By Paul Perillo

There's not a lot of subtlety to Cronin's approach. He clearly loves Northeastern; his dad, Don, Ed'59, and uncle Gerry, Ed'62, were both letter-winning Husky icers. And he's passionate about the game he's spent most of his life playing and coaching, including seven years as a coach in the NHL's New York Islanders organization.

So it had to be maddening for Cronin to stand behind the bench and watch his Northeastern squad win just three of its first thirty games.

Win one came eight games into the season, on November 11, with a 2-0 decision over UMass-Amherst. Win two didn't show up until February 10 with a 6-4 nod over UMass-Lowell. Win three, a 2-1 victory over Providence, was earned on February 16. With four games left before the Hockey East quarterfinals, the team's record stood at 3-21-6.

Most observers had anticipated Northeastern would struggle this season after losing a host of standouts to graduation, including Jason Guerriero, AS'05, and Keni Gibson, AS'05. But the Huskies have also gone without All-Hockey East performer Mike Morris, who is sitting out the season while dealing with post-concussion syndrome, the result of a car accident last summer. And juniors Yale Lewis and Ray Ortiz missed a number of games owing to injuries.

As a result, the Huskies have played ten freshmen regularly. In a highly competitive league like Hockey East, this alone can be a recipe for disaster.

If you take an optimist's view, Northeastern has, in fact, been more competitive than the results column might indicate. For example, five of the Huskies' first thirteen losses were either by one goal or by two with an empty-netter. Add in the four ties, and you realize that half of those games could have gone either way.

But what frustrates Cronin is that some of the team's troubles have been self-inflicted. By the middle of February, the Huskies had spent a lot of time in the penalty box—four minutes per game more than their opponents. Not surprisingly, the opponents had scored nineteen more power-play goals than NU. You don't have to be Bobby Orr to figure out where the problem lies.

"Anybody who watches us play and sees the scores knows we're in every game," says Cronin, who earlier in his career coached at the University of Maine and Colorado College. "It's not like we're getting demolished. We just sabotage ourselves with foolish penalties." As a result, he says, his constant admonition to his team is "Stay out of the penalty box, and play even-strength hockey."

Despite their mistakes, the Huskies have played with heart throughout the season and show promise for the future. The freshman class—led by Joe Vitale, Ryan Ginand, and Matti Uusivirta up front, and Louis Liotti and Denis Chisholm on defense—is talented and deep.

Vitale's soft hands, great ice vision, and excellent skating make him a star in waiting; he's been the center for Cronin's top line since the season began. Ginand has a goal-scorer's mentality, reliably leading the club in goals throughout the season. Espoo, Finland, native Uusivirta shows a knack for being where the puck is.

One pleasant surprise offensively has been the success of sophomore Jimmy Russo, who, after twenty-seven games played, led the team with 17 points. Though Russo showed flashes of virtuosity as a freshman, he's improved markedly after getting consistent time with the top lines.

At the other end of the ice, the defense corps has performed admirably, given its youth. Four of the six blueliners have frequently been freshmen: Liotti and Chisholm, joined by classmates Andrew Linard and Jacques Perreault.

Junior Steve Birnstill and senior captain Chuck Tomes are often the lone upperclassmen in front of a pair of inexperienced goaltenders, junior Adam Geragosian and rookie Doug Jewer. Though goaltending hasn't been a problem, it hasn't been a particular strength, either. Neither netminder has made an especially impressive move toward becoming the top man.

"There's plenty of hockey still left for us to play," Cronin said just after the winter break. "But we're going to have to stay out of the box and play smarter. Hopefully, we can do that and pick up some wins down the stretch."

Unfortunately, as the home stretch narrowed, those wins on the ice proved mighty slippery.

CAA Sunshine Ups the Heat for McPhee Nine

That's because many CAA teams are based south of the Mason-Dixon line, where the weather offers an edge not available to teams that suffer through New England's harsh early springs. But McPhee, BB'68, feels good about his club's prospects this season, which begins on March 3 with the annual exhibition against the Red Sox in Fort Myers, Florida.

And McPhee should know. Having coached for more than thirty years, twenty at NU, the skipper notched his five-hundredth career game with a win over Harvard last spring. "We have some unknowns," he says, "but strength up the middle is the key to any good baseball team, and we certainly have that."

Topping the team's list of assets are seniors Chris Emanuele and Arman Sidhu. Last year, Emanuele, a center fielder, hit .340 with 11 homers and 40 RBI, and racked up a team-high 17 stolen bases and 50 runs scored. Shortstop Sidhu last year led the America East in fielding percentage and chipped offensively, hitting .307 with a homer and 26 RBI.

Senior catcher Matt Morizio continues the theme of strength through the middle, hitting .309 last year with 3 homers and 25 RBI. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound backstop has a strong right arm. He gunned down nineteen of thirty-seven (.661) would-be base stealers last season.

He also made five appearances on the mound. This year, McPhee plans to take further advantage of Morizio's might by using him as a closer out of the bullpen. "We're hoping Matt can close," McPhee says, "and he definitely has the stuff to do it. He throws ninety to ninety-one with a pretty good curve. We actually think it's something that could be in Matt's future beyond college."

Despite the uncertainty about the mound at the end of the game, McPhee feels he has a solid starting rotation to work with. Junior Adam Ottavino, sophomore Kris Drabrowiecki, and junior Dave Pellegrine won eight, six, and five games, respectively, last year. This spring, they could get some added muscle from Dan Zehr and Jeff Thomson, a pair of red-shirt freshman hurlers trying to come back from major injuries.

McPhee is also looking for pitching contributions from red-shirt freshmen Tyler Thornton and Trevor Smith. He'll need the depth in the new conference, where schedules call for three nine-inning games, rather than a nine-inning game plus a seven-inning doubleheader.

Not surprisingly, three southern teams-the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Virginia Commonwealth University, and George Mason University—are considered front-runners for the CAA title.

But the future looks bright for the Huskies. To ease the transition into the sunnier, more competitive conference, the team is kicking off a fund drive that commemorates McPhee's milestone five-hundredth victory.

They can certainly use the resources. "We think the move to the CAA will draw more interest to us in terms of recruits," the coach says. "BC in the ACC and we in the CAA are the two programs that have separated themselves in New England. We expect to be competitive right away."