By Matt Foster

After playing for the Canadian National team for 11 years, where she won a silver medal in the 1998 Nagano Olympics, Northeastern women’s hockey coach Laura Schuler has seen the best the sport has to offer.

“Playing for the national team was a huge honor, the thrill of a lifetime,” Schuler said.

While the current Husky squad may be a few ice sessions short of Olympian status (the team has a record of 4-15-1), one Husky great has packed her bags for the 20th Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

Former Husky goalie Chanda Gunn earned a starting spot on the US squad with a commitment to hockey and a compassion Husky players still hold in high esteem.

“She always puts her teammates ahead of her. Every game she would save us,” said junior forward Crystal Rochon, who played her freshman year with Gunn.

Gunn’s NU career includes All-American honors in 2002 and 2004, as well as a nomination for the Patty Kazmeier award, an honor given to the top player in women’s college hockey. During her four years, she collected 38 wins and earned 11 shutouts while posting a .937 save percentage and a 1.92 goals against average.

Despite this monopolizing of the net, Gunn performed her best deeds outside of the pipes. In 2004 she earned the Hockey Humanitarian Award, given to college hockey’s finest citizen, for her work with an inner-city youth hockey league.

“We were extremely proud of her,” said Chanda’s mother, Penny Gunn. “Chanda will do anything for anyone at any time.”

“A group of friends and I took a group of kids who would watch our games,” Chanda Gunn said. “We took about 17 kids aged 5 through 11, got them donated gear and ice time and taught them how to skate and do drills. We did this for about two years.”

While at home in Huntington Beach, Calif., Chanda spends her time coaching youths at her family owned skate rink.

“She coaches a lot of kids in California; however, they don’t understand the level of D-1 play,” Penny Gunn said. “Northeastern played a game here against Wisconsin, and the kids were able to watch. That was the best game I’ve ever seen her play, and that’s when I realized my daughter was extremely talented in goal.”

However, her career has been shadowed by her battle with epilepsy since she was diagnosed at the age of 9.

“She was a great swimmer before she played hockey, but had to give it up when she was diagnosed and began suffering from seizures,” Penny Gunn said. “We had an incredible doctor whose daughter played hockey at Princeton. He had a photo of her on his wall and Chanda pointed it out. That’s when little ideas were going through her head.”

“Epilepsy can be very successfully managed and leave some people with the ability to do great things, like Chanda Gunn,” Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences James Stellar said. “Others can be very disabled despite our arsenal of medicines. This is a very serious disease and deserves our best attention.”

While epilepsy can inhibit the daily lives of those diagnosed, disrupting the normal neurological function of the body through unprovoked and recurrent seizures it has never interfered with Chanda’s unmatched dedication and compassion to hockey.

“She’s a determined person, she knows what she’s going to do,” Penny Gunn said. “When she sets her signals, she goes for it. She has more energy than any five people I’ve met. That’s just my daughter.”

After suffering several epileptic seizures, Gunn was forced to medically withdraw from the University of Wisconsin in 1999, where she was played hockey as a freshman.

The former backstop was at a point where many would count their blessings and remove themselves from the world of sports. However, Chanda was determined to play again.

“She was committed to playing hockey and reassured. She made her own choice to go to Northeastern,” Penny Gunn said. “She had a great time there. The people were fabulous to her.”

“It was a huge steppingstone for me,” Chanda said on her time as a Husky. “At Northeastern I matured as a player, as a person and as a teammate. I was taught what it means to be a leader, to give back and work hard. I would definitely not be here today if it wasn’t for Northeastern.”

Senior goalie Marisa Hourihan, who replaced Gunn between the pipes, remembers playing under the former Husky great. Hourihan holds a few records of her own, topping Gunn’s record of 53 saves in a game with her 57-save performance on Jan. 25, 2005.

“She lives hockey, and she’s a great inspiration,” Hourihan said. “She always goes hard. She would always do her job.”

Hourihan was witness to a majority of Gunn’s time at Northeastern, the dominant play on-ice, her humanitarian efforts and her battle off the ice with epilepsy.

“She’s shy of her epilepsy, she keeps it among her close friends. She would close her eyes when an ambulance would drive by, but I’ll always remember how she was really excited when she got her driver’s license. It had taken some time because of the epilepsy,” said Hourihan.

“The epilepsy doesn’t affect me on ice,” Chanda said. “I just pay attention to the small details, such as getting sick, eating well and taking medicine.”

While epilepsy is a fact of her life, friends and family contend it is overcome by a desire and compassion for hockey and life. When she takes the ice, it is not Gunn who is suffering, rather it is the players of the opposing team who watch her muffle their shots.

And that will soon include Gunn’s opponents in Torino, Italy a month from now.