Frozen Four Detroit:

The NCAA Frozen Four kicks off tonight at Ford Field in Detroit. About a year ago, I had my face buried in my hands as I watched my BU Terriers fall behind 3-1 to Miami in the championship game .... followed by the greatest 59 seconds of hockey I've ever seen when we tied it up and went on to win in OT. It was one of the greatest feelings. Funny how sports can do that to you, isn't it?

But now it's officially time to move on.

Miami-Ohio is back after becoming BU's victim last year in the final game. I love the type of team head coach Enrico Blasi puts together, and I wouldn't mind seeing them finally get their championship. They're still probably feeling the sting of last year's game. This would be a great way to redeem it.

Miami's opponent tonight is good, old Boston College. I'm not the best person to talk about them considering I hate them. The bottom line is they have a good team again. We'll see how they fair. In two of their last three games they gave up over six goals (6 and 7 respectively). Um, that's not that good. They gotta figure something out.

The Wisconsin Badgers. Who doesn't love Bucky the Badger? I've always been a Wisco fan (was THIS close to going there for school too); I probably like them more than any other team in the final four. Blake Geoffrion is the big name here. He's up for the Hobey, and he's pretty unreal. Count on him to do some damage.


And finally, the Cinderella team. Ah, how I love these types of teams. Following in Bemidji State's footsteps, RIT has surprisingly found its way into the semi-finals. RI-who? Yeah, I know. You'll love them though because there's no way not to. No scholarship players. No drafted players. Just a hard-working team who are riding a hot goaltender. They took out Denver and UNH -- no easy feat. They can do this. Will they? I don't know, but I kind of hope so. 

One of my favorite college hockey writers, Ryan Lambert over at Puck Daddy, put together a little preview here. Although I can't say I agree with 'Jerry York is the best coach in college hockey.' That belongs to Jack Parker in my eyes. But that's because I'm absolutely biased, and I've had a closer look at how Jack interacts and helps his players grow. Regardless, the both of them together are a hard act for any coach to follow. But that was completely off topic.

Both games tonight will be shown on ESPN 2 starting at 5:30 with the Wisconsin-RIT match-up.

And They Lived Happily Ever After

Wow.

I'm still in disbelief at what I saw last night in the NCAA Frozen Four championship game between Miami and BU.

It's really hard to put into words. It's one of those things you just have to see. You won't believe it if you read it.

The game last night was one of the best hockey games I've ever seen. One of the tons of writers who covered the game said it was one of the best moments in Boston sports history and compared it to the Red Sox being down 3-0 in the series and coming back to beat the Yankees. It was THAT good.

The game was incredibly fast paced. I've never seen end-to-end action like there was between these two teams. I was practically out of breath watching them. BU got on the board first, but Miami tied it up in the second. The RedHawks shut down BU for pretty much the entire second half of the game. The Terriers just couldn't get any chances in. That's a huge credit to Miami. They played the type of hockey they needed to, and they were physical and very fast while doing so. With 7:30 to go in the third, Miami scored; they notched another one with 4:08 left to make it 3-1.

I'm not going to lie. At that point my confidence was shot. I've seen strange things happen in hockey games, but BU was just not getting any chances to begin with. And here they found themselves down two goals with four minutes left?

I clasped my hands together and just waited. Jack Parker decided to pull Kieran Millan with 3:32 to go. A bold move, but what did they have to lose? The clock kept ticking down ...

And then came the miracles.

BU scored with 59.5 seconds left. It was 3-2. And then with 17.4 seconds remaining, they tied the game.

See? I told you you wouldn't believe it. It was the most incredible final minute of hockey I've ever seen and probably will ever see. It's been BU's story throughout the play-offs: last minute heroics. They found a way to do it against UNH, Vermont and now Miami. You can credit it to talent or skill or whatever you want -- but there is an astounding amount of resilience in those boys that enables them to do this. Any team could easily give up being down 3-1 with four to go. But they didn't. And they were rewarded for it.

