By: Ryan Cloutier, News Staff
Unless you spend a great deal of your time under a rock, you know by now that our former men’s hockey head coach Greg Cronin took a job as an assistant coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Behind him, he leaves a Huskies team that improved vastly under his tenure, garnering one of the best recruiting profiles in Hockey East (something his departure may put in jeopardy), and many loyal fans saddened by his sudden departure.
Every year since he started at NU, Cronin attracted a higher and higher caliber of talent, culminating in upcoming standouts like forward John Gaudreau, a Northeastern commit who took the United States Hockey League (USHL) Rookie of the Year this season and was second in the USHL in goals scored.
I would be ecstatic for him; however, he betrayed a great deal of trust and admiration the fans here gave to him.
The fans supported him through a six-game suspension with a “Free Cronin” sign and chants to similar effect. He sought to spit in our faces by going to coach the Maple Leafs, a team which has not won a Stanley Cup in almost half a century. I disagreed with a ton of = calls Cronin has made, but I have always championed his merits as a coach and cheered for him every step of the way. The timing of his departure makes finding even an adequate replacement all the more difficult.
Although you can dislike Cronin’s style all you want, I cannot deny the positive effect he has had on the program. He led the team to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1994, has seen 11 players drafted or signed to NHL teams, and he come within inches of winning the Beanpot, something Northeastern has not done in almost 30 years. He also registered 71 wins in the last four years, which is the most over any four-year stretch in the program’s history.
However, maybe it is time for Cronin to go the way of Mary Poppins – there’s nothing more he can do here. Over his six years behind our bench, he’s accumulated a record of 84-104-29. Those aren’t exactly stellar statistics, and he’s yet to capture either a Hockey East Championship nor a Beanpot. Perhaps he has simply reached the limit of what he can accompish.
There is always a positive aspect to such situations and, for us, that comes in the form of Cronin’s interim replacement, former assistant Sebastien Laplante.
Laplante is a 1995 graduate of Northeastern with a degree in physical therapy, a former Huskies hockey player and Northeastern MVP. He served as head coach in Cronin’s stead while Cronin served a six-game suspension for recruiting violations, which began Feb. 18.
Under Laplante’s leadership, the team posted a 2-2-2 record with two of the most important wins of the season, one against then-No.1 in the country Boston College and a defeat of Boston University at Agganis Arena.
Despite having to serve the same six-game suspension for recruiting at the beginning of next season, with two cross-town rival victories under his belt, the man deserves a full season to see what he can do. If he does well, especially against teams like Michigan and Notre Dame, there is no reason not to keep him.
