA tournament( with 8 and 12 seeds). The winner of the AE tournament will get a 16 seed, maybe 15.
As for the NU campus, it’s a beautiful closed campus. Unlike the neighbors on Comm Ave who are stretched over a 3 mile road and offer students the beautiful “bu beach” which is a lawn which overlooks storrow drive.
Every year I think the NU paper is bad, until we play bu. Then I am forced to read papers like this and wonder how any editor possibly thought this was a properly written story and not an editorial of a student who was unable to get into NUs journalism school.
The Freep should stick to what it reports best, Quidditch.
The NU basketball team moved out of America Least b/c they were not challenged in it (that’s the conference your team plays in, in case bu students are unaware). The CAA is currently a 2-3 team lock for the NCAA tournament( with 8 and 12 seeds). The winner of the AE tournament will get a 16 seed, maybe 15.
As for the NU campus, it’s a beautiful closed campus. Unlike the neighbors on Comm Ave who are stretched over a 3 mile road and offer students the beautiful “bu beach” which is a lawn which overlooks storrow drive.
This is journalism? Wow. The Free Press sinks to an even lower level. Complete garbage.
NU didn’t crush the #2 team in the nation 5-2, they beat the #1 team in the nation 2-1.
you’re a joke, Shep
Don’t forget than NEU is the most applied to private university in the country, and at about 2/3 the size of BU that makes it much harder to get into. Now add in the fact that it is the best school in the country for caree services and internships and this red headed step sister looks a little bit like Amy Adams.
Go upstairs, put on some lotion! Right now!
Fact check, NU beat BC 2-1 at Matthews last weekend…How did you miss that? Clearly it wasnt because you were working on your look…typical poor excuse for journalism
Really? Too lazy to check correct scores? NU tied BC 7-7 and beat BC 2-1. BC were #1 at the time. These are just some of the errors that I’m not gonna go through to correct.
P.S. NU is the most applied to private university in the country. I’m pretty sure NU is a little more desired than the “research academics of BU”.
Except for the part where NU and BC tied at Conte, 7-7 and the part where Northeastern won 2-1 the next night at Matthews and the part where BC was the number one team in the country.
And the part where BU didn’t deserve two points from their embarrassing 5-4 win in December. And the part where Northeastern beat Merrimack at Lawler – a feat only accomplished by Lowell this season.
And definitely the part where an ECAC team is regarded as less of a weak link than the Huskies. And the part where Cronin has done a magical job recruiting top-flight talent while standing in the shadows of Parker and York.
And the part where, while BU was on a 4-7-2 slide after being unjustly anointed national Number One, Northeastern went 6-3-3, and didn’t lose to any teams that currently sit in the bottom-third of the most embarrassing conference in college hockey. And they certainly didn’t lose to them by five goals.
And the part where NU had the third-most freshman applicants of any school in the nation this year. And the part where they’ve worked in unison with the Colleges of the Fenway to improve the Roxbury and Fenway area.
Maybe you should take a note from your own writing and – you know – do some research.
But other than that, quality journalism.
NU beat BC by one goal in the 3rd game and the aggregate score of the 3 games was even with BC’s 1 goal win in the Beanpot, the 7-7 tie, and the 1 goal NU win over BC at Matthews.
Where does the DFP find these people to write for them and why do they publish their garbage? Let this kid start his own blog and let someone more intelligent write for the paper, ok?
I don’t know where you get off insulting the university as a whole. So we don’t have your bullshit ivy towers or years of spectacular athletic tradition. What we do have is a driven, connected, unique student body unlike one you’ll get anywhere else. You want to go ahead and insult our five-year plan and co-op program, go ahead. What you’ve neglected to look at is the fact that we have the number one career services office in terms of job placement in the United States. While you’re in class discussing the theories of Aristotle and reveling in your glory about how great BU is, we’re out making major bank on co-op and networking with people who have already made it to get our careers started right out of college. Oh, and did you forget that we received the most applications out of any Boston school for the fall’s incoming freshman class? So easy to dismiss, I know.
Can I also point out that the Northeastern University Powerlifting team is one of the best in the country and has national record holders on the team.
You have the scores for the BC/NU series incorrect in the two games following the Beanpot. The games were 7-7 and 2-1 at BC and NU, respectively. Should probably do a better job at checking facts.
The scores in the column have been corrected. Thanks for your comments, readers!
jcain, let’s not stop with just the scores…NU is 8-4-4 since the start of 2011…NU and BC tied 15-15 in goals that weekend…BC was No. 1 at the time of the series…Greg Cronin was not an assistant coach at Maine in the late 1980s…and Providence did not win the 1996 national championship…but God forbid the newspaper spend any time editing or fact checking.
I’m trying to remember, how did BU do in the Beanpot this year? Oh, yea, BU finished last. BU also hasn’t been able to pull out a win against BC or Merrimack this year, Northeastern has accomplished both.
And maybe you shouldn’t be thanking us for the comments. Especially considering that not one has been positive or supportive. Basically, your a horrible journalist who doesn’t do enough research.
The column has been updated! Thanks again, readers!
This is just plain bad. There is no need to insult Northeastern. Let alone the mass amount of errors. The Colonial is a better conference than America East, but NU fans you can thank George Mason, VCU, and Old Dominion for that.
The Freep’s columnists are worse than the starting lineup for UMBC.
First off, this article sucks. Northeastern is not like BU. We are a completely different school.
Second, you can graduate in four years at Northeastern and still be able to participate in co-op. Most students have the tendency to do five years because we still pay four years worth of tuition.
In addition, Northeastern received the most applications for a private university in the United States this year, which means our reputation is definitely growing and our 38% acceptance rate is declining.
Also, I am not sure what the surrounding neighborhood has to do with sports, but so far nothing has happen to me nor any my friends so far.
Lastly, NUs combined SAT/ACT score: 1820 – 2070 / 28-31, BUs: 1770 – 2050 / 26-30. just saying.
Sorry Shep – you’re an idiot. While I would never insult BU because it is in fact an exceptional institution, try not to forget the fact that Northeastern now receives more applications than BU and more than any private school in the country for that matter. And let’s not even get started on the Fenway and NU’s campus which is often recognized as when of the best urban campuses in the world.
The fact that NU students measure (/feel the need to defend their) intelligence by SAT scores and mistakes what is clearly an opinion piece for a factual story says enough.
I’m jealous of that power lifting team though. damnit.
I lawled
Well I am a BU Alum and I went to the BU_NU game last night. Sadly NU won. This article seems silly. 10 years ago it may have made sense that NU was the step sister but now I’m pretty sure NU has come to the same level or even passed BU in many areas. I know at my company most of the new hires are NU alums. Also are we really fighting over the name of the school? My Boss went to a community college and now pulls in 6-figures. I went to BU and am no where near that. It does not matter!
I didn’t see the Shep Hayes follow-up column on how Northeastern took it to Boston University in the playoffs…weird.
All Rainier paving planned under our Arterial Major Maintenance (AMM) program has been completed for this year.