The fast-paced and cutthroat nature of New York City breeds some of the grittiest, hard-nosed men and women the sports world has to offer. Swagger, confidence, edge. As Northeastern men’s hockey coach Jim Madigan describes it, a “junkyard dog mentality.”
Beyond the stars blessed with talent lies a different type of player – a fourth-line player waiting for his chance to prove himself. For the 2018-19 men’s hockey team, that player was Patrick Schule.
Schule, along with many of his New England-raised teammates, was exposed to hockey at an early age. Hailing from Queens, New York, however, his path towards hockey was obstructed by the constant hype surrounding the dominant teams in the three other major sports.
Schule resisted the temptation to enroll in more relevant sports largely due to his older brother, Robert, who was inspired by the Rangers’ success to play roller hockey.
“After the Rangers won in 1994, he told my dad that he wanted to play, so we both started playing roller hockey and it took itself from there.”
Schule realized from an early age that he was a cut above the others in the various leagues he bounced around from, and eventually his play garnered attention from multiple collegiate programs. While a member of the New York Bobcats in the Atlantic Junior Hockey League (AJHL), he was approached by Northeastern coaching staff, hoping to recruit the scrappy forward. When decision time came, Schule ensured his priorities were accommodated.
“My most important thing was just getting a good education and being closer to a city, so I figured Northeastern would be a great fit,” he said.
As time would tell, Schule’s moment in the spotlight would not come immediately. The beginnings of his collegiate career were spent in the shadows of the offensively-savvy Stevens brothers, John and Nolan, speedy Chicago Blackhawks wing Dylan Sikura, and Hobey Baker Award recipient and Vancouver Canucks center Adam Gaudette. Totaling no more than five points in each of his first two seasons, Schule was a small cog in one of the most potent offensive attacks in the nation by his junior season.
After capturing their first Beanpot in 30 years, the boys in the red and black made a strong case as a contender for a national championship, but a 3-2 defeat in the NCAA tournament squandered the dreams of one of the strongest teams in program history.
With the imminent departure of graduating seniors Sikura and Nolan Stevens came the even more devastating news that Gaudette would be signing early with the Canucks. Overflowing with offensive talent not one year earlier, the Huskies were left with major holes to fill prior to the 2018-19 season.
“Obviously we depended on those guys to score a lot last year so my role was more the grinder,” Schule said. “This year there has definitely been more opportunity to be on the ice.”
Despite the looming mountain to scale when filling these holes, the new look Huskies approached the new season with optimism.
“The coaches say that each year with a different team, you have to find your identity,” Schule’s teammate and close friend, Lincoln Griffin, said.
Rather than dwell on what could have been, the dogs were hungry to return to the level of prominence they had reached just a season before. Griffin asserted that the name of the game for the Huskies in the upcoming season was opportunity.
“Considering it’s our last season, we have to give it all. We [know] we [have] the opportunity to step up,” he said.
With no one standing in Schule’s way but himself, the kid from Queens solidified a role for himself as an offensive threat in a revitalized offensive unit. A senior member of a new-look squad, he led by example and scrapped, gritted and grinded his way to a career-high 10 goals, more than his previous three seasons combined.
“I’m not playing in the bottom six and I’m taking advantage of that,” Schule noted.
The new breed of Huskies had a strong leadership presence emerge from the shadows, as Schule’s charismatic, team-first attitude shined in full form. By the end of the regular season, Schule led his team in both total penalties and penalty time.
Rather than a dirty play style, it’s his “determination and grind that’s getting him those penalties” said Griffin, highlighting the exact characteristics head coach Jim Madigan had once seen in a young Schule years prior.
“He’s hard to play against, heavy on pucks for a small guy. He just keeps battling and battling,” Madigan lauded. “There’s definitely a little bit of swagger and a little bit of confidence that comes from growing up in [New York City].”
The Huskies finished the season with a 23-10-1 record, featuring yet another hard-fought tournament en route to a second consecutive Beanpot championship. Schule was no longer an afterthought, scoring two essential goals in the tournament.
“We certainly needed to win this year to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke and that we’re the real deal now and this is the standard moving forward,” Schule said. “I just tried to play my game, tried to be Paddy Schule every game and it worked out that I got two grade-A chances and took advantage of both.”
Determined to make a statement, the Huskies stormed into the Hockey East tournament and captured the championship that had narrowly escaped their clutches a season before. Somehow, the new breed Huskies had done something last year’s juggernaut couldn’t.
In spite of a tough 5-1 defeat at the hands of Cornell in the national tournament, Patrick Schule and the Huskies had a season to remember, adding two temporary banners to the rafters of TD Garden while proving to the league that a new standard for Northeastern hockey had been established.
A two-time member of the Hockey East All-Academic Team, the kid from Queens will be graduating from Northeastern with the education he prioritized from an early age on top of two Beanpot championships, two Hockey East championships and three national championship tournament berths to his name. Schule and the rest of his senior teammates will receive their degrees as part of the winningest class in program history.
Though Patrick Schule may never have been the face of Northeastern hockey in his four years on Huntington Avenue, grit and love for the game certainly made the “junkyard dog” emblematic of the Husky mentality.
