Every sports team considers itself a family. Every family has its quirks.
Matti Hartman learned what her new family’s unusual trait would be once she discovered she’d be joining a Northeastern University women’s hockey program whose roster included a teammate named … Maddie Hartman.
“It’s not that confusing,” the former high-scoring Hanover High girls hockey center — that’s Matti — said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “I’m a forward. She has bright red hair. We don’t look that alike. We joke that we’re twins, but we’re not.”
Northeastern coach Dave Flint has only himself to blame.
“Matti has been called Momo; it’s kind of a nickname,” he admitted this week. “The other is a redhead; she’s been calling herself OG, for ‘original ginger.’ There are all sorts of things flying around. Fortunately, one is a forward and one is a defenseman, so I haven’t screwed it up too many times.”
It’s one of the things with which Hartman has become comfortable since joining Northeastern, a first-time NCAA tournament participant last year that visits Thompson Arena tonight for Dartmouth’s season opener. The second-leading scorer in Hanover High history (250 career points), a four-time NHIAA state champ and a two-time player of the year, Hartman already has taken to the higher level of play, scoring two goals and adding an assist during Northeastern’s 4-2-1 start.
Hartman verbally committed to Flint’s program as a Marauder sophomore, so tonight has been a long time coming. So much has happened since, and having a new family upon which to lean has already made Hartman’s transition easier.
“We talked about it (Tuesday) night after the game,” Flint said, referring to Northeastern’s 6-2 win over Beanpot rival Boston University at Matthews Arena. “I asked her, ‘Are you excited?’ She said, ‘Yeah, I’m really nervous.’ She’ll have a lot of fans there. I know she’s excited, but there will be some butterflies in the first period.”
Hartman’s Hanover career track reads like the all-star narrative it should be. A goal-scoring force since her freshman year, the speedy center never lost a game to an in-state foe with the Marauders and notched at least one point in 81 of the 90 Hanover contests in which she suited up, including 44 of 45 over her final two years in maroon and white.
A single-sport specialist, Hartman used the remainder of the calendar for either select-level hockey or sport-specific training. Hartman earned a spot on the United States under-18 national team for a three-game series with Canada in August 2015; she was bypassed for a world junior championships roster spot last winter, but similar experiences at the U22 level remain a goal.
“From now on, it’s all invitation-based,” she said. “National team scouts will come to watch our college games. It’s not like U18, where you go to a tryout. You’ll only get an invitation to do it (at U22). You don’t try out to go to a tryout.”
Flint, Northeastern’s head coach since leaving a similar post at Manchester’s Saint Anselm College in 2008, has already noticed the effort Hartman puts into hockey both on and off the ice.
“At the high school level, you can get into some bad habits,” he said. “They don’t really affect Matti because she can recover from a mistake. At the college level, if you’re not responsible in your own end and not diligent with coverage or taking care of the puck and things like that, in college they make you pay for that.”
Perhaps the best thing for Hartman for now has been the presence of family at a time when she’s needed it most.
This summer, a few weeks before Hartman was due to report to Northeastern for her first college classes, her mother, Jinny, died at the age of 52. Matti and her brother, Ben, a Northeastern junior, are close. She’s found it a help having him on campus and has been able to see Ben play in his club hockey games when she’s not busy with her own team.
The relative geographic closeness of Boston has also made it easier for her father, Gregg, to be on hand for both of them.
“Everyone here has been really supportive,” Hartman said. “We go into practice every day and compete really hard, but off the ice we have each other’s backs, and that’s been really special here.”
The Hanover hockey community has rallied around the Hartman family in support. So, too, has Matti’s new family at Northeastern.
“One thing about Matti — and I’ve told Gregg this — is every time I see her, she has this big smile on her face,” Flint said.
“She’s always upbeat and positive. It’s amazing how already she’s so well-liked within the team. She’s just such a good kid, a bubbly personality who lights up a room. Considering all she’s gone through, it’s amazing how strong she’s been.”
So when she steps out onto Thompson’s familiar surface tonight, one on which she skated as a youth and spent years watching the Big Green compete, Hartman will have two families rooting for her.
One hails from Hanover, and it’s been around for years. Beyond her brother and father is the group that witnessed Hartman’s growth through hockey, the success she and her Marauder teammates generated from it, the opportunity earned to continue playing at the sport’s collegiate level.
The other is newer and still growing.
“It’s been really amazing,” Hartman said. “I didn’t know what to expect at first; I just wanted to do my best and see what happens. All of the upperclassmen have been welcoming to all of the freshmen, and our class has been getting along well. We’re really close.
“It’s fun to play at this level every single day. Every practice and every game is at a really high compete level, and it’s fun to be a part of it.”
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.