Winning Reputation
On the forward line of the women's hockey boom.
By Paul Perillo
In the spring of 1970, every teenage boy in New England
was bitten with hockey fever when a young defenseman named Bobby Orr sailed
through the air after scoring the Stanley Cupwinning goal for the
Boston Bruins. The long-awaited championship set off an explosion of youth
hockey in Massachusetts and surrounding areas, leading to the Bay State's
emergence as a high school and college hockey mecca.
In February 1998, young girls all over New England watched as the U.S.
Olympic women's hockey team won the gold medal in Nagano, Japan. Two years
later, women's college hockey is feeling a boost much like the one men's
hockey enjoyed three decades ago.
And that boom suits Northeastern's women's coach Heather Linstad just
fine, as her Huskies are finally starting to receive the exposure that
has eluded them despite season after season of storied success.
The 19992000 campaign has been no different, as the Huskies jumped
quickly out of the gate and established themselves as one of the top three
programs in the nation. N.U. won eleven of its first fourteen games, including
victories over perennial powers New Hampshire, Minnesota, Providence, and
Dartmouth.
"It's nice to get some notoriety," Linstad says. "We've
had a lot more fans in the stands the last two seasons and are starting
to capture more headlines in the Boston Globe and Herald. The girls that
played in the Olympics who are sprayed around the league have given us
some names to follow for the average fan."
That special attention has bothered Linstad at times as well. Although
one of her former players, Shelley Looney, played on the Olympic team,
Linstad doesn't have the luxury of capitalizing on the current excitement
surrounding the returning Olympians. Harvard, Princeton, and Brown all
have gold medalwinning veterans and Linstad feels those teams may
receive more recognition than they might deserve.
"I think [paying more attention to those teams] can hurt the student/athlete
that doesn't go to the 'right' school," Linstad says. "If people
are paying attention to us through these teams because of those players,
then that's better than not caring about us at all. But sometimes people
look at teams like Harvard [which won the national championship] last season
and think they're the only ones worth watching. We're struggling to gain
some respect, but we'll take the wins and worry about that another time."
The Huskies are loaded with talent, led by senior forward Hilary Witt.
Witt was N.U.'s leading scorer through the first fourteen games and could
be Linstad's next Olympian.
The Huskies have been without their number-two scorer from last season,
Brooke Whitney, since she broke her ankle during pregame warm-ups in a
game at Princeton on November 6. Linstad hopes to have her back in the
lineup for a big weekend against Brown and Harvard in early January.
Freshman Michelle Lorion notched five goals in her first twelve games
with the Huskies and juniors Colleen Coen and Kathleen Savino, who transferred
from Boston College, added five each as well.
Despite the firepower of N.U.'s snipers, Linstad believes the secret
to the Huskies' success has been their depth. Northeastern skates four
lines, which prevents teams from totally keying on Witt.
Northeastern doesn't excel only on offense. The Huskies are as tough
defensively as any team in the ECAC, with senior defensemen Erine Metcalf,
Kim Beneduce, and Jennie Setaro protecting junior goalie Erika Silva. Silva
played every game for N.U. during the 1999 portion of the schedule and
responded with four shutouts early in the season.
"The play of Erika has been a major reason for our success,"
Linstad says. "Her consistency is her best attribute. She stays focused
in every game-not just the big ones. Sometimes when goalies don't see a
lot of shots, they tend to overplay when they get some action. Erika stays
focused and doesn't do that.
"Erine brings one of the hardest shots in the league and her size
gives her a great presence. She's also very consistent."
As the season moves into 2000, Linstad believes her team is capable
of doing a lot of damage both within the ECAC and beyond. The NCAA created
a women's hockey version of the Final Four two years ago, as a result of
the post-Olympic craze. N.U. participated in the first in 1998 but watched
as Harvard took the crown last season.
"We'd like to win the league," Linstad says. "That's
my goal for this team. It won't be easy; there are no gimmes in this league.
If you run into a hot goalie, things can be difficult. But we feel we have
as good a shot as anybody and we hope to be playing well into March."
A Blossoming Talent
Marcus Blossom is not the average college basketball
star. After all, not many schools around the country can boast that their
best player earned an academic scholarship. But Blossom earned the Ralph
J. Bunche Memorial Scholarship when he arrived at Northeastern from Chicago
two years ago.
Since then, head coach Rudy Keeling has gotten much more than just a
thinking-man's basketball player. When Blossom is on the court, he leaves
his studious nature behind. Instead, he attacks opponents with his athletic,
slashing style and usually leaves them in the dust.
"Marcus is getting a lot more attention this season," Keeling
says. "With the notoriety he got last season, teams have been getting
after him a little and he's been a little up and down through the first
few games. He gives us a proven scoring threat on the perimeter and a go-to
guy in crunch time."
Blossom won third-team AllAmerica East honors last season after
averaging 16.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game for the Huskies. He also
earned Academic All-America honors as a finance major.
This season, N.U. got off to a slow start but rebounded by winning its
first conference game of the year against New Hampshire on December 6.
It also marked the Huskies' first win in the newly renovated Cabot Court,
which opened this season as the new home of Northeastern's basketball teams.
"I think it's going to be a wonderful home-court advantage,"
Keeling says. "It's a great place to practice with the improved lighting
and if we can get the students to start coming out more, it's going to
have an impact. The seats are set up in a way that with people in them
it will be a real pit to play in."
While Blossom is his star, Keeling is not without other quality players.
Senior Terry Kringe returned to action after missing the latter part of
last season with a knee injury. Kringe is equally effective at point guard
or as a shooting guard, where his deadly three-point stroke is on display.
Joining Kringe and Blossom in the backcourt is reigning America East
Rookie of the Year Jean Bain. Bain, from nearby Medford (Massachusetts)
High School, averaged a shade under ten points per game as a freshman last
season.
The frontcourt got a boost with the arrival of junior-college transfer
George Aygar. The six-foot-ten-inch center from Istanbul, Turkey, possesses
an excellent shooting touch and adds much-needed size down low. Senior
captain Changa Adams backs Aygar up at center and is a proficient shot-blocker.
Tyrone Hammick is another junior-college transfer who made an immediate
impact, scoring in double figures in three of his first four games.
"I've been pleasantly surprised so far with the play of the frontcourt,"
Keeling says. "Ty and George have been better than I thought at this
point in the season. Both have given us a real lift inside with their scoring
and rebounding."
Dwayne Barnes and Toby Brittian, a pair of newcomers, have made themselves
noticed as well. Each has spent time in the starting lineup. Brittian,
a six-foot-four-inch swingman, exploded for seventeen points in the win
over UNH.
Brittian "is going to be a star," Keeling says. "He's
very athletic and a great shooter. He just needs to pick his spots a little
bit and stay more under control."
If the Huskies are to improve on last year's seventh-place America East
finish, Keeling will have to blend all the new faces into a cohesive unit.
But with the balance of the conference schedule to be played in the new
year, the Huskies have plenty of time to get the job done.
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