By Nate Owen
Much of the men’s hockey team’s season up to this point has been filled with lines – a trend that has seen lines of fans waiting to get into Matthews Arena and lines of teams behind the Huskies in both the Hockey East standings and national polls.
On Monday, the Athletics Department took a step to address one of these lines, announcing a new system in which students can pick up their tickets ahead of time.
Students can use their Husky Card to get tickets at the Blackman Auditorium ticket office starting Wednesday from noon to 6 p.m. Students can also pick up tickets noon to 6 p.m. on Thursday and noon to 3 p.m. on Friday. Students will still be able to get tickets at Matthews Arena starting 90 minutes before game time. Anyone who gets a ticket ahead of time can enter the arena through the red door at the zamboni entrance.
And the line of teams behind the Huskies in the national polls?
Well, that grew a little longer on Monday, as the Huskies inched their way to the No. 3 spot in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I Men’s Hockey Poll, up from fourth last week. It is the highest ranking for Northeastern in the USCHO poll, which was established in 1996, and the highest ranking for the Huskies in any poll since the team reached the top spot in the former Hockey Magazine-ESPN Poll on January 13, 1981.
‘ It’s not posted in the locker room,’ head coach Greg Cronin said of the poll. ‘ But in today’s technological era the guys hear about it. I’m [more worried] about where we are at the end of the year in March. It’s a long season. We’ve been blessed to to have good luck and good success early,’ he said.
With a home-and-home sweep of Merrimack (5-11-3, 2-9-2 Hockey East) last weekend, the Huskies pushed their record to 14-4-2, with a 10-2-1 mark in Hockey East play. The team’s success has seen a rise in attendance, as the Huskies are averaging 4,537 fans at home games thus far. More than half of those are students, said Sports Information Director Jon Litchfield.
By comparison, 2005-06, Cronin’s first season at Northeastern, saw an average of 2,850 fans at Matthews, despite 5,402 in attendance for Cronin’s first ever home game, a 1-1 tie against then-No. 6 Boston College on Oct. 22, 2005.
‘The crowd was awesome,’ Cronin told GoNU after the game. ‘ Talk about an arena that’s great with a crowd, this building is a special place. We saw tonight what kind of potential we have here.’
That potential has become a reality this season.
‘People who don’t know anything about hockey come to the building to see a hockey game and it gets contagious,’ Cronin said. ‘Before you know it, it becomes the thing to do on campus. It’s a magnetic pull, kids know they can socialize, it’s a terrific opportunity to generate school spirit. We haven’t had much of that in the history of this school.’
He said part of the reason for increased interest is increased awareness, which wasn’t nearly as visible as it should have been when he first started.
‘The credit goes to the people in the Athletics Department [Assistant Director of Development] Mark Harris, [Athletics Director] Peter Roby, [Marketing and Promotions Coordinator] Chris Marshall, and [Vice President for Student Affairs] Ed Klotzbier. From a school spirit perspective, [it’s great] that they’re setting up this system so the kids don’t have to freeze their butts off outside.’
A week of new developments for the team also saw the repeat of an old story. Junior goaltender Brad Thiessen was named Hockey East Pure Hockey Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season after stopping 61-of-63 shots this weekend against the Warriors. Hockey East has already recognized Theissen as Goalie of the Month for November, Player of the Month for October and Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 20. He was also named to the all-tournament teams for both the Kendall Hockey Classic and the Dodge Holiday Classic.
‘ He’s just a talented goalie, and more importantly, he’s a poised kid,’ Cronin said. ‘He’s very consistent, very humble. We have a good hockey team and a great goalie, so the two of them merge into a great hockey team,’ he said.
Thiessen has started every game this season for the Huskies and ranks among the Division I national leaders in save percentage (.940, T-4th), goals-against-average (1.88, 9th) and minutes played (1,213.06, 10th).
He and the Huskies will face one of their toughest tests of the season when the No. 8 Vermont Catamounts (12-4-3, 7-3-2 Hockey East) come to Matthews for two games this weekend.
‘Vermont is going to be the best team we play this year,’ Cronin said. ‘ BU played us really well, and BC was the number one team in the country when we played them, but [Vermont] is the best team at this time of year. They’ve got a great balance from their big, strong defenseman to their strong forwards, and their little waterbug forwards. It’s going to be a good measure of where we stand against the elite of Hockey East.’
Both Friday and Saturday games start at 7 p.m.
