The suspensions, which were indefinite as of February 18, were resulting from a NCAA recruiting violation that the program committed which was related to excessive telephone and text messaging with prospective student-athletes.

“We are continuing to do what we think is best and appropriate by ending the suspensions,” Roby said in a press release. “We have a set of standards and accountability under which we are working. We took immediate and appropriate action when the violations were discovered. That response reflects our values and expectations.”

WRBB Sports spoke with both Roby and Cronin before the coaches resumed team duties at practice.

The two coaches missed a total of six games against the top three teams in the Hockey East. During that time, under the leadership of assistant coach Sebastien Laplante, the Huskies went 2-2-2.

“Sebastien did a fantastic job to coach the team through that gauntlet,” Cronin said. “I’m thrilled to be back, and I know Albie is too.”

Laplante, despite leading the team through a time of adversity, is not off the hook either. The university announced that he will serve a suspension equal in length to that of Cronin and O’Connell in the fall of 2011.

“It’s an issue of fairness and consistency,” Roby said. “We had a situation where all of our staff have been engaged in some violation of NCAA rules. We want to send the message that despite the fact that we’re really appreciative of the leadership that Sebastien has shown at a difficult time, we have to be consistent with accountability.”

Roby said the violations resulted from the combination of texting, which is not allowed, and phone calls, which were either above the allotted amount or before the dates that are allowed by the NCAA.

The athletic director also said that if the violations were inadvertent and small occurrences, that they wouldn’t rise to the level of a ‘major’ violation, but when the department started to put them together, they realized they might be dealing with something more serious.

“You start to add them up as we’ve done in this case, it’s hard to rationalize or expect that it will be seen as a minor violation,” Roby said. “We’re proceeding with the expectation and the understanding that it will potentially rise to a major violation status. As a result, the self-imposed sanctions that we will need to implement and recommend to the NCAA will be reflective of that expectation — that these are more major than minor.”

The university plans on providing a complete report of the findings of its internal investigation to the NCAA. Once passed on to the NCAA, depending on how they view the violations, there could be more sanctions coming.

“I hope it’s not a loss of scholarship,” Cronin said of the possible future punishment. “That’s up to the NCAA. I don’t know what they’re going to do.”

The good news for the hockey program is that everyone’s job seems to be safe.

“We don’t anticipate anyone losing their jobs over this,” Roby said. “That’s why we felt the timing [of the suspension] was appropriate and that there was enough accountability on their part (having been suspended for six games) that we could end the suspension now and reinstate them.”

The Huskies have qualified for the Hockey East playoffs and will start a best of three quarterfinal series with Boston University this Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Agganis Arena.