By Jonathan Raymond
On Sept. 25, Hockey East released its annual preseason coaches’ poll, ranking the men’s hockey team seventh.
With roughly two months of play now under its belt, the team has put to rest the notion that they are an inferior team.
Northeastern owns first place in Hockey East, with a 6-3-1 conference record (6-4-1 overall) that includes wins on the road over New Hampshire (twice) and Boston College.
The team is ranked 16th in the nation by the USCHO/CSTV.com Division 1 Men’s Hockey Poll. They are rank 12th in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
They came into the season with high expectations and have, so far, been able to meet them all.
“You’re never satisfied,” said head coach Greg Cronin. “But obviously we’re happy with our standing right now, first in Hockey East.”
One of the most important factors in Northeastern’s early success has been the maturation of sophomore goaltender Brad Thiessen. Since a rough night against UNH Nov. 2, he’s allowed more than two goals just once in six games, a period during which the Huskies have gone 5-0-1.
“A great measure of his durability and maturity and toughness is in the UNH series. He got pulled and we lost 7-4,” Cronin said in a teleconference Monday. “He has been good ever since. In hockey everything runs through the goaltender. It’s like the pitcher in baseball and the quarterback in football.”
Also important has been the play of Cronin’s freshmen.
Freshman forwards Wade MacLeod and Tyler McNeely are second with eight points and tied for third on the team with seven, respectively. Forward Steve Silva completed both goals in a win over UMass-Lowell Nov. 17.
Defensemen Drew Muench, Dan Nycholat and Mike Hewkin have made key contributions as well.
“The whole staff has done a great job recruiting these guys,” said junior captain Joe Vitale. “They’ve played so well, it’s almost like they’re juniors and seniors. They’re already very experienced, and they’re hard workers.”
Vitale has done a lot to help the team take a step forward. He leads the team with 13 points so far , compared with the 16 he had during all of last year. Other experienced players like sophomore defenseman Jim Driscoll, who has played in all 11 games with a +3 plus/minus rating, have helped lead the Huskies.
Junior forward Ryan Ginand and sophomore forwards Chad Costello and Randy Guzior have added seven points. Cronin said this older group is key to the team’s fortunes for the rest of this season.
“I thought it’d be important to get good play out of that core group,” he said in an interview with the News. “I think they can do better. They’re really the group that’s going to drive us to be an excellent team.”
The Huskies will play four games in the next month and return to an all-Hockey East schedule starting Jan. 4 against Maine. The second half will give them an opportunity to build on their conference lead and achieve their pre-season goal of gaining home-ice advantage in the Hockey East playoffs.
Looking ahead, the Huskies have a chance to compete in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994.
“We have a lot to prove here,” Vitale said. “We’ve had a little success and that’s great, but we –still have a lot to work on. We don’t look that far ahead at all, you could miss some key victories along the way.”
