By Anthony Gulizia, News Staff
Two years and four days ago, Northeastern’s stand-out goaltender Brad Thiessen signed a two-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins, cutting his collegiate career short to play professionally.
After posting a school record 25 wins in the 2008-09 season and guiding the Huskies to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 15 years, Thiessen suited up for the Pens’ minor-league affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Although he never played a game in that season, Thiessen was called up to practice with the NHL Penguins during the Stanley Cup Playoffs and was with the team when they won the title.
Now in his second year with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Thiessen is the centerfold of the American Hockey League’s (AHL) first-place Penguins and was honored with the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award, presented to the AHL’s most outstanding goaltender.
“It was a little surprising,” Thiessen told The News. “You never think about getting awards like that. It’s a nice surprise to see all the hard work paying off.”
With three games to play in the regular season, the Penguins hold the league’s best mark at 56-20-0-1, and Thiessen leads the team as favorites to win the Calder Cup.
Thiessen, who finished with a 52-46-12 record at NU, has the best record in the AHL with a franchise-best 34-7-1, and is second with a 1.93 goals against average.
“I’m trying to strive and be the best at the level I’m at,” Thiessen said. “That’s what I have to do in order to move up. I was able to have a good season my last year at Northeastern and move up to the American League level.”
Joe Vitale, who skated with Thiessen for three years at Northeastern and joined the Penguins the same year as his teammate, had nothing but praise for his longtime friend.
“You look at Brad’s career and he’s picked up right were he left off at NU,” Vitale told The News. “He’s had an unreal year, and it’s a true testament to his work ethic and dedication. He’s a fighter, and he did the same at NU. He kept the team in a position to win every year. I’m really proud of him.”
Vitale also talked about how special it is to continue playing at the next level with a college teammate.
“Its special when you can play pro together,” he said. “It’s been great, it’s pretty rare and it’s definitely been a special relationship between myself and Brad. I signed [with Pittsburgh] after my senior year and he signed right after [as a junior] and I got excited. I tried to put a good word in, but he didn’t need much.”
After Thiessen was called up to the big show in ’09 and once last season, he was called up again March 24, but was sent back to the AHL after five days. While seven skaters from the team have been called up and have had success, Thiessen is yet to record time at the NHL level.
But when MVP candidate Marc-Andre Fleury stands in the way of a starting spot, ice time is hard to come by. Nonetheless, the Aldergrove, B.C. native said he uses Fleury as a mentor.
“It was a good learning experience to be there with Marc-Andre Fleury,” Thiessen said. “He’s been the best goaltender in the league. Some day, I’d like to get my chance, whether its with [the Penguins] or with someone else. For a goalie, sometimes it’s easy to get caught up when you’ll get your chance, but you can’t lose focus.”
On the other hand, Vitale was called up Feb. 9 and skated nine games for the NHL Penguins, scoring a goal and an assist before being sent back down after a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs Feb. 26. At the minor league level, Vitale has scored nine goals and recorded 20 assists.
“The ultimate goal is to play in the NHL,” Vitale said. “We both have been playing well, and the timing is everything. All the timing has to connect and it will happen [for Brad]. For my situation, I played awful hockey for a year and a half and then played well and they called me up. And the timing will be right for Brad. The best advice someone told me is keep playing hard and do the best you can and your day will come.”
Thiessen, who played in his first AHL All-star game this season for the East, can focus on bringing a title to his AHL squad.
The Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award is one of many in Thiessen’s trophy case. In his rookie season at NU, he was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie team.
In his junior year (2008-09), Thiessen was also a Hockey East first team all-star, NCAA All-American first team in, Hockey East player of the year and a finalist for the Hobey Baker award.
Thiessen attributed a lot of success to NU head coach Greg Cronin.
“In a lot of our practices, how he ran the team was similar to professional hockey,” Thiessen said. “He was a big help for me and being the go-to guy, I was able to play every night and that was helpful to me.”
Yesterday, USA Hockey announced that Cronin will serve as an assistant coach of the U.S Men’s National team, which will compete in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Men’s Championship April 29 to May 15 in Kosice and Bratislava, Slovakia.
“[Cronin] was tough on me, but made me do things I needed to do to get to next level,” Vitale said. “He works hard and puts in the hours of dedication. He’s the real deal.”
Thiessen added, “This is great for him and it’s a good opportunity. He’s a great coach, and he deserves the chance.”
