Just three years ago, when I was a young, innocent freshman with wide eyes and an open heart, I attended my first hockey game at Matthews Arena. It was also the first game for the man who has been the architect of the rebirth of hockey on campus, head coach Greg Cronin.
The game, played Oct. 25, 2005, was a sold-out 1-1 tie with then No. 6 Boston College. After the game, Cronin commented to GoNU.com about the crowd.
“The crowd was awesome,” Cronin said to GoNU. “Talk about an arena that’s great with a crowd, this building is a special place. We saw tonight what kind of potential we have here.”
Unfortunately for Cronin, the team, and the few hundred diehards who have been to every game since then, the game in 2005 was only a representation of potential, not reality.
The team struggled from that point through a three-win season, its worst since 1938, and it seemed that all of that potential would be squandered with never more than 3,000 in attendance for the remainder of the year.
But Cronin kept the torch aloft, repeating the same refrains about the “rebuilding process taking time.” He often referred to the “ghosts of greatness” in the old barn.
Through it all he kept plugging along, bringing in classes of recruits, each more talented and competent than the one before.
We saw flashes of what Cronin was doing in the following season, 12 wins, the emergence of Joe Vitale as an offensive threat and Brad Thiessen’s arrival on campus.
But it started to really come together last year. Two wins at BC, two wins at UNH and an 11-game unbeaten streak led to dreams of the NCAA tournament. Students waited at Matthews Arena for hours to try to get seats at the 2007 Beanpot in February, and one of the largest freshman classes in recent memory proved that Cronin’s recruiting plan was right on schedule.
Through all of this, the crowds grew and grew, eventually making Matthews a tough place to play again. But a sell-out was never even hinted at by modest attendance numbers.
Despite the fact that it all fell apart with a sub .500 record through the last two months of last season, the Huskies were still playing for home ice in the playoffs on the last day of the season and nearly became the first road team to upset in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs.
Now as this season dawns, the team has a new look (updated unis, and a sweet throw-back in black), an updated roster (now boasting two NHL draft picks) and an updated attitude summed up best by one of the guys who has been here for the whole process.
“To think that three years ago we were sitting here with three wins is crazy,” said senior forward Dennis McCauley after Saturday night’s upset of the No. 1 ranked BC Eagles. “We just want to feel like we have a chance to win every game. We used to play not to lose, now we play to win.”
It may be a simple distinction, but it has made all the difference in the world, and been the entire reason this team has come to where they are now, on the precipice of what could potentially be a season for the annuls of Northeastern history.
As I watched the team celebrate after its 4-3 win Saturday night, and saw the players raise their sticks in salute of the 5,000-plus maniacs who packed out the building, I couldn’t help but think about Cronin, and the places he has taken this team in the last three years.
So while it may not be as dramatic as 20 sweaty men on skates lifting their sticks in triumph, I wanted to salute the man to whom all Northeastern hockey fans are indebted: Greg Cronin. I hope you took a bow Saturday night, coach. You earned it.
Check out 104.9 FM or at www.wrbbradio.org to hear all the action of your Huskies. Hockey coverage is at Maine at 6:45 p.m. for both Friday and Saturday’s game.
– Pete Martin can be reached
