Northeastern University Athletics

Greg Cronin continues to lead the Northeastern men’s hockey program to new heights as he enters his seventh season as head coach. Over the course of the last four seasons (2007-11), Cronin has amassed a total of 71 victories, marking the most wins over a four-year stretch in program history. After enduring a tough first half of the 2010-11 season, Cronin’s squad rebounded with the fourth-best second half in program history and posted an 11-7-4 (.591) mark, including the Huskies’ second trip to the Hockey East semifinals in the last three years.

In addition to last year’s turnaround, Cronin procured his 100th collegiate victory with a 3-0 shutout of Harvard on Jan. 19, 2011 (80th at Northeastern). One of Cronin’s biggest highlights of 2010-11 was clinching Northeastern’s first quarterfinals road series win since 1991. Cronin’s team avenged past struggles at Agganis Arena and ousted Boston University from the Hockey East playoffs for the first time since 1987. The Huskies two-straight wins at Agganis Arena marked the first time Northeastern won two consecutive tilts at the BU’s arena. Despite a heartbreaking outcome to Boston College, Cronin guided the Huskies to their second Beanpot finals appearance in three seasons while netminder Chris Rawlings became the fourth Husky in the last six years to capture the Eberly Award (best save percentage throughout the Beanpot Tournament).

Cronin oversaw Wade MacLeod honored as a Hockey East Second-Team All-Star while newcomers Anthony Bitetto and Brodie Reid became the 17th and 18th Huskies in program history to be named to the Pro Ambitions Hockey East All-Rookie Team. Northeastern was one of two schools to place two student-athletes on the 2011 Pro Ambitions Hockey East All-Rookie Team.

From 2008 to 2010, Cronin steered the Huskies to their first back-to-back seasons of a .500 or better mark since the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons. In 2009-10, Cronin’s bunch posted 16 victories for the third-consecutive season. Also in that season, Northeastern skated away with a tournament victory by blanking host Dartmouth, 7-0, and topping UMass Lowell in the title game, 2-1, at the Ledyard National Bank Classic in Hanover, N.H. Cronin also directed Northeastern to a five-game winning streak and a six-game winning spell in Hockey East action following the tournament triumph. The Huskies six-game stretch in conference action marked the first time under Cronin’s tenure that Northeastern won six-consecutive league bouts.

In 2008-09, Cronin pioneered the Huskies to a 25-win season, tying the school record for victories (1981-82). NU earned its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and vaulted as high as the No. 2 ranked team in the country thanks to Cronin’s leadership. With all of the team’s success, Cronin was honored with the Bob Kullen Hockey East Coach of the Year award at season’s end.

Cronin, a Boston native, has coached hockey since 1987 and has a stellar reputation in recruiting and player development. He has coached at all levels from the University of Maine and Colorado College to the U.S. National Team Development Program to the National Hockey League.

Most recently, Cronin spread his international wings after being named assistant coach for the 2011 U.S. Men’s National Team for the IIHF World Men's Championship that took place from April 29 – May 15 in Kosice and Bratislava, Slovakia. Cronin teamed up with head coach Scott Gordon and assistant coaches Phil Housley and Barry Smith and led Team USA to a 3-0-1-3 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record throughout the tournament. The spring affair marked Cronin’s second stint with the U.S. National Team. Cronin served as an assistant coach on the 1998 World Championship team that finished fifth in Helsinki, Finland. That team was captained by former Boston Bruins coach Mike Sullivan and Ted Donato, former NHL player and current head coach at Harvard.

In addition, Cronin was Associate Head Coach of USA Hockey’s World Junior teams in 1996 and ’97. The 1996 team won the silver medal at the World Championship in Geneva, Switzerland, which was the best finish in U.S. history. The team placed fifth the following season, marking the best back-to-back showings for the U.S.

Prior to Northeastern, Cronin was head coach of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League, the top affiliate of the NHL’s New York Islanders. He also served as Director of Player Development with the Islanders.

From 1998-2005, Cronin worked in the Islanders organization. For the first six years, Cronin served as an assistant with the big club under Mike Milbury, Butch Goring and Peter Laviolette. During the Islanders’ “Renaissance” of 2001-02, when the team posted the fourth-largest turnaround in NHL history, going from a 21-51-7-3 team in 2000-01 to a 42-28-8-4 team in 2001-02, Cronin coached the penalty kill unit that led the NHL and tied a franchise record for shorthanded goals. In his five-year tenure, he also assisted with practice management, developing forwards and scouting opponents. He coached NHL All-Stars Mark Parrish, Mike Peca, Alexei Yashin, Roman Hamrlik and Adrian Aucoin.

Cronin was named head coach of the Sound Tigers in 2003-04 and guided the team to a franchise-record 98-point season by way of a 41-23-12-4 record that included a 22-game unbeaten streak. That team established six AHL records, including lowest goals against average (1.75), fewest goals against (140), best penalty kill (.907) and most shutouts at home (12). He was named head coach of the PlanetUSA team at the AHL All-Star game.

