After the Boston University men’s hockey team’s 3-1 loss to No. 3 Providence College on Saturday, BU coach David Quinn was less than pleased. Poorly timed penalties again did his team in, as BU missed a chance to sweep a home-and-home series against one of the top-ranked squads in the country, and the No. 18 Terriers remained winless on the road.
But about a minute and half later, Quinn had more important business to tend to.
He walked through the bowels of the Friars’ home rink and up a small set of metal stairs to hug four children, each clamoring for his attention. Quinn’s smile was as wide as it was the day he was named BU’s head coach.
Quinn’s four cousins — all 11 years old or younger — were part of a contingent 16 people strong who came to see him at Schneider Arena. Quinn, a Cranston, R.I. native, grew up 10 minutes from Schneider, where he also played plenty in his youth.
Saturday was his first time there since being named BU’s head coach in March.
“I have a lot of memories and a lot of great memories there,” Quinn said prior to the weekend series. “It will be special. It will be pretty cool to go down there and play against the Friars and be the head coach of BU. That will be pretty neat.”
Among those in attendance were Quinn’s younger brother, Brian, and younger sister, Suzy, who spent countless hours in the Schneider Arena seats with their parents, Janice and William.
It was Suzy’s first time at Providence’s arena since Quinn was there as a BU assistant coach in 2009. Brian had not been back in more than a quarter-century — since Quinn’s teenage years.
“It’s awesome,” Janice said. “It’s like he came full circle.”
Count Quinn’s mother, Janice, was among those happy to see her oldest son back where it all started. She lives so close to Providence College that she compared it to driving down Commonwealth Avenue.
“After all of the traveling and all of the coaching and all of the places he’s been — and we always love going — it’s really nice to come here. I’m going to be home in 10 minutes,” said a smiling Janice, who attends most BU home games. “All of the family can come.
“As he’s always said, [being BU’s coach was] his dream. And it was our dream ever since he came to BU.”
Janice said she brought Quinn to Schneider for everything from early morning practices to weekend games to summer programs for as long as she can remember. She was in the process of explaining the time commitment — the very intense one, she noted — of youth hockey when she was interrupted.
“Bye, Mom,” Quinn said, leaning over for a requisite kiss on the cheek. “Take care of that back, will ya?”
And with that, he was off, gone to join his team on the bus to go back to Boston, while his family stuck around for a few more minutes to beam about the man they all came out to see.
Janice and Brian recalled one game in particular, a 1981 national championship game when a 15-year-old Quinn played for the Johnston Bantam All-Stars. New York Islanders coach Jack Capuano was also on that team. David Emma, a future Hobey Baker Award winner at Boston College who had a brief stint with the Bruins, played against them.
“[Quinn] was a defenseman — but he rushed the puck a lot,” Janice recalled. “We always used to see him when he got the puck, vroom, off he went.”
“He worked really, really hard to get where he is, and he deserves to be where he is,” Brian said. “I just wish my dad was here to see it.”
William, who passed away in 2010, was Quinn’s “biggest fan,” as Brian put it, and was instrumental in the family’s love of hockey. It was William who brought his sons to the 1978 Frozen Four at the then-Providence Civic Center, blocks from Providence College, when BU beat Boston College to come away with the national title that weekend, a turning point in a young Quinn’s fandom.
William was not there for Quinn’s return to the Schneider bench, but he was very much on the minds of the rest of the family.
“He’s here in spirit, I believe,” Brian said, later bringing the conversation back to his brother. “I’m just very proud.”
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