Celebrating hockey’s origins

There's a magic to playing pond hockey that's really difficult to capture in words. But we keep trying. Here's one of my favorite stories from this year. You can see the printed version here. My thanks to the great work by my editor, Tom Connelly, at the New York Times.

On Frozen Pond: Playing up a Hockey Legacy
CONCORD, N.H. — When Chris Brown, 40, laces up his skates and pulls on his Concord Budmen jersey on Jan. 28, he will be reconnecting with the hockey gods who have smiled on New Hampshire’s capital for almost 130 years. The Budmen are among 52 teams, at least 40 of them from this city of 42,000, that will participate in the first 1883 Black Ice Pond Hockey Championship, a celebration of Concord’s singular ties to hockey played in the elements.

“When I was growing up in Concord, there used to be areas flooded in most of the parks,” Brown, a tournament organizer, said. “Then, over the years, those just slowly went away, whether it was lack of interest or the city not having the funds to do it.”

The tournament at White Park, just up the road from the capitol, is a fund-raiser to help restore outdoor skating opportunities in the city. For players and spectators, it promises a tableau resembling what many hockey historians believe was the first organized game played in the United States, on Nov. 17, 1883.

It took place two miles away, on Lower School Pond (pictured above) on the campus of St. Paul’s, a boarding school whose students have included Astors and Vanderbilts, future United States senators and at least one N.H.L. player, Don Sweeney, the former Boston Bruin and now the team’s assistant general manager.

The term black ice was coined at St. Paul’s, a reference to the smooth-as-glass surface that set when temperatures first plummeted, leading to “black ice holidays,” when classes would be canceled so that the students could skate. According to the school’s archives, hockey was played on campus as early as the 1860s, but the modern game took hold with the arrival of two students, George Perley from Ottawa and Arthur Whitney from Montreal, in the early 1880s.

“At one point, when I was a student here, there were eight rinks on that pond,” said the current St. Paul’s rector, Bill Matthews, a former player and coach at the school. “Every afternoon you’d hear the pucks banging against the boards.”

St. Paul’s is also where Hobey Baker began his ascent in the early 1900s. Baker, whose name is on the award given annually to college hockey’s best player, took his skills to Princeton, but St. Paul’s continued to make headlines. On Dec. 15, 1913, The New York Times trumpeted a game between Baker’s Princeton squad and the “famous St. Paul’s School team” at St. Nicholas Rink in Manhattan. The article refers to St. Paul’s as a “little preparatory school, tucked away in the New Hampshire hills.”

“Unless they really know hockey, most people don’t even know where Hobey Baker came from,” said Jim Hayes, 57, a Concord native and director of the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey, the state’s Hall of Fame.

The City’s Sport
Pond hockey at traditionally blueblood St. Paul’s is only part of the Concord story. The sport here has strong blue-collar roots, too, and has produced Olympians as well as numerous college stars and pros, including one N.H.L. veteran, Kent Carlson, an enforcer who played mainly with the Canadiens in the mid-1980s.

“The competitiveness and the drive to succeed in Concord was just amazing,” said Lee Blossom, 51, who attended St. Paul’s before leading Concord High to the state title in 1977, scoring every goal in the semifinal, a 5-2 victory against Manchester Memorial. “Our era had a tremendous group of athletes and hockey was the sport of choice for many of them. That equation created a real hockey hotbed.”

Blossom went on to captain Boston College and play in the International Hockey League. He said the season in Concord ran six months, from November to April.

“When you grow up in a culture like that, it’s easy to hone your skills,” he said. “Hockey was a way of life.”

In many ways, the hockey culture reflects a strong appetite here for sports in general. For a small city with a sometimes inhospitable climate, Concord has left an unusually well-defined footprint in arenas and stadiums around the world.

In addition to its hockey stars, who include the 1998 Olympic gold medalist Tara Mounsey, Concord has produced Matt Bonner of the San Antonio Spurs; Red Rolfe, an All-Star third baseman and table setter for Lou Gehrig on Yankee teams of the 1930s; Bob Tewksbury, whose pinpoint control earned him a 13-year major league career; Joe Lefebvre, who homered in his first two games as a Yankees rookie in 1980; and Brian Sabean, the general manager and architect of the World Series-champion San Francisco Giants.

And yet no sport has captured the city’s imagination quite like hockey.

