The Northeastern Doghouse: A Guide to College Hockey’s Best Fan Section
To someone walking into Matthews Arena for the first time, the atmosphere can be intimidating. Between the noise, people, and endless amounts of chaos there is lots to look at, but most notable is the crowd perched high up in the balcony above the opposing goal side. The Doghouse, Northeastern’s student section, comes out for every hockey game of the season ready to scream, yell, sing, and most importantly, cheer on the Huskies.
The Doghouse was started over 25 years ago by some avid Northeastern hockey fans and has thrived ever since. It is an entirely student run spirit section dedicated to one common goal – cheering the Huskies to victory. It can take a while for a new fan to catch on to everything that goes on during a game. What is a sieve and why do we hate them so much? What are these beans everyone is talking about? And why are we so obsessed with Stacy’s Mom?
The Doghouse is filled with tradition; cheers, song, and chants that have coursed through Husky fans’ veins since it all began. And the setting is perfect. Matthews Arena is the world’s oldest multi-purpose athletic building still in use, having once been a home to the Bruins. But now the Northeastern Huskies get to call it home and it is a meeting point for many students throughout the fall and winter. The Doghouse has mastered several different chants to keep the crowd engaged. The classics are – “Go NU”, “Let’s Go Huskies”, and praising the ice our top-tier goalies play on. Others are much more creative. Being in the Hockey East conference, Northeastern plays many of the same teams every year, giving the Doghouse plenty of time to come up with specific chants against each team. Sieve, hockey-talk for a bad goalie, is by far one of the most uttered words at a Huskies game. The Doghouse cycles through these chants at every game, bringing up the atmosphere while simultaneously lowering any chance of having a voice left in the morning.
The screaming fans aren’t the only thing bringing Matthews Arena to life. The Northeastern Pep Band works side-by-side with the Doghouse to keep the fans excited and lively. During breaks in play, the Pep Band steps in to play fan-favorite songs. Their time to shine happens when Northeastern is leading during the third period media timeout. The refrain begins and Husky fans go crazy screaming every word to Northeastern’s unofficial school anthem. “Stacy’s Mom” has been the go-to song for the Doghouse for years and is the highlight of every hockey game.
The Doghouse is present for every men’s and women’s game throughout the hockey season, but we really show up for the Beanpot. The Beanpot is an annual hockey tournament between Northeastern, Boston University, Boston College, and Harvard featuring a single-elimination bracket to crown the best hockey team in Boston. Northeastern hockey fans pour into TD Garden by the thousands ready to bring the Huskies to victory. This year, the Doghouse got to watch in awe as both the men’s and women’s team brought the trophies home for the second year in a row.
Northeastern as a whole is filled with tradition, but there is nothing that compares to the school spirit, excitement, and fun that comes with a hockey game in the Doghouse. Cheering on our Huskies to a win is where Northeastern comes alive and is definitely one of my favorite ways to get involved on campus.