Northeastern = Fitchburg?

A most excellent winter of Northeastern University sports reaches one of its high points tonight when the Huskies tussle with Boston University in the finals of the Beanpot.

NU has had an excellent winter on the ice, leading Hockey East as late as I can remember in the last 20 years, and ranked No. 3 in the country. In hoops, the Huskies are in first place in the Colonial Athletic Conference, and are in the mix for a NCAA tourney berth. It would be the first trip back to the tourney since 1991.

Tonight, NU goes up against BU, and one of two things are going to happen. NU is going to get smoked, or everyone is going to walk out of the building thinking they just saw one of the best hockey games they’ve ever seen. BU isn’t going to get blown out. It isn’t going to be a 4-1, 5-2 kind of boring game. Blowout or nail-biter.

The funny thing is, for Northeastern fans, this excellent hockey ride now reaches an apex, and we’re scared to death. Everyone’s talking up the Huskies, and that makes us nervous. NU hasn’t won the Beanpot since 1988, so most of the NU people I know have never enjoyed a late night at Punter’s Pub celebrating the championship. After 21 years, we’ve been conditioned to expect the worst on one of the first two Mondays in February, especially when BU is involved.

BU, of course, is the Darth Vader of the Beanpot. (And that’s being generous. I can’t put into words how much I dislike BU, and “dislike” is charitable.) They’ve won half the time, and are a very tough out the other half. They will bring they A game tonight. They are beatable. But the Northeastern folk will have to see it to believe it.

However, tonight, we have hope. Perhaps the most hope going into a Beanpot final in 21 years. Since 1988 the Huskies have been in the final a handful of times, and each time they were the significant underdog. This is the first time in 21 years they have a realistic chance of winning this thing. While Northeastern fans and alumni are excited and looking forward to tonight, we’re holding a piece back because we know there’s a good chance that embarrassment or heartache is three periods away. We want to drink all the cheap Punter’s beer we possibly can tonight, but we know we must put up an insulator before we get there. It’s better to say “I thought this might happen,” than sit and watch in horror -- again -- as it goes down the way it always has.

In a lot of ways, rooting for the Huskies is like living in Fitchburg. The news has so bad for so long, that you don’t want to embrace the good. Destare moves downtown? Great, but it will be gone within a year. CoCo Key? Nice, another place for the dirty kids to go swim and pee in the water. Industrial development along Airport Road? Fine, but who really wants to move a business there?

And so goes. After riding out bad years like bad teams, or watching potential squandered, Fitchburg residents are conditioned – like Northeastern fans – to expect the worst. Even when something looks good, we expect it to go bad

Fitchburg has started to build itself back up in recent years, but there’s still a long way to go. Re-creating a city is a lot harder and bigger job than rebuilding a hockey program. Tonight, Northeastern goes into the Beanpot final with a chance – a good chance – to restore that faith and announce its return to prominence. For a Northeastern fan living in Fitchburg, a win tonight will illustrate that, yes, good things can happen, even in places where all hope seems lost.

Is tonight the night? I don’t know. But I hope so. Is now the time for Fitchburg? I don’t know, but I hope so. A Husky win tonight does nothing for Fitchburg, except stand as an example that rebuilding can happen, even in the face of giant obstacles, and it’s OK to hope for and want success.

One more thing: BU sucks.