“It’s one of those places where you go to the park and the pond will be plowed and people will be playing hockey on it,” said Bonner, who stands 6 feet 10 inches and said he stopped playing hockey when he was 12 and could no longer find size 13 skates to rent at the skate shack.

Shinny Town
Teams playing pond hockey, or shinny, began appearing in Concord 100 years ago. The famed Sacred Heart squad, formed in 1929, played on an outdoor rink alongside the church. The Sacre Coeur, as the team from the then largely French-Canadian parish was known, was made up of local players and St. Paul’s teachers, said Tom Champagne, 81, who played at Concord High and worked at St. Paul’s for 35 years.

So formidable was Sacred Heart that the United States Olympic team, on its way to the 1952 Games in Olso, stopped by in Concord for a game.

“The Sacred Heart group was up, 5-3, after two periods but ended up losing, 8-6,” said Hayes, who still skates weekly and will play for the White Park Hockey Club in the tournament. Champagne, one of five surviving members of that Sacred Heart team, said, “As far as I’m concerned, when I was still playing for Sacred Heart, Concord had the top team for hockey next to the Berlin Maroons,” a reference to a traditional power from the state’s northern reaches. He added, “Concord was a real good hockey town.”

Ensuring that Concord remains just that is one of the goals of the 1883 Black Ice tournament, in which seven-person teams, in three divisions for men and one for women, will play four against four on six rinks.

“It’s shinny hockey,” said Tom Painchaud, 55, a Concord native and St. Paul’s graduate, “like we used to play when we had nothing else to do on a Saturday afternoon.”

The tournament was the result of a brainstorming session between Brown and David Gill, the city’s recreation director. The City Council directed Gill to find ways to help offset budget shortfalls, and he reached out to Brown, a board member of the Concord Boys & Girls Club

“This is not necessarily about hockey; it’s about a community,” Brown said. “It’s a great way to showcase a great facility. Not every town has a park like White Park."

Gill said the tournament, through its business partnerships, has already raised enough money to revive a skating area at Rollins Park in the city’s South End. “We haven’t had skating there in two or three decades,” he said.

Moving Indoors
Hockey in Concord moved indoors with the dedication of the Everett Arena on Dec. 7, 1965. The arena was named for Douglas N. Everett, a member of two Olympic teams who was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1974.

“The interest in hockey, when they built the Everett Arena, just exploded,” said Blossom.

The arena ushered a new era in Concord hockey lore. Champagne’s son, also named Tom, recalls the visceral thrill of attending amateur games there, starting with the Concord Shamrocks, alongside his father.

“In the days before Plexiglas, it was wire mesh, and you could smell these guys,” said Champagne, a Concord High player and current Legends president. “You’d get sprayed with the shavings. You could see the blood. You’d be right there. That was before we were watching the Bruins. That was the place to be for a game on Saturday night.”

Sabean, 54, who never played hockey but whose brothers did, said the opening of Everett and the availability of Bruins games on television for the first time revived the sport from a down period.

“That place was going 24 hours a day almost, to accommodate all the teams,” he said of the arena. “They had youth teams, the high schools, travel teams, games, practices, what have you.”

Over the years, the city was also home to the Coachmen (1966-68), the Eastern Olympics (1967-74), the Tri-City Coachmen (1974-75) and the Budmen (1975-92). Leagues came and went, among them the Granite State League, the Can-Am League and the New England Hockey League.

“I watched them all,” the elder Champagne said. “That was good hockey. It was a different era, but a great era.”

For the younger Champagne, 52 and with three sons, the 1883 Black Ice tournament is a reminder of how things used to be and an example of how different the game is for today’s generation.

“What’s unique for guys my age is that I spent just as much if not more time outside playing hockey,” said Champagne, who will suit up for the Turkey Pond Flyers. “Nowadays, even my kids, it’s pretty limited how much time they go out. They don’t know what the nuances of the ice are like. You’ve got to learn to skate around the cracks, and how the puck’s going to bounce. You have to shovel the ice off. If you miss the net, someone has to go get the puck.

“It was just shinny pick-up. But that’s where you learned to be creative, where you learned the etiquette of the game, keeping your stick down, being a competitor. I think the kids miss that today, because it’s all about systems, and it’s all about drills at practices.”

Which, ultimately, may be the best reason for a pond hockey tournament, though certainly not the only one.

“There’s nothing quite like skating outdoors,” Matthews of St. Paul’s said, “no matter what the weather: whether it’s freezing cold or one of those beautiful cool days when the sun is shining, one of those magical days.”

