Jerry Keefe knows a thing or two about hockey in New England.
The Billerica, Mass., native is entering his sixth season as head coach at Northeastern, where he has led the Huskies to an 85-74-13 record, an NCAA tournament appearance, back-to-back Beanpot titles (2023 and 2024) and a Hockey East regular season title. He spent the previous 10 years as an assistant under Jim Madigan, following two seasons as an assistant at Brown.
Keefe was also the head coach at Westfield State from 2007-2009, following a season as an assistant at UMass Boston. He was also an assistant with Team USA at the World Juniors in 2019 and 2020, helping the U.S. to silver in 2019.
As a player, Keefe played high school hockey under the legendary Marty Pierce at Matignon, where he won a state title and was named Massachusetts Player of the Year in 1993, before playing two seasons with the USHL's Omaha Lancers, where he had 119 points in 85 games.
After posting 98 points in 104 games over four seasons at Providence College, including a 52-point junior season, Keefe embarked on a pro career that included stops in the AHL, ECHL and Europe.
Keefe joined New England Hockey Journal editor Evan Marinofsky on the latest RinkWise podcast to share his insights on player development, recruiting strategies, the impact of junior hockey and the importance of culture and relationships in coaching.
RinkWise podcast: Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe
Advantages of being a Beanpot school
Keefe:Â "It's really important. It's something I didn't really realize even growing up around here. I went to Beanpots, and I thought it was the best. It was a lot of fun going to those games. When it came down to college for me, obviously I played at Providence, and when you're at a different school, you're like, 'It's not that big of a deal.' Then, when I got the job at Northeastern and coached in it for the first time, I was like, 'Wow, this is really special.' So, we do use it. It's two games, but it's two of the best games you're ever going to play and two of the most fun, biggest games you're ever going to play in.
"It's definitely a tool that we use, and it's something we're really proud of. Being a Beanpot school here, it's big for our campus. It's big for our president, and it's big for Coach Madigan. He played in it, coached in it and won both as a player, a coach and an athletic director. It means a lot to our school, and we take a lot of pride in that when we talk about it.
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Recruiting strategy with the NCAA's new eligibility rules
Keefe:Â "For me, we look at more for four years. We're really not looking a ton at recruiting a lot of five-year guys. A lot of the players that we recruit are hoping to play hockey, whether that's after Year 2 or 3 or four years, they're ready to move on to play pro hockey. ... We're kind of keeping it the same with our recruiting model, even to the point that we're not going to be afraid to recruit someone and bring them in for three years.
"I think that's the best way to go. From Northeastern's standpoint — every school's a little bit different and every year's a little bit different — we've tended to go a little bit older recently. If you look at probably three years ago, our '04 class, we brought in three or four true freshmen that year. I think it just depends on where your team's at. But I do like the fact that guys can basically go four years of high school, graduate on time, probably play two years of junior hockey and then come in and have their four years."
