March
16, 2005
Northeastern Dismisses Crowder
By
Nate Ewell
 |
| Bruce
Crowder was 120-170-36 at Northeastern. |
Northeastern
athletic director Dave O'Brien announced today that the school
will not renew head coach Bruce Crowder's contract, ending his
nine-year tenure with the Huskies.
"Making
this decision was very difficult," O'Brien said in a statement.
"Bruce is a hard working gentleman who has always put the
best interests of his players first. We greatly appreciate Coach
Crowder’s many contributions to Northeastern over the years.”
Crowder had
only two winning seasons in nine years at Northeastern, and his
teams hosted only one home playoff series. He led the Huskies
to a sixth-place finish in Hockey East this year after back-to-back
last-place seasons and came within a goal of winning the Beanpot,
losing to Boston University in overtime. The Huskies finished
15-18-5 overall after losing to New Hampshire in the Hockey East
quarterfinals, 6-1 and 4-0.
Each of the
last two seasons the Huskies finished the regular season strong,
going 6-3-1 in their last 10 this year and 4-3-3 a year ago. Despite
strong finishes, Crowder's teams never lived up to the hopes that
came with him from UMass Lowell, where he had been named Hockey
East Coach of the Year twice and National Coach of the Year once
in five seasons.
Crowder is
a 1979 graduate of the University of New Hampshire and played
in the NHL with the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins from
1981-85. Before entering the head coaching ranks, Crowder was
an assistant coach at the University of Maine from 1986-90 and
an assistant at UMass Lowell for the 1990-91 season.
