Northeastern University introduced Jerry Keefe as men’s hockey head coach this week, and New England Hockey Journal was there to go one-on-one with him at the conclusion of the formal press conference.
Keefe, 45, has been with the Huskies since 2011 as an assistant and associate head coach. His strong relationship with former bench boss and new NU athletics director Jim Madigan, created a seamless succession, the latter crediting Keefe with sharing the same values and vision. This made it a “no-brainer” in Madigan’s words, to promote Keefe to take over the men's hockey program.
As far as the team is concerned, Keefe needs no time to familiarize himself with the situation and can get right to work in terms of finding a new assistant coach to work alongside Mike McLaughlin. That continuity will serve the student-athletes well, but look for Keefe put his own stamp on Northeastern hockey as he develops his own coaching style.
“Number one, make sure you are prepared to be held accountable by not only me, but by the players on the team,” Keefe said in comments directed at the NU incoming class. “We set a certain standard here at Northeastern and our older guys, they understand that standard. So, for the new guys coming in, it’s just to understand that every single day when you get to the rink you’re focused on getting better and focused on a full 100 percent commitment to yourself and your teammates.”
Keefe cited maintaining a culture of accountability and support with the team, where players must understand the importance of preparation to excel in all situations, whether on the ice at practice, in games, or off the ice and in the classroom.
“One thing is to make sure every time they step on the ice to make sure they are prepared,” he said when asked about what advice he would give to aspiring college players. “You never know who’s watching. If you’re going to play a game in the spring or summer, make sure you perform at your highest level, because there is always someone there watching you. That means to be in shape, eat right, get the rest you need and understand that you can't give less than your best effort.”
“Just be really good at what you are as a player,” he said. “Having a high compete level is extremely important. Be a sponge; pick a player that you really like in the National Hockey League and feel like plays a similar style to yours. Watch them and learn from them, because there are so many resources out there for players to take advantage of, and develop the details that will help them keep playing hockey for a long time.”
Keefe’s own experience playing in the USHL in the mid-1990s gives him valuable insight into players getting out of their regional comfort zones. Although the league has evolved significantly since his playing days, the experiences have not. Being away from home, preparation the players receive from coaching and better competition often create a springboard for many student-athletes to find success playing college hockey.
“I think that players are in better shape and better condition when they come in,” Keefe said of first-year college players who arrive to Northeastern from high-level junior programs. “They understand things a little more, but it is still an adjustment to the college game. I mean, you’re coming in having been one of the best players from the teams you came from, so I think it is an adjustment to maybe a different role initially. But, I do think these junior coaches do a phenomenal job preparing the players, and in turn, they tend to make that adjustment to D-1 hockey pretty well.”
With an inbound freshman class that includes USHL and U.S. NTDP forwards Justin Hryckowian, Matt Choupani, Ryan St. Louis (Riverside, Conn.), Jack Hughes (Westwood, Mass.) plus Boston Advantage and NAHL defenseman Cam Gaudette (Braintree, Mass.), Keefe has an impressive group to work with.
“You really want to develop a relationship with incoming freshmen right away so they feel comfortable coming to you with anything,” Keefe said. “And we stress to them getting off to a really good start in the first semester. So, we try to help them manage their time, not throw too much at them initially, and we also have great academic support here at Northeastern, so if our players want to do well, they have the resources available to them, and that’s important to us.
“I really like our incoming class. We’ve got a lot of hockey players who are really skilled and smart, and I like their compete, so we’re excited about our incoming group.”