In the 2004-05 season, Cronin guided the Sound Tigers to a 37-38-4-1 record although Bridgeport was playing seven rookies on a regular basis. After starting out 16-22-1-1, the team developed into a winning group, going 21-16-3-0 in the final 40 games. First-year defenseman Chris Campoli had 49 points during an All-Rookie campaign and was joined by fellow rookies Bruno Gervais and Sean Bergenheim on the Islanders in 2005-06. Northeastern All-American Jason Guerriero played in 11 games down the stretch, tallying a goal and six assists.

From 2002-05 while with the Islanders, Cronin was Director of Player Development. He oversaw the training of two-time Selke Trophy winner Michael Peca (best defensive forward), Calder Trophy winner Bryan Berard (Rookie of the Year), Norris Trophy winner Zdeno Chara (best all-around defenseman) and Norris Trophy finalist Eric Brewer. In his role as Director of Player Development, Cronin created a summer curriculum for all players in the Islanders organization based on Long Island. He coordinated with strength and conditioning coaches, trainers and coaches to educate the Islanders’ prospects in all phases of professional hockey.

When USA Hockey began the U.S. National Team Development Program in 1996, Cronin was hired along with current Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson and Bob Mancini, who is now the Director of Player Development with the Edmonton Oilers, to build the program from the ground up. As Director of Player Development, Cronin designed the program’s world-class training facility in Ann Arbor, Mich. and coordinated the team’s strength and conditioning program.

Cronin also coached the U.S. Under-18 team in 1997-98. Current NHL players Adam Hall (Tampa Bay), Jordan Leopold (Florida), Rick DiPietro (New York Islanders) and Andy Hilbert (Islanders) led the Under-18 team to the NAHL finals in 1998, their first season in the league.

Cronin is no stranger to the collegiate ranks, nor to Hockey East, as he was assistant coach at the University of Maine from 1993-95, then served as interim head coach from December 1995 to December 1996. While interim head coach, Cronin guided Maine to a 27-14-2 record and coached the Black Bears to the Hockey East Championship game in 1996. Cronin’s record with the Black Bears included a 7-1 record in exhibition games, with Maine’s only loss coming to the Sweden Junior National Team. As an assistant at Maine, he was responsible for player development, game preparation and assisted in recruiting. He previously was a graduate assistant coach from 1988-90 while earning his MBA at Maine.

From 1990-93, Cronin was an assistant coach and recruiter at Colorado College and helped the Tigers reach the WCHA Tournament final in 1992 for the first time since 1978. He revitalized Colorado College’s recruiting efforts in Western Canada, developed players and directed the team’s conditioning program. He was interim head coach at Colorado College for the first two months of the 1992-93 season.

As a player, Cronin earned four varsity letters in hockey at Colby College from 1982-86. He helped the team to ECAC Div. II Final Four appearances in 1983 and 1984 and received the Most Improved Player Award in 1984 and the Coach’s Award in 1986. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in History and American Studies, Cronin was hired as an assistant coach of the White Mules in 1987-88.

The Cronin name is certainly familiar to Northeastern as his father, Don Cronin, was a three-year letter-winner in hockey, a 1958 Beanpot All-Tournament selection and was team captain in 1958-59. His uncle, Gerry Cronin, was also a three-year letter-winner at NU. Gerry was named Most Improved Player in New England in 1960, was a 1961 Beanpot All-Tournament selection and was team captain in 1960-61. Greg’s cousin, Kerry Cronin, was a member of the great NU women’s hockey teams from 1983-86.

Cronin resides in Boston.

Team	Year	Record	Win Pct.	HEA Record	Finish	Win Pct.	Beanpot	Postseason
Maine	1995-96	12-6-1	.658	8-4-1	3rd	.654	- -	- -
Maine	1996-97	8-7-1	.531	3-6-1	3rd	.350	- -	- -
Bridgeport (AHL)	2003-04	41-23-12-4	.588	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Bridgeport (AHL)	2004-05	37-38-4-1	.488	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Northeastern	2005-06	3-24-7	.191	3-17-7	9th	.241	4th	- -
Northeastern	2006-07	13-18-5	.431	9-15-5	7th	.426	3rd	HEA Quarters
Northeastern	2007-08	16-18-3	.473	12-13-2	6th	.481	4th	HEA Quarters
Northeastern	2008-09	25-12-4	.659	18-6-3	2nd	.722	2nd	NCAA First Round
Northeastern	2009-10	16-16-2	.500	11-14-2	9th	.444	3rd	- -
Northeastern	2010-11	14-16-8	.474	10-10-7	6th	.500	2nd	HEA Semis
Maine (total)	- -	20-13-2	.600	11-10-2	- -	.522	- -	- -
Bridgeport (total)	- -	88-61-16-5	.565	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Northeastern (total)	- -	87-104-29	.461	63-75-26	- -	.463	- -	- -
TOTAL (COLLEGIATE ONLY)	- -	107-117-31	.480	74-85-28	- -	.471	0 titles	1 NCAA Appearance