It might sound weird to say this, but OT was nothing compared to that final 60 seconds. Kind of like the 1980 Olympic team -- their big moment was against Russia, but they still had to go on and win the gold medal. BU played very well in OT and got the winning goal in a similar fashion as how they got key goals in the past two games -- off an opponent. Colby Cohen shot a puck that went off of a diving Miami player's shoulder and strangely into the net. Looking at the replay, it had to be fate that it was going in.

And that was that. The Boston University Dream Team were officially the 2009 National Champions.


Some other things I'd like to point out about the game:

+ BU should be thanking their lucky stars -- or everyone on their penalty kill unit -- for that game. They've had a problem with discipline all year, and they took seven of them last night. Way too many considering they were only give two power plays. I have to question a referee calling a late-game slash on a team he called six other times and is down 2-1 with a championship on the line, but that's another story. If Miami didn't go 0-for-7 on the PP, the game could have been completely different.

+ Millan looked a little nervous again tonight. I don't blame him. He's 19 years-old playing in his first year in a national championship game. Both teams had freshman goaltenders, but Cody Reichard is 22 years-old.

+ I didn't buy into the whole "Miami is such an underdog" story. It was way overplayed, and the RedHawks showed that last night. They looked extremely good out there -- better than BU for half the game. People kept pointing out how they had never played in a championship game ... but none of the players on the BU roster had either. I understand the history is deeper, but history is history. Now is now. Miami has played over .500 hockey since 2005-06. They made it to the tournament last year; BU didn't. I understand the Terriers were ranked number one for a large part of the season, but I wasn't at all surprised to see Miami in the final alongside them. They're a good hockey club. Their head coach even pointed out how their senior class has won more games in the past four years than any other.


So there it is. I woke up this morning and realized it wasn't just a dream. I've been watching hockey for quite awhile now, and I have never seen a team like this. I don't know that I ever will again. In any league. From the chemistry right down the pure skill. Is this what it's like to be a Detroit Red Wings fan?

BU is a big school. This isn't BC. It's not a closely-knit campus with pretty buildings and grassy areas. It's a busy city street with an extremely diverse culture where everyone has something different going on. It's not easy to bring everyone here together. But this game did. I saw kids who don't even know what hockey is cheering them on. Students who had never seen a hockey game in their lives. It was the one time I've seen this stretch of Commonwealth Avenue united. People were cheering in the streets. The T was honking down Comm Ave. This is Boston's school.

The only sad part about this whole thing is that it's over. I came to school at BU in the fall of 2006. Chris Higgins, Jason Lawrence, Matt Gilroy, John McCarthy, Brandon Yip ... they were all sophomores back then. To see what they've developed into three years later is awesome. BU loses a huge crop of talent including Colin Wilson. He will be in the NHL next year. He's ready. We'll miss all of them. But they have very bright futures ahead of them. Each one. (And I'm hoping Pittsburgh grabs a few. They have a knack for Boston boys)

Maybe we should say a quiet thank you to Jack Falla, the hockey loving author, BU professor and Sports Illustrated writer who passed away unexpectedly in September, or Meryl Starr Herman, an avid supporter of BU hockey who died that same month. It certainly seemed throughout the entire season that they had a little extra help from someone up there.

2009-2010 will certainly be a little bit of a transition year. The good thing is, they have a great freshman class right now with guys like Millan, Dave Warsofsky and Vinny Saponari. You'll get another year out of Cohen and Kevin Shattenkirk (maybe two more), and hopefully Brian Strait will stick around too. There is a lot to look forward too. But why even bother looking to then. What happened last night was one of the greatest games in hockey. It took 59 seconds to teach everyone the important lesson of not giving up. I'm going to enjoy for a long, long time. What a season.

Burn the boats, boys.

