The end of tonight’s game featured a lot of yelling back and forth between the teams and, most notably, no postgame handshake. At one point, BU freshman defenseman Adam Clendening was yelling at Northeastern coach Greg Cronin, who then proceeded to grab Clendening. That led to BU coach Jack Parker yelling at Cronin and a number of gestures between the two sides as the Huskies were escorted off the ice. As both coaches explained after the game, though, the whole incident was really one big misunderstanding. In a fitting end to a series where both teams were frustrated with inconsistent officiating throughout, the finger-pointing for the postgame debacle was directed toward the referees.
Here are the two coaches’ takes:
Cronin
I was upset because I wanted my team to shake hands with BU. That was a great series. But I was unaware that the referee had told our team to exit the ice without a handshake. So the BU players were upset and yelling at me, which I would’ve done as well. You know, classless and all these things.
So I went over to ask [the refs] what happened, and then one of the BU players came by and yelled at me. I kind of turned and I grabbed him. It was Clendening. I didn’t know what he was yelling, and I said, ‘It’s not my choice to kick them off the ice.’ And then Jack yelled over, ‘What’s going on?’ He wasn’t being provocative. He was just asking what was going on.
I thought it looked really poor that this was a great series and we’re exiting the ice and the BU team, who lost the series, is waiting for us to shake hands. There was no precedent for it. There was no memo before the game that that would happen. I really didn’t think it was that bad-blooded a game.
The classy thing to do — I mean, this is college athletics — is to walk through the line and shake hands. As the head coach, I took some abuse for it. I was trying to explain that it wasn’t my decision. I actually tried to go back and get my team on the ice, but Benedetto grabbed me and said, ‘No, it’s over. The game’s over.’
Parker
I didn’t know why Greg was arguing with the referee, but he was saying something to the referee. As it turned out, and Greg just told me, he was yelling at him, ‘How come we’re not shaking hands?’ One of my players thought he was saying something else and just told him, ‘Hey, shut up,’ which he never should’ve said. And then Greg grabbed him, which Greg shouldn’t have done either. If Greg had a problem with one of my players, he should’ve come to me and I could talk to the player. That’s the way it usually goes.
But because of that, they decided not to shake hands. And that’s too bad, because both teams fought hard. I went down to their dressing room to congratulate their players while Greg was in here [the media room] just because I didn’t have a chance to congratulate them in the line and wish them good luck. And I do wish them good luck. They’ve had a hell of a run down the stretch here.
LOL – Jack Parker needs NU to do what he can’t do…beat BC.
NU’s not going to beat this BC team, nor are too others.
Merrimack has had BC’s number this year, and UNH blew its chance to win the regular season, so they have some incentive but very little post-season pedigree under Dick Umile.
BC has to be the favorite to win a third national championship in four years, and that is what shouldn’t sit too well on the other side of Comm. Ave.
BU has the better hockey facilities; a bigger, better and more diverse school and a stronger hockey tradition.
These things run in cycles, but BC has been on the upswing for too long recently.
Ask yourself what you thought this team with one contributing senior and 15 freshmen and sophomores was going to do before the season began? They gained a lot of experience this year and will be a better team next year because of it. There are a couple of great recruits coming in to bolster what is missing. Thank you to Joe P. for a 4 years of hustle… Let the next cycle begin.
Ahh, the young team excuse again…
Why did Joe P’s far more talented brother refuse to come to BU and went to UMASS instead? Hmm, makes you think about what Joe P told him about BU.
BU wanted Mike Pereira to play a year of junior b/c there were no scholarships left for forwards.
But thank you for sharing ignorance and inuendo yet again.
haha surprise surprise it turns out to be Benedetto’s fault. I wish I’d known at the time so as fans in the stands we could redirect the abuse directed at Cronin while NU headed to the locker room postgame towards the one who actually deserved it.
Lack of scholarships has never stopped Parker before. He just makes up a reason to boot an existing player from the team to make an opening.
The article is way off target.
Cronin grabbed Clendening after Clendening ran a NU player after the game was over.
The good news is that BU will now no longer have to worry about losing to BC for a 6th time this season.
How could it possibly be off target? What possible reason would Cronin have to cover up for Clendening or another BU player if they ran one of his guys after the whistle? It’s Cronin’s exact words, I’m sure he wouldn’t pull any punches if he could call out a BU guy for that.
Northeastern should enjoy this while the NCAA still allows them to have D-I athletics. I can’t wait for them to beat BC so BC can complain about how NU cheats. Too bad BC students only care about football and basketball (even though they’re not very good at either). BU has an embarrassingly small fan base for a school that large (and a fair-weather one at that). Merrimack needs to stop cherry-picking goals. UNH needs to not choke in the post-season and Maine needs to stop choking in general. Hockey East is the best conference in college hockey so why is BC the only one who can consistently in the post season. Let’s have an all Hockey East frozen four next year (if they stop putting us in the same regions that is).
BU lost to BC times four times this season you idiot. Learn how to count down there at your stellar academic institution…
Pretty classless of Clendening to call Cronin a cheater.
Didn’t BU and Parker claim moral victories in some of those losses against BC because the games weren’t TOTAL blowouts?
Clendening didn’t call Cronin a cheater you idiot. He is a cheater though so it would have been an accurate statement. Pretty classless of the NU players to taunt BU leaving the ice instead of shaking hands like the norm in college athletics. Parker never claimed moral victories..he actually said multiple times he doesnt believe in moral victories but there were some positives the team could draw from. Quite a difference there…
The only positives Parker could draw from the BC games was that the talentless defensemen got exposed and should have more motivation to work on their defensive game.
If NU players were taunting BU players as they left the ice then it was the BU players who had no intention of shaking hands.
No surprise considering Classless Jack is the BU coach.
BU players were lined up to shake hands as NU players departed the ice early you idiot. That is when the NU players decided to lose any respect and taunt them on their way off the ice. That was lead by their classless and cheating coach Cronin grabbing Clendening. Parker went over to their lockroom after the game to congratulate them and wish them the best so I think that is quite the opposite of classless. Get your facts straight.
Agreed on BU’s talentless defensemen. Stop passing it to the other team while trying to clear the zone.