Welcome Husky fans to the first installment of “Warm Up The Bus,” a new column from your friends at WRBB Sports. In our capacity as the student radio broadcasters, we see every game played by the men’s hockey and basketball teams. We hope to bring the Northeastern community a unique look at the teams beyond the box scores, from our perspective on the bus, in the locker room and from the press box.
For our inaugural piece, we want to delve into the hockey team and the change in attitude and atmosphere at Matthews Arena. For those of you who have been asleep since October, or missed the games during break, the team is ranked No. 9 in the country after winning the Badger showdown in Wisconsin. The 7-3 demolition of Maine in Orno last weekend looks to improve that ranking when the polls come out today. This is a far cry from the team that just three years ago won only three games all season.
The Hounds have been helped to this high national ranking by their 11 game unbeaten streak (9-0-2) since Nov. 3, and some nerves of steel. During this run, the team won six games by a single goal and came from behind to win eight of the 11 games. So what has happened to the loveable losers image that has defined the team since the late 1980’s? What has changed?
“What has happened now is that we have learned to win close games,” said head coach Greg Cronin after the team’s win in Wisconsin Dec. 29. “And that’s what Hockey East is all about, one-goal games. I think the more you do it, like creatures of habit, we feel comfortable being poised and making the right plays in those situations.”
The word the team, and Cronin, use to describe this phenomenon is “believability.” Put simply, it means the team, like Han Solo, never wants to know the odds. In the first round of the Badger Shootout against Bowling Green University, the team went down 3-0 early in the second period before roaring back to control the final 35 minutes of play and win 4-3. After the game, the only people who weren’t surprised were the Northeastern players and coaches.
“We never got down about it. We believe that we can win games, and even after going down three goals no one hung their head. We just kept pushing,” said senior forward Jimmy Russo, who was instrumental in that game, scoring the Huskies’ second and game-tying third goal.
But for this team, the believability goes beyond just their ability to win games they fall behind in, but winning games in places and against teams that have traditionally been inhospitable to the black and red. One example is UNH’s Whittemore Center, where Northeastern has won twice this year. This marked the team’s first win against UNH since 2002 and first win at “the Whit” since 1998.
No one on the team had any idea the drought had been that long, just like they were unaware that their win at Boston College Nov. 23 was the first in Conte since the 2003-04 season. We would be willing to wager that they also have no idea that they are on pace to give Matthews Arena its first home playoff game since 1998 or that the team looks poised to capture its first winning record since 2001.
For them it is like Al Davis once said, “Just win baby.”
This new-look NU team is best summed up by the rock at the heart of it all: sophomore goaltender Brad Thiessen. When asked to explain why his team wins against such improbable odds, the stoic 21-year-old said, “We all believe in each other. We know what we have done, and what we accomplished, and we know what we can do, so we knew that if we came together we’d be able to pull it out. It’s a team unity thing.”
Throughout the season, catch all the action of the basketball and hockey teams on 104.9 FM WRBB, or on the web at wrbbradio.org. Tune in this week and listen to basketball Wednesday at 6:45 p.m. and Saturday at 1:45 p.m. and hockey Saturday at 6:45 p.m.
– Keith Lavon and Pete Martin can be reached
