By Jill Saftel, News Staff
When Jim Madigan talks about his players’ emotions surrounding the Beanpot Tournament, he doesn’t have to try very hard to put himself in their skates; he’s been there. The Northeastern men’s hockey head coach knows exactly what it feels like to skate onto the Garden ice for the first time, to hear the roaring student sections and understand the magnitude of the first two Mondays of February in Boston.
“The first time you step on the Boston Garden ice and see all the people there – and it was the same ice that Bobby Orr played on and the same building as the big bad Bruins – it was like ‘wow,’” Madigan said. “The emotions just run right through you early on and you’ve got to settle into the game quickly, but you realize the importance when you see the four school bands there and you know there are students there rooting for you and the building is jam packed. It’s the biggest atmosphere you’ve played in at that point when you’re a freshman.”
Madigan wore a Northeastern hockey sweater during the golden age of Husky hockey. His freshman Beanpot was in 1981, a year after Wayne Turner banged one home in overtime against Boston University (BU) in the 1980 Beanpot to bring the hardware to Huntington Avenue for the first time in the tournament’s history.
While Madigan has experienced the pre-Beanpot hype, there’s one thing he’s experienced that his Northeastern team has not, and that’s a Beanpot title win. He was on the ‘84 and ‘85 teams that won the tournament, both times over BU, with 5-2 and 4-2 victories.
His tenure as an athlete ended in 1985, but Madigan served as an assistant coach for the Huskies from 1986 to 1993 before returning to Northeastern as head coach in the 2011-12 season.
The Beanpot title hopes in 2012, Madigan’s first year as head coach, ended in the first round in a 7-1 rout at the hands of the Boston College (BC) Eagles. But the first Monday in February of 2013 brought a different ending for the Huskies, and thanks to a hat trick from rookie forward Kevin Roy and 32 saves from veteran goaltender Chris Rawlings, they are headed to the Beanpot final against BC on Monday.
The Huskies sat last in the Hockey East standings heading into the tournament, while the Terriers were fourth in the conference and No. 13 nationally, but Madigan said it’s all about will when it comes to this tournament, something he learned during his days in black and red.
“You try and draw on the experiences because it’s a two-game tournament, draw on the experiences from when I played and when I coached in it as an assistant to realize that it doesn’t matter your record coming into this tournament,” he said. “Certainly, you want to be playing well coming in, that’s the most important thing, but whatever your record is, your record is.
“It’s about who can get up the most, who wants it the most, who emotionally can raise their level for that first Monday in February and winning the Beanpot means you have to win the first night to give yourself that chance.”
While the team preps for the two Monday night games the way they would for any other matchup, the Huskies got a pep talk before their win over BU from Turner, a friend of Madigan’s who was in his fifth year at Northeastern when Madigan entered as a freshman. Northeastern’s Beanpot success began with Turner and the 1979-80 team. It took 28 years for the Huskies to get their first win and now that it’s been 25 years since their last – the timing was perfect.
Madigan said his idea to bring in Turner also stemmed from the fact that Turner’s team in 1980 was similar to where the Huskies are now – they’ve played well but without getting the wins or results they wanted.
“He talked about some key qualities to our kids, about selflessness, about sacrifice and about gratitude,” Madigan said. “It really brought them together and the players received it really well. We don’t have the history in the Beanpot that maybe our competitors do, but we do still have a history and it’s nice to go back to that history.”
With the first win under their belts, the coach said the hardest part for the Huskies is now focusing their energy, with a road trip to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst for their Friday night matchup while Monday’s Beanpot final is looming.
The short turnaround gives the team just two days between the return to Hockey East play and a second trip to the Garden, but again, Madigan’s experience comes into play.
“The biggest thing you learn is how to manage after you win the first night, and preparing for the second night knowing you have a league game in between,” he said. “That’s where I can draw on my experiences both as a player and as a coach to compartmentalize and put one aside.”
The odd scheduling just means Madigan and his staff have to find different ways to motivate the team in those two to three days, something the coach said isn’t difficult considering his players are already excited for the event; it’s just a matter of controlling those emotions.
But all the same, Madigan remembers what it’s like to fly high at the Garden.
“You step on that ice and you’re five feet up in the air,” he said. “Your feet aren’t even touching the ice.”
