Varsity Club Hall of Fame
Jay Heinbuck, Class of 1988, has been elected to the Northeastern University Varsity Club Hall of Fame for excellence in the sport of ice hockey.
A star from Canadian Junior B hockey, Heinbuck’s 70 points scored in 1986 is still a Northeastern record.
Heinbuck is a 1981 graduate of Mitchell Disfrick High School in Mitchell, Ontario, where he starred in soccer, volleyball and badminton. His hockey schooling came in the Junior B leagues. He came to the notice of Northeastern head coach Fern Flaman when he won the 1982 Molson’s Player of the Year award while playing for the Stratford Cullitons. The Huskies had just won the 1982 ECAC Championship, and Flaman thought that should attract “blue chip” talent. It did, and Heinbuck chose Northeastern.
His freshman season, Heinbuck adjusted from Junior B to college hockey and had five goals and 13 assists for 18 points as the Huskies went 13-14-1.
In his sophomore year, he began to blossom, and, in Flaman’s words, became a “big game player.” Heinbuck had nine goals and 26 assists for 35 points. He starred in the 1984 Beanpot, scoring seven points on a goal and six assists as NU defeated Harvard and Boston University to win its second-ever Beanpot.
The junior season of 1984-85 was a disappointment to both Heinbuck and Northeastern. His point production dropped to 22 on six goals and 16 assists, and the team would go 13-24-1 in its first year of Hockey East play. However, there was one bright spot: a third Beanpot. With Heinbuck playing on both power play and man short situations, plus skating his regular line, it seemed like he never left the ice. Then NU bested Boston University 4-2 for its third “Pot” and two in a row for the first time ever.
Heinbuck’s senior season as an assistant captain was to be one of the finest ever enjoyed by a Husky player. His 30 goals would rank him eighth in the NU record book, his 40 assists would rank number one and his 70 points still stand up as number one. He also led the team in game-winners (4), power play goals (8) and short-handed goals (2). He also proved to be an “iron man,” playing 134 straight games, then an NU record. The awards poured in. He was named team MVP, All-New England, All-Hockey East and New England’s Most Improved. His career total of 145 points left him seventh in the Husky archives.
Since his 1988 graduation, he has never left hockey, first serving as a graduate assistant coach at NU while getting his 1991 master’s degree. He moved to St. Lawrence in 1992 for 10 years as an assistant and then in 2002 joined the New York Islanders as a scout. Since 2006, he has been the director of amateur scouting for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Heinbuck resides in Woodstock, Ontario, with his wife Jodi, son Lucas and daughter Sydney.
