By Jared Shafran, News
This is the final article in the Huntington News male and female senior athlete spotlights, culminating with the male and female senior athletes of the year.
The men’s hockey team tied an all-time program record with 25 wins this season. The team was led in part by its senior captain, Joe Vitale, who was third on the team in scoring with 27 points.
Vitale finished 48th on the Huskies all-time scoring list with 34 goals and 60 assists for 94 points. This season, he was named New England’s Best Defensive Forward and Hockey East’s Best Defensive Forward.
Only the eighth player in Husky history to be captain for two years during his career, Vitale was a great leader that did all he could to inspire his team. He was also head coach Greg Cronin’s first recruit when he took over the Huskies.
‘Greg called me in the summertime and I came on an official visit. I had no intention of coming here and I didn’t know much about the school but I figured at worst I would get a free trip to Boston,’ Vitale said. ‘But he sold it to me so well, and I liked the idea of playing every night in Hockey East.’
So in came Vitale as a freshman, eager to play for Cronin’s team in a new era for Northeastern. But the first season was a struggle, and the team didn’t win much. In fact, the Huskies were only able to come up with three wins.
Vitale played in 31 games his freshman year, scoring eight goals and adding eight assists.
But every year the team made more progress and finally things started to turn around when Vitale was named captain his junior year.
‘We worked so hard and nothing ever came and all of a sudden, everything changed,’ Vitale said. ‘We started seeing results, we kept working hard, and it was great to see those results.’
In a season when the team went 16-18-3, Vitale scored 12 goals and assisted on 23 others, giving him the highest point total in all’ of his years at NU. The team was ranked as high as seventh in the national polls, and although they were not yet satisfied, it was definitely a step in the right direction.
Finally, in his senior season, those results really started to show for Vitale.
In the team’s home opener against then- No. 1 and defending national champions Boston College, Vitale scored two goals to lead the Huskies to victory in front of a sold-out crowd at Matthews Arena.
The highlight was when Vitale scored the game winner on a shorthanded breakaway, beating BC goalie John Muse.
As the team started to get more attention, Vitale was always level headed in the locker room, making sure everyone kept their eyes on the goal ahead of them.
‘We just trusted Greg, we knew his background and his history of turning programs around,’ Vitale said. ‘Coming from the pros, it was only a matter of time.’
Although not all of what they set out to accomplish was taken care of, there were plenty of fond memories this season for Vitale, including winning a home playoff series and making the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994.
‘My top memory was my final game at home versus UMass Amherst in the Hockey East quarterfinals,’ Vitale said. ‘It was my last night playing in Matthews Arena and the fans were great as they had been all year. As we skated off, I gave the DogHouse a thumbs up.’
After the season ended, Vitale started to focus on his professional career. Before coming to Northeastern, he was drafted in the seventh round of the NHL entry draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins and with his collegiate career now over, it was time for Vitale to focus on getting a contract signed.
‘Right after we lost, my agent started negotiating,’ Vitale said. ‘A couple days later, I was flying to join the AHL team in Wilkes-Barre.’
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are the Pittsburgh Penguins minor league affiliate. Since signing with them, Vitale has played in five games, registering two goals and two assists.
‘You work hard your whole life for this opportunity,’ Vitale said. ‘[The signing] was a special moment for me and my family.’
Now that Vitale has a new team, he talked about some things he would miss from NU.
‘The school itself, the locker room which was such a sacred place for the guys, stories, sharing laughs, and picking each other up after a tough loss,’ Vitale said. ‘We had a great group of guys.’
