Meet Joe Santilli. He’s just your average Joe.

Look at your lineup card. You’ll see freshman next to his name. You’ll also notice Joe is on the number one line with future Dallas Star Mike Ryan and shifty center Jason Guerriero.

But what you won’t notice is that the Westwood native was a two-sport athlete in high school, damn near making the Red Sox area code team roster which travels to California.

He’s just your average Joe. Sure, he likes the Beanpot and he enjoys Boston and will be a co-op student, but he’s more than that. Still, I swear he’s just your average Joe.

Freshman Mike Morris, who has been a staple in the lineup, got a concussion during practice two weeks ago, opening up a spot in the lineup for Santilli.

“Coach read the lineup card in his hotel room before the first game against Maine,” Santilli said. “He read my name off with Mike’s and Jay’s. It was a great feeling. I was really excited to get playing. I knew this was my opportunity. I hated to see Mike go down, but I was really looking forward to playing.”

Joe almost didn’t get that chance, as Bruce Crowder had elected to sit the talented freshman for all but three games, deciding instead to play others. Finally, Santilli got his chance and he took full advantage of it.

He started against Maine, the top-ranked team in the nation, for both games on the first line. He was shifty, at times explosive, and came very close to notching his first goal.

Then, last Friday, the freshman got his wish. NU, who was leading 1-0, got a huge goal from Santilli who camped out in front of Dominic Smart and sent a wrister that seemed to befuddle the Lowell goaltender. The puck squirted in after resting behind Smart for a couple of seconds.

“It’s harder to score goals in this league than I thought,” admitted Santilli. “I didn’t think it would be this hard. But it felt good to get it. I’m not going to stop there though, I need to keep working.”

Joe has been working since he was four years old for his first collegiate goal, so when he says it’s been a long time coming, he means it. Joe wasn’t average as a kid. He played hockey only after his father determined that he was too rambunctious around the house.

“He knew baseball wasn’t working out for me,” Joe said with a laugh. “I was running around as a kid and I needed something to play and hockey was it. I love it.”

Forgive me, Joe, if I call you “The Lunch-Pail Kid,” but I say that as a compliment.

Joe creates his chances, crashes the net better than any freshman I’ve seen (though Jason Guerriero was damn close in his first season), and is fearless. He’s far more mature for his age then many I’ve seen. He waits for the game to come to him.

Santilli creates a nice headache for Crowder who, upon Morris’ return (though not expected until after the Beanpot), will have to shift the lineup card for the ump-teenth time.

Your average Joe now has a goal and four assists in seven games this season. But what’s great is that those numbers almost didn’t come to be.

Joe wasn’t discussed in the team’s plans. He wasn’t mentioned that much, being cast in the immense shadow of Morris. No one paid any attention to him, but the scrappy forward, who is a solid 5’7”, wanted it more. He showed Crowder things in practice that gave the six-year NU coach something to ponder. Matt McIssac got his chance to shine in the limelight, so did Pat Noonan, Chuck Tomes and Steve Sanders. But no one in that group, with the exception of maybe Tomes, has opened coach’s, player’s and writer’s eyes more than Santilli.

Sitting in the press box last Friday at Tsongas, I happened to hear the Lowell broadcasters shouting out the game and mention Santilli as a super-freshmen after he scored his first goal. I thought how odd it was to hear that, seeing as just a few short weeks ago, no one outside of the Husky locker room had ever heard of this kid.

Sure he’s undersized, but that hasn’t stopped him (See Guerriero for more details). Joe is still learning the game. Those two elements not withstanding, Joe Santilli has made himself a pretty solid hockey player.

Maybe he’s not your typical Joe.

IN THE LOCKER ROOM:

Though I don’t know the logistics of Michelle Lorion and Pam Pachal’s departure from the women’s team only other than there was some disagreement, I feel there’s more to the story. Pachal and Lorion were two of the best players on the team and were under scholarship. Northeastern coach Joy Woog must have had something against the two stars … Is Chanda Gunn better than Erika Silva? No, but she’s awfully close … Finally, in case you were wondering, Spring Training for the baseball team is just a mere 54 days away when the Huskies open their Florida trip with a game against Bradley.