As the clock approaches midnight for historic Matthews Arena, thousands of people in the world of sports and the Greater Northeastern Community have taken time to reflect on their time within the hallowed walls on St. Botolph Street. More than a hockey arena, Matthews Arena has been a home base, a destination, a meeting area intersecting sports, politics, entertainment, and more for over a century. Everyone who has walked through the famous arched entrance has a memory of the arena they hold dear. We’ve spoken with fans, alumni, former players, and coaches past and present to gather their favorite Matthews moments to preserve them in time so that those memories may never fade even when the building has gone away.
This feature on the beloved arena is broken up into three parts: one for the coaches who have led their teams from behind the benches; one for the players who enthralled us for decades with their successes and their passion playing for their school; and one for the alumni and fans who have been the lifeblood of Husky hockey and basketball for over 100 years.
The Coaches
While George Matthews’ name is on the building and Fernie Flaman’s name is endowed for the Men’s Head Coach position, there is no single person more synonymous with Northeastern Athletics in the last 40+ years than Jim Madigan. The former hockey player has been a major factor in nearly every era of success the program has seen: starting as a player in 1981, then returning to be an assistant coach in 1986 until 1993, and ultimately returning to be the program’s Head Coach in 2011. Now the Athletic Director after assuming that position in 2021, Madigan has arguably spent more time at Matthews Arena than any person in the building’s history.
“When I think of Matthews, the memories span 45 years almost. One of the earliest memories for me is when I came to Northeastern University from Toronto (1981), the first building I went to was Matthews Arena to drop off my hockey equipment on a Sunday, because we drove down the day before. To get into and walk around the building of Matthews Arena, just going with my mom and dad thinking ‘wow isn’t this something.’ And the building had just been renovated a year earlier, so there was a wow factor seeing the building, a real strong impression at that time. And then the memories, you know, I’ve been fortunate to be involved with the University in different capacities besides playing in the building. I was an assistant coach in the building; when I worked in facilities and actually helped run athletic facilities and was involved with the building on the construction side; then came back as a head coach, so I’ve got different experiences.”
How about Madigan’s favorite moments as a player? “Without a doubt from a playing experience it would have been in 1982 when we beat Bowling Green in a two-game total goal series in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. The winner of that two-game series went to the Frozen Four in Providence. The first game was tied 2-2, and the second game, again we fell behind 2-0 and came back to tie it as we did the first game. We come back to tie it 2-2, and at the end of regulation going back to the locker room it’s 4-4, winner takes all, and I just remember how calm we were in the locker room. First shift of overtime, one of their players, Brian MacLellan, who ended up becoming a player in the NHL and General Manager for the Washington Captials, he takes a shot and the old building, it was an oval shape and the puck just caromed around the boards and ended up going down the other end, his shot was so heavy. I just remember chasing it and beating their goalie to it, shoveling the puck to Bobby Averill who shot it and hit their defenseman, the puck came right back to him and he shot it into the open net. So within the first 30 seconds or so in overtime, we win the series and it’s bedlam. We’re jumping up and down, the fans are coming on the ice, Fernie Flaman is doing a dance across the ice with his hands up in the air. There were so many memories, and I’ve seen video of it since, of how we celebrated that night. And to know that Coach Jerry York goes on to becoming the winningest coach in college hockey, he was coaching Bowling Green at the time, and they had just a stacked team and were the heavy favorites. Just an unbelievable moment and memory that all of us will cherish.”
“And then for me, having been involved in different capacities, I was one of the people on the facilities side under Jack Malone that helped manage the rink expansion in 1995. So I was involved in that project where we tore the rink floor down and expanded it from 200′ x 85′ to 200′ x 90′, created the Varsity Club viewing suite, and did some things to see the enhancement of the building, over the period of a summer. I take pride that I was on that team and a part of that. And the last [favorite memory] would be as a parent, being in the building when both my daughters graduated from D’Amore-McKim School of Business, having their academic celebrations in the building, to see them in 2013 for my oldest daughter Kelly and in 2015 my youngest daughter Kate, to watch them go through and have their own experience in the arena was great. Our family has had a lot of experiences there; my wife went to Northeastern the year before me, so she’s been a fan in the building, then my daughters got to experience it, so the Madigan family has been fortunate to be around Matthews Arena.”
Across the ice from where Madigan was celebrating in 1982, Jerry York left his spot behind the away bench to return to the locker room. An alumnus of Boston College in 1967, York had established himself as a top young head coach in college hockey by this point, winning 125 games over 7 seasons at Clarkson before moving to Bowling Green in 1979. During that 1981-82 season, York led the Falcons to 27 wins, establishing BGSU as a new power in college hockey.
