Donna-Lynn Rosa, Class of 1990, has been elected to the Northeastern University Hall of Fame for excellence in the sport of ice hockey.
Rosa became the leading defenseman of her era and led the Huskies to two Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) titles.
She hailed from Mississauga, Ontario, where she started for St. Martin’s High School. She won a total of 25 letters in eight sports and in her senior year was voted the Athlete of the Year. When coach Don MacLeod offered, she became the first woman in Ontario to receive a hockey scholarship.
Rosa arrived at Northeastern in 1985 to a program that was already one of the nation’s finest. She was to make it even better. Her freshman year, the Huskies went 19-4-1 and battled to the finals of the ECAC only to bow 6-3 to New Hampshire. In the 1980s there was no NCAA connection to women’s ice hockey so an ECAC title was the national championship game and All-ECAC was the equal of All-America.
Her sophomore year, the team eclipsed the 20 win mark for the first time with a 23-3-0 record. In the ECAC’s, they once again rose to the championship game, losing again to New Hampshire 3-2. That year Rosa scored 16 goals with 17 assists for 33 points.
Rosa’s junior season of 1987-88 was the finest in Husky hockey history. NU went undefeated with a 26-0-1 record and for the first time won the ECAC Championship with a 5-3 win over Providence. Rosa opened the title game with a hat trick in the first period to spearhead the victory. For the season, she scored 22 goals and had 21 assists for 43 points and was voted All-ECAC.
Rosa’s final season once again covered her with glory. She was elected captain and the team went 22-3-0. They clinched their second straight ECAC title with a 4-2 win over Providence. Rosa had 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points and was once again selected All-ECAC.
Over her four-year career, Northeastern had 90 victories to only 11 defeats and three ties. Rosa had 56 goals, then good for sixth in the Huskies’ archives, 65 assists, again good for sixth, and 121 points, good for fifth. All those marks were best for defensemen.
Upon graduation, Rosa played seven years in the National Women’s Hockey League. She won an NWHL championship with the Toronto Aeros and finished her playing career with the Brampton Thunder. She then coached the Thunder to two NWHL titles. Just last year, she was named General Manager of the Brampton Thunder.
In 1997, Rosa was the last player cut from the Canadian National team in preparation for the first ever World Championship. However, she served as an analyst for the TSN telecast.
