By Mike Trocchi

Two winning seasons in his nine years as Northeastern hockey coach probably made it necessary for the school to fire Bruce Crowder last week. However, we shouldn’t forget the community owes him a debt of gratitude for the goodwill and good feeling he brought to the program these last nine years.

During my four years covering the hockey team, from 1997 to 2001, Crowder boosted the average attendance at Matthews Arena from about 1,400 to 3,000 fans per game. (It dipped to about 2,400 this season.) With a larger on-campus population, he made hockey a rallying point for the student body on Friday and Saturday nights.

Crowder nurtured great students. From Marc Robitaille to Keni Gibson, from scrappers like Roger Holeczy and Billy Newson to flat-out talent like Jason Guerriero, Crowder’s time as coach was noted for allowing good players to thrive and marginal players to get all they could out of their time as students and athletes.

You also can’t overlook the fact that Northeastern hockey ranked No. 1 in Hockey East when the recent NCAA academic grading reports were released a few weeks ago.

The years from 1996 to 2005 in Northeastern hockey history will be remembered as a time when the Huskies made three Beanpot finals, had two 19-win seasons and sent numerous players on their way to the NHL.

More importantly, Bruce Crowder brought hope to NU hockey once again and created a solid fan and student base. The next coach will be better off for that.

– Mike Trocchi served as editor in chief of The Northeastern News in 2000-01 and covered the Northeastern hockey team for four seasons.