York would go on to lead Bowling Green to a national championship, then return to The Heights to lead the Eagles for the remainder of his career, winning four more national championships and becoming college hockey’s all-time leader in wins. But like so many players and coaches before him, his hockey career has its roots on St. Botolph Street.
“Three memories that jump out to me about Boston Arena. My first vivid memory is playing schoolboy hockey, high school hockey, at BC High. We played at the arena every Thursday in the old Boston city league. We’d have some memorable games with Boston Latin.” York would captain the BC High hockey team in the 1962-63 season ahead of graduating and enrolling at Boston College, where he played three seasons, scored 134 points, and was captain of the Eagles in 1966-67.
“When I was at Boston College in 1965, we played at Matthews Arena, then Boston Arena, for the ECAC championship. It was a jam-packed crowd, we beat Brown to win the championship, the old ECAC where the Ivies played with the Hockey East schools.” He chuckled as he finished his thought: “And then the next one which wasn’t as nice, we drew Northeastern in the NCAAs in 1982, and we played a two-game, total goal series. Jim Madigan was on the Northeastern team at the time. It was fabulous, it went to overtime, the winner goes to the Frozen Four. I remember right off the hop, we had Brian MacLellan, I remember so clear, he had a good clean opportunity and he fired it wide. With the egg-shape of the arena back then, it went right around and led to a breakaway for a Northeastern player. Our goalie comes rushing out of the net to gather the loose puck and the guy walked right around him. I think Jim got an assist on it.”
Despite however many victories he had behind the bench of his three schools, and despite the countless nights that he walked off the Matthews Arena ice victorious, it’s all the way back to the beginning when Jerry York thinks about the building’s impact on Boston. “I think I go right to schoolboy hockey and high school hockey, when it was so important for all of us at that age. That was the Mecca. You get into the arena, state tournaments were there, pro wrestling was big at that time so we were excited to be there for that. So just the start of hockey, schoolboy hockey, that’s where we started.”
Nick Carpenito has been associated with Northeastern since 2007, when he enrolled as a freshman and played four years on the club hockey team. Carp was the head coach of the women’s club team from 2008-2011, and eventually made his way back to Huntington Avenue in 2014 when he was hired as Assistant Coach of the Women’s Hockey team. He was promoted to Associate Head Coach in 2018.
“I would say for hockey, it has to be the Beanpot semifinal 2025 against Boston College,” he said when asked about his own favorite memory at Matthews. “Record setting crowd for women’s hockey. One of the most electric college hockey environments I’ve ever been in on a campus site. When Morgan Jackson scored that first goal, I’ve never heard a place erupt like that before. Might have been the first time I was ever caught off guard by a crowd, even including the Beanpot final that year [which Northeastern would also win].
[Another hockey moment was the] 2018–19 senior game. Our third string goalie Brianna Storms’ first ever start. One of the best teammates you could ever ask for. We had another senior goaltender who was our typical starter (Brittany Bugalski), we were planning on starting her but Bugalski told us we should start Bri and she can just come in halfway through or something. So Storms starts the first period, shuts them out. Bugalski told us to leave her in. Storms ends up finishing the game with a shut out and Bugalski sacrificed her final opportunity to play on Matthew’s ice for her. It was one of the most selfless acts I’ve ever seen in my life and I think in that game I knew we’d finally gotten the culture shift that we really needed to continue our success.”
Carp’s favorite Matthews moments are not limited to just his teams though: “Easily the most important to me, but when my daughter skated on the Matthews Arena ice for the first time, it was incredibly emotional and such a full circle moment. It was so cool for her to look around in the middle of the ice and be in such awe of that building even without a true understanding of what it actually was. That’s the beauty of Matthews Arena, it is a monument to so many different walks of life whether you’re a purist or a modernist, whether you’re a local or an out of towner, it’s just such an incredible place that everyone can find a reason to love.”
Jerry Keefe has been part of the fabric of Northeastern hockey since he arrived in 2011 as Madigan’s assistant coach. Eventually taking over as Head Coach in 2021 after Madigan accepted the Athletic Director position, Keefe has seen both his hockey career and his personal life grow within the walls of Matthews Arena.
“The first time I met with Coach Madigan about coming to Northeastern at Matthews Arena, he asked me to bring my family with me. Owen (Jerry’s son) was five years old and Emmerson (Jerry’s daughter) was 16 months old. From that moment on, Matthews was home to Maria (Jerry’s wife) and the kids for these past 15 years! Something I will always appreciate about Coach Madigan is how comfortable he made it to have my family around the rink. In particular, if Owen didn’t have his own hockey game, he would spend the entire weekends at Matthews. He literally grew up in the locker room and around our teams.” Owen is now committed to play college hockey at Northeastern, and set to enroll in the Fall of 2026.
