By Patrick McHugh

Forward Jimmy Russo, the lone senior moving on from the Huskies this season, signed as a free agent Saturday with the Anaheim Ducks of the NHL.

The 2007-08 assistant captain will play for the Ducks’ AHL affiliate, the Portland (Maine) Pirates.

Russo signed an amateur try-out agreement (ATO) with the Pirates, meaning he will play for the team, unpaid, on a try-out basis.

Should Russo make the club at the end of the duration of his agreement, he will become a paid member of the team and lose his amateur status.

As of press time, The News was unable to reach Russo concerning his agreement with the Ducks.

Hailing from South Weymouth, Russo had Northeastern in his sights for a long time.

“Being from the Boston area I always had an interest in Northeastern,” Russo said. “Coming out of prep school Northeastern offered me the best opportunity to play hockey and get a great education. I was excited to get the chance to come here.”

Russo arrived on Huntington Avenue with an impressive hockey resume already established. At Thayer Academy, a prep school in Braintree, Russo tallied 60 points in two seasons between 2000 and 2002. In the summer of 2002 he also earned a gold medal playing for the Team-USA Under-17 team that competed in Slovakia.

It did not take long for Russo to make his way into the Northeastern lineup. Russo had eight points as a freshman to lead all first-year players. He was also a member of the first line for the final eight games of the season.

The next year, as a sophomore, Russo led the team with 18 points after scoring five goals and picking up 13 assists. As a junior, Russo recorded his career high in minutes by skating in 33 games for the Huskies.

This past season he scored seven goals, one of which gave NU a memorable victory with 4.9 seconds remaining in overtime to defeat rival Boston College on the road. Russo finished his career with 20 goals and 33 assists for a total of 53 points in 124 career games for Northeastern.

It is worth noting how the hockey team has improved during the time Russo has been at the school. As a sophomore in 2005-06 the team won just three games and finished last in Hockey East. The next year the Huskies returned to the playoffs with a 10-win improvement from the previous season.

This season NU was a major competitor in the conference, moved up as high as seventh in the national rankings and won a playoff game for the first time since 2002. As the only senior on the team Russo was key to this turnaround, although he gives credit to everyone in the program for their hard work.

“It’s great to be part of a team that made such improvement recently and turned out to be a big surprise in the Hockey East,” Russo said. “This season we had a lot of young guys on the team and I just tried to help by settling everyone’s nerves. Screaming and yelling isn’t always the best thing to do so I just let the younger players know they had the skills to compete and shouldn’t worry about making mistakes. I think the leaders of this team like [Joe] Vitale, [Dennis] McCauley, and [Louis] Liotti helped to make this team successful.”

Russo also boasted a successful career prior to coming to Northeastern that included a 2002-03 season playing at Cushing Academy in Ashburnham. He was named Cushing’s Best Offensive Player thanks to his 28 goals and 27 assists.

In 2003-04 he returned to Thayer, where he was part of a team that won the Independent School League title that season. Russo earned some major accolades, earning team MVP as well as Independent School League MVP. He also earned New England Prep School first team honors along with an All-Scholastic mention by the Boston Globe.

Off the ice Russo likes to enjoy the hot summer weather by getting out as much as possible. He said he likes going to the beach to hang out with friends and playing golf when he gets the chance. He said he is looking forward to when the weather gets warmer so he can go to Cape Cod, one of his favorite summer hangouts.

Russo is scheduled to graduate in 2009 with a degree in criminal justice. He said criminal justice classes are his favorite and that he has family members in law enforcement. His grandfather and his uncle both have served as policemen.

While it is unclear how his hockey career will end up, Russo said he will always remember his time playing at Matthews Arena.

“The atmosphere at Matthews is awesome,” Russo said. “The Doghouse fans are the best in hockey and I’ll miss playing in front of them.”

– News staff Jonathan Raymond contributed to this report.