Hockey is a game of sound.

The cutting up of the ice on a quick-turn, a teammate’s stick banging like a judge’s gavel for a pass and the cheers of a crowd turned frantic from a goal fill all 17,000 square feet of ice.

The breaking of bone while blocking a shot, too.

Austin Goldstein, while practicing before his sophomore season at Northeastern University, suffered from the latter. Coming off a great freshman campaign, tallying six goals over 25 games, his future was in jeopardy with this injury. 

“I missed about… six weeks and then I got a cortisone shot and… was able to get into a boot,” Goldstein said regarding his initial recovery.

Following these six weeks, Goldstein stepped back onto the ice with a broken ankle. Instead of taking off and resting, the Reading, Massachusetts native toughed it out and played out the rest of the season.

But his journey with the injury following his sophomore season was not yet be complete.

“I had… pretty extensive surgery where they had to take out some bone and screw my ligament back into my bone,” Goldstein said.

The recovery for this was nine months long and he couldn’t play through it like the prior season. Goldstein would miss his junior season, and he said “… it was a long, long process.”

Today, he is back on the ice with a new title: assistant captain. Goldstein credits his ability to slot into where he needs to be as part of the reason for his selection.

“From my freshman year on, I’ve known my role and I’ve done well in my role,” Goldstein said. “Every team, from NHL all the way down to young kids, you can’t have all the same players on the team.

In the Huskies’ first two games of this season, Goldstein was on the ice with the team, notching a block. These two victories, a sweep of a home-and-home against Merrimack, meant so much more than just two more ticks in the “W” column.

In a conversation with a friend’s father following the Merrimack series, Goldstein remembers how happy he was for him. Goldstein said that the friend’s father called him, “and he just said, ‘I’m happy for you, I know you much work you’ve put in the past year and a half and what you’ve had to deal with with your ankle.” 

Goldstein also shared his personal perspective on his journey to full recovery.

“Being able to go out there and play with your team after such a long, tedious recovery process is just… such a relief,” Goldstein said, “I just want to do whatever I can to help the team win.” 

Getting to this season was a long and brutal process for Goldstein. Now, with COVID-19 affecting play, this season will be just as much of a challenge. Though, following the two first games, Goldstein is holding his head high in the face of a strange season. 

Due to the pandemic, college hockey is in a bit of a strange place, as is the entire world. This has lead the Northeastern team to take actions everyone has, such as wearing masks and consistently testing, to more unique ones such as the team using four separate locker rooms.

On having four different locker rooms, Goldstein said that it has, “been one of the most challenging things because you really can’t get to know the guys as well… it hasn’t been the same as years past.”

The separation has created a scenario in which fostering a team dynamic is much harder.

“You can’t have guys over at your dorm, you can’t sign anyone in, like I said you can’t be in the same locker room so it’s hard to get that closeness with your team,” Goldstein said.

The assistant captain does go on to clarify that “we’re able to do it through practice, but it’s just more challenging.”

One of the biggest hits from this pandemic for the Huskies has been the omission of the Beanpot from this year’s schedule. The Beanpot is a Massachusetts-based yearly tournament between Boston University, Boston College, Harvard University and Northeastern. In the past three iterations of the tournament, Northeastern has won all of them. This year, that won’t be possible.

“It’s heartbreaking, especially [because] I’m a local kid. I live twenty minutes North of the city, I grew up going to the Beanpots,” Goldstein said about the tournament. He continued saying, “We don’t get to defend our title, we don’t get the possibility to possibly win a fourth in a row.” 

With all the unknowns created by the pandemic, a season can completely change on a dime. This has led to Goldstein adopting a somewhat obscure phrase to mark the season, “anytime, anyplace.”

What does that mean, exactly? 

“With the schedule changes, with COVID-19, with this and that, we just gotta be ready to go anytime, anyplace,” Goldstein said. “Whether it’s a one o’clock game, a seven o’clock game, a mid-week game, our mentality is whenever they tell us to play, we’re going to be ready to play.”

In college, especially within its athletics world, the future is a constantly monitored item. Northeastern’s assistant captain would like to focus on the season and do what he can for his teammates. Though, the future is an unavoidable subject.

Austin is “still deciding upon” his future. But, he adds that he has “great opportunities from a work standpoint and hockeywise.”

The story of Austin Goldstein is far from over. With his eligibility extending one more year due to injury, there is the possibility he plays again for Northeastern. Though, Goldstein’s goals are in the now: helping his team anytime and anyplace.

John Smark