Two NHL opponents crossed the back side of Traverse City’s West Arena, stalking each other for a much-anticipated confrontation. As they closed within a few feet, the young men broke into broad smiles, immediately transforming into best buds from college.
2018 Beanpot champions Dylan Sikura and Nolan Stevens had just battled against each other for 60 minutes plus overtime in opposite NHL uniforms at the Prospect Tournament in Traverse City, but they were clearly friends, not foes. They hugged for five seconds, laughed, clapped backs, and then Dylan wiped his eyes. The poignant emotions generated by four years of mutual struggle and triumph at Northeastern trumped any ill will from the game.
“I spent four years playing with him and being his roommate,” said Stevens of Sikura. “It was surreal to see him in a Blackhawks uniform.”
Sikura, in fact, single-handedly finished off Stevens’ Blues with a hundred-foot dash and snipe in the final minutes of sudden death.
“I thought I’d just throw it at the net and use the D-man as a screen,” said Sikura with poorly masked glee, “and luckily it went in.”
“I think I’ve seen that play one too many times,” said Stevens, a Sea Isle City, N.J., native who in actuality had seen his four-year roommate light the lamp exactly 88 times in a Northeastern uniform. Despite the circumstances, Stevens couldn’t contain his own grin. These two men, acting like playful pups in the far reaches of the Traverse City Centre Ice facility, had spent the past four years helping change Northeastern hockey from annual Beanpot doormats to the heavies of Hockey East. They will share that all their lives.
“(Coach) Jim Madigan always talked about writing your own story,” said Stevens. “We really took that personally. We wanted to change the culture of that place.” And change it they did. Their collective accomplishments the past three years at Northeastern are prodigious: powering the Huskies to their first Hockey East tournament title; twice qualifying for the NCAA championships; and winning the school’s first Beanpot in 30 years.
“Going into my senior year, the main thing was winning a Beanpot,” said Sikura. “To be able to share that with the guys and have that forever is pretty special. We put ourselves in a higher class.”
“Northeastern didn’t have a lot of history when we went there,” said Stevens. “We’re happy they’re starting to get that recognition … keep it going.”
There is another major accomplishment they don’t get much praise for, and that’s the Hobey Baker Award, handed out in April to their beloved linemate Adam Gaudette (Braintree, Mass.). It was the first Hobey in Northeastern’s long hockey history, and both Stevens and Sikura take justifiable pride in the award. The trio combined for 156 points last season, and of Gaudette’s 30 goals, 18 came from the stick of Sikura.
“Me and him had good chemistry the last three years at school,” said Sikura. “For him to do that was pretty special.”
“We all felt like we wanted to win that award for him,” said Stevens. “Seeing him get that recognition, the top of the country, we felt really proud.” Stevens realizes that Sikura, another first-team All-American, might have been just as deserving for the Hobey. “The other guy, Dylan, same category. It was pretty special to be playing with those two guys the whole year.”
Although Stevens might not have the offensive gifts as his two lauded linemates, the Blues are aware of his intangibles, his willingness to get into the crease chasing a puck, despite defensemen battering him upside the head. His grit and determination earned him a ‘C’ on his shoulder up in Traverse City, an unmistakable badge of courage on an NHL uniform. It was Dylan’s turn to be impressed with a college bud.
“I’m pretty jealous, I’m not going to lie,” said Sikura in the playful postgame. “He didn’t look out of place — I’m used to seeing the ‘C’ there.” Stevens wore both a ‘C’ and an ‘A’ on his Northeastern jersey during his career.
These Huskies were just two among the 170 prospects jammed into the Traverse City’s Centre Ice facility for six days, young men in their late teens and early 20s. Most embodied Johnny Cash’s classic song “I’ve Been Everywhere.” Looking at a typical bio, these kids carried big dreams with them on multiple stops: the USHL, major junior, college and minor pro, sometimes several ports of call in a single year. For draft picks like Stevens and Sikura, having a four-year pit-stop in the midst of those crucial development years is rare. But here they were, wearing the colors of the Blackhawks and the Blues, on the cusp of the NHL, despite taking four-year sabbatical to collect a college diploma.
“I wouldn’t take a thing back from going to school,” said Sikura, now 23 years old. “Obviously I was fortunate enough to win Hockey East our second year.”
After his second trip to the NCAAs in March, Sikura got a five-game stint with the Blackhawks in “The Show,” inking up the scoresheet with three assists to close out the regular season. He showed frequent flashes of his soft-handed brilliance in Traverse City and is poised to take his place on an Original Six club in the world’s greatest league.
“This is a good showcase, a good place to start,” said Sikura. “There’s a lot of guys fighting for spots, a lot of management here. The better you do here, the better chance you have.”
But in the middle of all the cutthroat competition, amid the high sticks and dropped gloves, two combatants couldn’t help but bask in their own friendship, forged by four years of magic memories on Huntington Ave.
