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The opening lyrics to Madonna's "Like a Virgin" are "I made it through the wilderness / Somehow I made it through / Didn't know how lost I was / Until I found you." It seems eerily appropriate that this happens to be one of Tom Mutch's favorite songs to belt out on the bus while he travels with the women's hockey team.
Three seasons ago the women's hockey team was still in its double-bladed training skates when Mutch arrived on the scene. They had been around for nine years and had just joined the extremely competitive Hockey East the year before, leaving Mutch with the task of elevating the program from its lower-tier level. With him he brought the experience of being an assistant coach for the 1998 U.S. women's hockey team, the one that won the gold medal at the Nagano Olympics, and that reported a love of singing Madonna songs on the bus.
Since his arrival, the team has shown marked improvement, and this season is off to the best start in its history, an undefeated 2-0-1 mark.
Mutch said the goal for this year is consistency to build up every game, and that will lead to an improved finish from last season.
And his players agree that consistency is the most important point he makes. "Don't take shortcuts," co-captain and goalie Alison Quandt said, referring to his mantra. "If you take a shortcut in practice you are going to take a shortcut in a game."
"Every player is the same," said sophomore Deborah Spillane, the team's leading scorer. "He works everybody really hard and wants us to get better every time we step on the ice."
"He works us hard, but it's worth it," said senior co-captain Sarah Courtney. "He gets us going."
Mutch will always look proudly on the 1998 Olympics, which came as a valuable asset because it is his only experience being behind the bench for a women's team.
"As a coach you can't compare it to anything, what those 20 athletes went through," Mutch said. "As we toured for six months and we saw them get better and better every time they stepped on the ice and then the ultimate goal for those 20 young ladies.
"The U.S. team taught me you have to do a lot of teaching, you have to anticipate you have to do a lot of what these kids are actually going through every day."
Jerry York, coach of the men's team, was on the search committee that eventually hired Mutch, and he remembers watching and respecting him as an assistant when Mutch worked for the University of Nebraska Omaha and Northeastern men's teams.
"I thought he was a must get for BC, I had a lot of respect for him," York said. "Now that he's been here, he's become a great friend of mine ... He's a great role model for our women here as far as our work ethic and just understanding college athletics. He's a great addition to BC, not just in the hockey department but the entire staff."
York and Mutch regularly compare notes on Hockey East schools and share scouting reports and other observations from the ice. "The feedback he gives us on our team is terrific stuff," York said.
But Mutch isn't all work and no fun, according to the players. One game last season he wandered into the locker room before the third period of an away game, wearing a clip-on hair piece. Quandt said "he came into the room screaming" with the wig.
Actions like this one and the Madonna singalongs may seem a little out there for a hockey coach, but Mutch admits his job isn't just about hockey; his goal is "to make sure we do everything to get these student-athletes in the right direction, it's not just about hockey it's about getting them ready for after four years here, preparation for what they are going to have to handle."
His actions certainly seem to be carrying out that idea, and he envisions a lofty future for the program, if he keeps up that attitude. "What I try to do is just treat them like human beings. Whether male or female, they are student athletes. We like to stay positive," he said. "[We're] trying to get this program to be a mirror of the men's program. And I know that is going to take a lot of time and effort, but I think we have made huge strides here in the two years here with the classes we have had."
Those classes he speaks of are the youth and underclassmen that are currently leading the Eagles' offense - players like Spillane and her classmate Sarah Feldman, as well as freshman force Becky Zavisza. Mutch hopes their high level of play will attract even more recruits to come to Boston College and build up a sturdy program of success.
With the recent success of a program that previously had poor results, it seems clear that Mutch has already made some of those contributions to the future. And an undefeated three games may just be the first accomplishment of a team in a position to make some waves this season, and not just sound waves either.
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