Breaking through the Ice
Men's hockey hopes for breakout season.
By Paul Perillo
S o many times last season the story remained the same
for the men's hockey team: work hard, stay close, fall a goal or two short.
The result was a disappointing
11-20-3 finish that found the Huskies in the basement and out of the
Hockey East playoffs. You might think Bruce Crowder would want to leave
that bitter feeling behind, but the fourth-year coach is taking the opposite
approach.
"I told our kids that when they go home for the summer and talk
to people, tell them that we came in last place," says Crowder, who
has compiled a 40-60-9 record during his first three years. "Don't
say we came in ninth. I want them to say 'last place' because I want to
engrave that feeling into the pits of our stomachs. I want everyone to
remember how bad that feeling is so we fight hard to be sure it never happens
again."
The seven one-goal and five two-goal losses last year resulted directly
from a stagnant offense. To improve the situation, Crowder and his staff
set up a shooting area in Cabot Gym where each player shot a couple hundred
pucks a day throughout the summer.
"Sometimes [the coaches] are too concerned with the off-ice training
things," says Crowder. "What we did with the shooting was give
the players a chance to improve their hockey skills. The kids were religious
about it. Our biggest priority was working on stepping up our offense."
Crowder will rely on the senior leadership of captains Roger Holeczy
and Billy Newson, as well as last year's leading scorer, Todd Barclay (19
goals, 12 assists, 31 points). Holeczy has played in all 109 games since
coming to Huntington Avenue, but suffered from the offensive woes that
hit the rest of the team. He finished with 29 points, but just 4 goals.
Newson (7-13-20) also struggled as he battled shoulder problems for much
of the season.
If the Huskies are to improve in the goal-scoring category, it will
likely be the junior class that gets it done. Among a talented group of
junior forwards who reached double figures in scoring in their rookie seasons,
only Graig Mischler notched a career high last year. That meant a drop
in production for Brian Cummings (22 points in 199798 to 13 last year),
Bob Haglund (12 to 8) and Sean MacDonald (21 to 6). Throw in junior Bobby
Davis (24 to 7) and it's not hard to figure out how the team went from
twenty wins in '97'98 to eleven.
"It's pretty much the same situation as last year except with juniors
now," says Crowder. "We talked about all the sophomores moving
up 10 points. Except for Mischler [20 to 23], everyone took a step or two
backwards. We need those guys to move forward, along with this year's sophomores."
The two main cogs in the sophomore class up front are Hockey East All-Rookie
team member Willie Levesque (12-10-22) and team Rookie of the Year Chris
Lynch (10-14-24). Levesque was drafted in the fourth round by the San Jose
Sharks in June's NHL draft and Lynch was the surprise of the league, coming
in as a walk-on to finish third on the team's scoring list despite not
dressing for the first six games. Another
second-year man, Ryan Zoller (7-6-13), improved as the year progressed.
His finest moment came in the Beanpot final against Boston University,
when he notched a pair of goals.
While the forward ranks were hit hard by sophomore slumps, the defense
was not. Juniors Mike Jozefowicz and John Peterman enjoyed stellar campaigns,
mixing tenacious defense and steady offense. Sophomores Jim Fahey (All-Rookie
Team) and Rich Spiller were terrific and will be joined by Arik Engbrecht,
who will return after missing all of last year with back problems.
The incoming freshman class is talented as well. Mike Ryan highlights
the group. He was taken by the Stanley Cup
champion Dallas Stars in the second round of the NHL draft and is expected
to boost the offense immediately. Forward Joe Mastronardi and defenseman
Brian Sullivan (also drafted by Dallas) are expected to help.
The area that received the most concern last season was goaltending.
With the loss of All-America Marc Robitaille, Jason Braun was asked to
fill his shoes as a rookie. He did an adequate job, finishing with ten
of the eleven wins and goals-against average of 3.61. Rookies Mike Gilhooly
and Todd Marr will join Braun and all will battle for the starting job.
"People were quick to point to our goaltending last year,"
says Crowder. "But Jason had a solid year. We just didn't give our
goalies any breathing room. We need to score more frequently to take some
of that pressure off the net.
"Now is the time to take care of all these things. We can't worry
about the past or future . . . it's time to win now."
Women's Basketball: Star Nets a Year
As Joy Malchodi enters her twentieth year at the helm
of the Northeastern women's basketball team, she does so after one of her
most successful campaigns ever. The Huskies finished the 199899 season
with a 22-8 record and behind only Maine in the America East conference
with a 13-5 mark. But N.U. defeated the Black Bears, 57-55, in the conference
title game and earned its first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.
The Huskies battled perennial power North Carolina in Chapel Hill in
the tournament and gave the Tar Heels a scare before dropping a hard-fought
64-55 decision. Northeastern led the game late, but Malchodi felt her troops
simply ran out of gas in the final five minutes.
The Huskies' chances for a return trip were bolstered in late September
when the NCAA handed down a decision that will allow N.U.'s star, Tesha
Tinsley, to return for a fourth and final year of eligibility. Tinsley,
a lightning-quick guard out of Baltimore, came to N.U. as a partial qualifier,
thus making her ineligible as a freshman. Under NCAA rules, she would get
the fourth year of eligibility back only if she graduated in a four-year
period-no easy feat at a five-year school like N.U. But she did it on September
16, with a bachelor's degree in history.
"It's incredible how far she's come since she's been here,"
says Malchodi. "She's the kind of player that really makes me look
good as a coach. Having her back makes us an instant contender."
Tinsley does just about everything for N.U. She averaged 21.2 points,
4.8 assists, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game last year. She ranks
second on the school's all-time scoring list and will likely surpass leader
Pam Green sometime around the midway point of the season.
Despite Tinsley's return, the Huskies will be hard-pressed to repeat
as conference champs. America East powers Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
and Delaware all return their entire teams from last season. "There
are a lot of returning stars in this league," says Malchodi. "Having
Tesha back obviously gives us a star, too. We're playing a very competitive
schedule, with games against number fiveranked Rutgers and Wisconsin.
We'll be competitive."
Sophomore Genny Caruso will join Tinsley in the backcourt. As a rookie
last season, Caruso averaged 8.0 points and 3.7 assists per game. The Huskies
caught fire after she was inserted into the starting lineup, going 11-2
down the stretch.
Junior Lani Lawrence was a pleasant surprise last year when she averaged
9.9 points and 8.9 rebounds filling the center spot. Lawrence will be relied
upon to provide even more offense this season. Wanda Almengot (8.0 points,
4.2 rebounds) will start at one forward position and fellow senior Beth
Hanewald (4.4 points, 2.9 rebounds) has the inside track to replace Betsy
Palecek, the only departed starter from last season.
"Our trademark as a team is our man-to-man defense," Malchodi
says. "We try to create turnovers to get us into a quick transition
game. That's where Tesha becomes so dangerous. She has great court sense
and makes good decisions in the open floor."
Malchodi has some experience and a quality recruiting class to call
on from her bench, leading to high hopes.
"Our goal is to try to improve as a team as the year goes on,"
says Malchodi. "If we can get some experience during the year, we
think we can get our record to where we can realistically hope to contend
for the title."
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