And when asked about his favorite moments on the ice from behind the bench, Keefe shared, “One of my favorite wins was the 2012 game versus BC because the Doghouse was electric and had a big impact on the win,” which coincidentally was this writer’s favorite Matthews moment as well. Keefe also added another favorite moment from the season opener of the 2016-17 season, “Seeing John Stevens and Zach Aston-Reese raise the 2016 Hockey East champions banner.”
It’s not often that a player gets a chance to go from jumping on and off the bench to standing behind that same bench for their alma mater. For Lindsay Berman, however, that is exactly how her hockey journey ended up. A 2010 grad of Northeastern, Berman played in 135 games for the Huskies, scoring 62 points (23 goals) as a left-shot defenseman. For her, memories of the arena span the personal, professional, and familial grounds. She gave a list of her favorite memories, and at the top was “the first time my daughter “skated,” and we will have those pictures and memories forever.” Similar to every other coach interviewed, the ability to share their beloved arena with the next generation was incredibly valuable to her. She also brought up the same Beanpot game that Coach Carpenito did, mentioning the packed DogHouse as a major highlight.
The DogHouse and their support of Northeastern Women’s Hockey also played into another highlight that Berman gave, that being the 5-4 overtime victory over Boston College in November 2018. “Chloe scored late to tie it, Mia Brown [scored the] game-winning goal. I think it was a 4/5 matchup [BC ranked #4 in the nation, Northeastern #5], with a full DogHouse, electric atmosphere. Every time we got the puck the DogHouse erupted.”
Playing Boston College has seemingly been personal for Berman since the start of her college hockey career: she notes that she scored her first collegiate goal at Matthews Arena against the Eagles. But it was the arena itself that was truly a part of her journey from the start.
“I’ll always remember walking into Matthews on my visit with my dad and both of us just looking up at the ceiling and around the upper bowl thinking there is nowhere else I can picture myself playing college hockey. The building sealed the deal, and kickstarted what my life became and is today.”
When Greg Cronin was named the head coach of the Men’s Hockey team in 2005, he was not just simply the next man up in charge behind the bench; he was continuing a family legacy on Huntington Avenue. “I grew up with Matthews (Boston) Arena,” Cronin said to NUHB. “My Dad, Don, was captain of the team in mid 50’s, as well as my uncle Gerard. It has been a “home arena” for me since I was a youngster. I loved skating there when there was open ice and watching the Mass High School state tournament games in 60’s and early 70’s. I can still smell popcorn at the original entrance when I walked into the old Arena.”
Cronin was the bench boss for the Huskies for six seasons, amassing 84 victories, good for sixth-most all-time. Originally a native of Arlington, MA, Cronin was intimately familiar with the arena before his homecoming. “Having the privilege of coaching in that building for six years was an honor for me. I knew every inch and crack of that old cathedral. I used to run around the bottom bowl and up the stairs into the balcony. I don’t know if there’s a better view of a hockey game on the planet than there is from those balcony seats.”
Cronin oversaw a renaissance in Northeastern hockey, bringing the program from a three-win season his first year as head coach all the way to the NCAA Tournament in 2009, Northeastern’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in fifteen years. The team climbed as high as #2 in the polls, and the fanbase was energized behind both the play on the ice and the energy brought by their head coach. Once called “brash, aggressive, intelligent and bursting with self-confidence” by the New York Times, Cronin assembled a collection of talent on Huntington Avenue rarely seen in those days, and fans and supporters were turning out in droves for them.
“Perhaps the pinnacle of my experience was seeing the arena packed with a standing room only crowd when we played BU on the second-to-last weekend of the 2008-09 regular season. A local scalper told me it was the hardest ticket in Boston to get his hands on in 10 years. We were tied in the Hockey East standings and ranked 1 and 2 or 2 and 3 in the country. The game ended in a tie in overtime with both teams exhausted. I can remember the waves of energy bouncing off that old wooden ceiling from the DogHouse pounding pots and pans and sticks from their customary perches on the balcony. The late Wade MacLeod had a power play chance glance off a post in the last minute.
That group of seniors [led by captain and future NHLer Joe Vitale, Cronin’s first recruit as head coach] changed the culture of NU hockey and set the gears in motion for NCAA appearances.”
Now as the arena reaches its end, this chapter of the storybook closes on legacies such as the Cronins. The new arena and future of the program will have its own stories and create its own history, all on a road paved by these legends of Huskies past. “As I text this… I actually feel my soul stir… that building has witnessed so many great events since 1910. The late Jack Grinold and George Makris will definitely drop a few tears down on the Arena when it finally comes down… and those tears along with my Father’s and Uncle’s will have plenty of company.”