Here we go...

Confirmation.

Irritation.

Betrayal.

When forced to choose a three words to represent my little piece of the last 20 years of futility, those are my choices.

Confirmation, because NU was a 1-win team walking into the 2006 tournament. The Huskies, "led" by netminder Doug Jewer, allowed three first period goals. Jewer was replaced with a mediocre Adam Geragosian for the rest of the game, but they mustered only two goals of offense and lost 5-2 to eventual national championship runner-ups Boston College. A miserable season, although it has to be the first time in history that a team managed to double their win total between tournament games. That Lowell game is actually one of my favorite games of all time, particularly since wins were so rare that season.

Irritation. John Curry was a walk-on goalie for the Rat Dogs of BU. He should never have been as good as he was. In 2007, we had made a marked improvement over the previous season and had a phenomenal freshman goalie in Brad Thiessen. NHL draft pick Mike Morris was back in the lineup. None of this mattered, as Curry made 27 saves and the Huskies lost 4-0. In a typical display of Northeastern hockey at the Garden, Thiessen misplayed a puck into his own net in the third period to give BU a 3-0 lead. That's Northeastern futility epitomized by a Canadian goalie with no emotional attachment to the tourney.

Finally, betrayal. The student population had been hoodwinked into thinking the 2008 team was good. Unbeaten streaks, overtime wins over BC, and an opening-night matchup with Harvard. NU has beaten Harvard far more than any other opponent. The once-every-four-years opportunity to play a middling team from the mediocre ECAC conference is generally seen as a ticket into the championship game. Northeastern, however, seized the opportunity to nap for the first 8 minutes of the first period, giving up three goals and getting only one of their own from Ryan Ginand.

Just as often as the tournament is called the "BU Invitational," the consolation game is typically referred to as the "NU Invitational." For once in my collegiate career, I'd like to win this thing, but if we can't win, I'd still like to see us playing a meaningful game come next Monday.

There should be some limited liveblogging this evening. The game starts at 8:00.

Go Huskies.