The fast-paced and cutthroat nature of New York City breeds some of the grittiest, hard-nosed men and women the sports world has to offer. Swagger, confidence, edge. As Northeastern men’s hockey coach Jim Madigan describes it, a “junkyard dog mentality.”
Beyond the stars blessed with talent lies a different type of player – a fourth-line player waiting for his chance to prove himself. For the 2018-19 men’s hockey team, that player was Patrick Schule.
Schule, along with many of his New England-raised teammates, was exposed to hockey at an early age. Hailing from Queens, New York, however, his path towards hockey was obstructed by the constant hype surrounding the dominant teams in the three other major sports.
Schule resisted the temptation to enroll in more relevant sports largely due to his older brother, Robert, who was inspired by the Rangers’ success to play roller hockey.
“After the Rangers won in 1994, he told my dad that he wanted to play, so we both started playing roller hockey and it took itself from there.”
Schule realized from an early age that he was a cut above the others in the various leagues he bounced around from, and eventually his play garnered attention from multiple collegiate programs. While a member of the New York Bobcats in the Atlantic Junior Hockey League (AJHL), he was approached by Northeastern coaching staff, hoping to recruit the scrappy forward. When decision time came, Schule ensured his priorities were accommodated.
“My most important thing was just getting a good education and being closer to a city, so I figured Northeastern would be a great fit,” he said.
As time would tell, Schule’s moment in the spotlight would not come immediately. The beginnings of his collegiate career were spent in the shadows of the offensively-savvy Stevens brothers, John and Nolan, speedy Chicago Blackhawks wing Dylan Sikura, and Hobey Baker Award recipient and Vancouver Canucks center Adam Gaudette. Totaling no more than five points in each of his first two seasons, Schule was a small cog in one of the most potent offensive attacks in the nation by his junior season.
After capturing their first Beanpot in 30 years, the boys in the red and black made a strong case as a contender for a national championship, but a 3-2 defeat in the NCAA tournament squandered the dreams of one of the strongest teams in program history.
With the imminent departure of graduating seniors Sikura and Nolan Stevens came the even more devastating news that Gaudette would be signing early with the Canucks. Overflowing with offensive talent not one year earlier, the Huskies were left with major holes to fill prior to the 2018-19 season.
“Obviously we depended on those guys to score a lot last year so my role was more the grinder,” Schule said. “This year there has definitely been more opportunity to be on the ice.”
Despite the looming mountain to scale when filling these holes, the new look Huskies approached the new season with optimism.
“The coaches say that each year with a different team, you have to find your identity,” Schule’s teammate and close friend, Lincoln Griffin, said.
Rather than dwell on what could have been, the dogs were hungry to return to the level of prominence they had reached just a season before. Griffin asserted that the name of the game for the Huskies in the upcoming season was opportunity.
“Considering it’s our last season, we have to give it all. We [know] we [have] the opportunity to step up,” he said.
With no one standing in Schule’s way but himself, the kid from Queens solidified a role for himself as an offensive threat in a revitalized offensive unit. A senior member of a new-look squad, he led by example and scrapped, gritted and grinded his way to a career-high 10 goals, more than his previous three seasons combined.
“I’m not playing in the bottom six and I’m taking advantage of that,” Schule noted.
The new breed of Huskies had a strong leadership presence emerge from the shadows, as Schule’s charismatic, team-first attitude shined in full form. By the end of the regular season, Schule led his team in both total penalties and penalty time.
Rather than a dirty play style, it’s his “determination and grind that’s getting him those penalties” said Griffin, highlighting the exact characteristics head coach Jim Madigan had once seen in a young Schule years prior.
“He’s hard to play against, heavy on pucks for a small guy. He just keeps battling and battling,” Madigan lauded. “There’s definitely a little bit of swagger and a little bit of confidence that comes from growing up in [New York City].”
The Huskies finished the season with a 23-10-1 record, featuring yet another hard-fought tournament en route to a second consecutive Beanpot championship. Schule was no longer an afterthought, scoring two essential goals in the tournament.
“We certainly needed to win this year to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke and that we’re the real deal now and this is the standard moving forward,” Schule said. “I just tried to play my game, tried to be Paddy Schule every game and it worked out that I got two grade-A chances and took advantage of both.”
Determined to make a statement, the Huskies stormed into the Hockey East tournament and captured the championship that had narrowly escaped their clutches a season before. Somehow, the new breed Huskies had done something last year’s juggernaut couldn’t.
In spite of a tough 5-1 defeat at the hands of Cornell in the national tournament, Patrick Schule and the Huskies had a season to remember, adding two temporary banners to the rafters of TD Garden while proving to the league that a new standard for Northeastern hockey had been established.
A two-time member of the Hockey East All-Academic Team, the kid from Queens will be graduating from Northeastern with the education he prioritized from an early age on top of two Beanpot championships, two Hockey East championships and three national championship tournament berths to his name. Schule and the rest of his senior teammates will receive their degrees as part of the winningest class in program history.
Though Patrick Schule may never have been the face of Northeastern hockey in his four years on Huntington Avenue, grit and love for the game certainly made the “junkyard dog” emblematic of the Husky mentality.
The Red & Black 