For more recaps, photos and video visit: USCHO, College Hockey News, Terrier Hockey Blog.

Photo Credit.

One More To Go

The Boston University Terriers have a knack for finding ways to win. They did against Maine in Game 1 of the first round of the Hockey East tournament. They did so against UNH in the Northeast Regional final. And they did so last night in the Frozen Four semi-final game against Vermont.

And here I was getting nervous because they were losing with eight minutes to go. What was I thinking?

BU scored two goals in the final seven minutes to beat UVM 5-4 and proceed to the National Championship game. It was a fast-paced game that saw the momentum swing from team-to-team. BU kicked things off early, scoring two in the first, but Vermont came back with three unanswered goals in the second period. It was only the second game of the year where I saw Kieran Millan off his game. He probably wants two or three of the goals he let in back. Maybe it was nerves. Who knows. Whatever it was, hopefully he shakes it off for the next game.

Parker called a time out after UVM's third goal, and whatever he said sparked the Terriers because they played an awesome next few minutes. It eventually paid off when they made it 3-3 before the end of the second. Vermont scored the go-ahead goal with about ten minutes remaining in the third. Then the late-game heroics came out as BU tied it with a goal off of a UVM stick and the game winner with about five minutes left. Amazing.

I can't believe six months after the season started, I'm saying the Terriers are going to play for the championship. It's surreal. I feel sorry for all the students out there who missed out on this team. You won't see another one like it anytime soon. As Northeastern coach, Greg Cronin, said "They're the best professional team in college hockey."

BU plays Miami-Ohio (who sadly beat the Bemidji Cinderellas 4-1 yesterday) in the final game. It will be on ESPN at 7 pm. Make sure to check it out.

Also: The Hobey Baker presentation begins in about four minutes at 7pm on ESPNU. GILROY GILROY GILROY.

Photo Credit.

Frozen Four Eve

The Frozen Four is upon us ... and I am nervous. I know I predicted BU making the FF at the beginning of the year, but it's still surreal to see them there. They have a legit chance of winning this thing, but their match-up against Vermont tomorrow is going to be far from easy.

I remember too well the back-to-back losses Vermont handed the Terriers in the fall at Agganis. It was their first two home losses, and they dropped to 8th in the nation after that. The Catamounts play the type of hockey that can stifle BU's offense. They block shots, they play the trap ... they just get in the way to the point of where it's frustrating. But that's what they should do. That's what they will do tomorrow night, and BU will have to find a way to solve it. The Terriers are going to have to get as many shots on net as possible. Being physical will help too. Throw some hits out.

Goaltending is going to be huge in this game as well. Rob Madore is awesome; I credited him as one of the main reasons Vermont won those games. On the other side of it, Kieran Millan just came off an unbelievable game against UNH.

This game is worth watching, so make sure you turn on ESPN2 at 8:30 to catch it. BU is the favorite in the Frozen Four, but I'm telling you anything can happen. If BU shows up, gets in a flow and does their thing, they will win. But we saw them fail in doing just that against Vermont twice this year.

Some quotes regarding tomorrow's game:

"The senior class, we just took a little bit of extra time in the locker room to be sure that talking to the younger guys, you know, you don’t take this for granted. You might not get this chance again, so definitely bring your A-game."
- John McCarthy

"When you’re the No. 1 team during the regular season, you can get the other teams jacked up that you’re playing. There’s the immediate gratification of, ‘Hey, we knocked off the No. 1 team in the nation.’ I don’t think that has anything to do with this tournament, because nobody’s trying to knock off the No. 1 team. Everybody’s trying to become the No. 1 team. There’s no advantage to being the underdog, because it’s more important to be the champion."
- Jack Parker

Fingers crossed.

As for the other game of the evening, I'm going with Bemidji State over Miami. The Bemidji Cinderellas are on fire right now. When you get on a streak like that in the play-offs, you don't stop. That game will be on ESPN2 at 5:30.

Source.