FINIS

Drop the puck!

I always look forward to Hockey East's Media Day, because its the milepost that indicates that the college hockey season is right around the corner. This year, I covered the festivities for ESPNBoston.com. The main feature can be found here, with the accompanying Notebook posted here. Below, you can find both. Full props to Steven King of Icon SMI for this great shot of Boston College netminder John Muse.

Defending champs tabbed as nation's No. 1
BC faces tall task of repeating, gunning for third crown in four years

Make no mistake. Boston College hockey coach Jerry York knows exactly the odds he's up against this season as his Eagles (29-10-3 overall last year; 16-8-3 Hockey East) look to defend the national crown they won last spring. Minnesota (2002-03) and Denver (2004-05) were each able to repeat earlier this decade, but an East Coast squad hasn't won back-to-back championships since Boston University turned the trick in1971 and 1972.

That hasn't discouraged the pundits, who pegged York's Eagles as the overwhelming preseason favorite in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll. BC garnered 28 of 34 first place votes and 504 points, easily outdistancing North Dakota (4 first-place votes, 462 points). Hockey East coaches agreed, giving the Eagles the top spot with a virtual unanimous vote (York cannot vote for BC).

"That's the best hockey team I've seen in a long, long time," said Northeastern coach Greg Cronin. "They could get 40 wins."

But for York, the memory of a lackluster 2008-09 season (18-14-5, no NCAA bid) on the heals of BC's 2008 championship is still fresh. The same thing happened to York's Eagles after their 2001 title run, when they responded with an 18-18-2 mark, and again missed the NCAA cut.

On Wednesday, though, York looked cool, calm and composed during the Hockey East Media Day at TD Bank Garden in Boston. The No. 1 ranking, he said, is simply "an indication that we have a lot of good players."

Like their cross-town rivals Boston University, the BC Eagles don't rebuild as much as they re-load. The leadership void created by the loss of senior captains Matt Price, Ben Smith and Matt Lombardi is expected to be filled capably by seniors Joe Whitney and Brian Gibbons, and junior Tommy Cross. Add senior goaltender John Muse, who already lists two national championships (2008 and 2010) on his glittering collegiate resume, and the Eagles have the players that can crack the whip.

"Obviously, we'll get everybody's best game, every night," said Muse. "I think our guys have prepared this summer. At the end of the day, it will all come down to how hard we work, and how much fun we'll have."

As for coming into each game with a bull's-eye, Muse replied: "When you come to Boston College, there's the expectation to win every year. So I don't think we'll get worn down by expectations."

York concurred, saying that his players understand that Boston College is never a date that opponents look past. Though the coach prefers to nurture his team during the course of the season, allowing younger players time to develop and mature, he knows the No. 1 ranking brings added pressure from the first drop of the puck this year.

"We're accustomed to that," said York. "We also have high expectations. Now it's time to tee it up."

York can afford to be eager. Cross, the highly regarded blueliner (a Boston Bruin draft pick), is finally healthy, and York expects the junior to have a breakout season. Cross heads a young defensive corps that made huge strides last year (Brian Dumolin led Hockey East with an astounding plus-40 rating as a freshman). Muse and goaltending partner Parker Milner shore up the goal. And up front, the Eagles return their top three scorers, and seven of their top nine, from a team that outshot opponents 33 to 26½ per game, and outscored them 171 to 104, last season. Leading that Magnificent Seven are junior Cam Atkinson (53 points), and senior captains Gibbons (50), and Whitney (45).

And more reinforcements are on the way. York's incoming class, with three NHL draft picks, including first-rounder Kevin Hayes (Chicago), is again rock solid, despite the loss of NHL draft pick Cody Ferriero (San Jose) to Northeastern. Ferriero won't have to wait long to get a close look at the team he spurned, as the Eagles and Huskies clash at Northeastern in the season opener on Saturday, Oct. 9. NU's Cronin knows his Huskies will have their hands full.

"BC has so much returning talent," said Cronin. "So much firepower."

York, however, isn’t making predictions. He expects another season-long battle in Hockey East play, pinpointing Maine (ranked No. 2 in the coaches poll), New Hampshire, Boston University and Merrimack as teams he's particularly concerned with. Asked to handicap his team's chances of repeating as NCAA champs, York opted to hold his hand close to the vest. "That's a question that has to be answered in late April," said the coach who has the second most wins (850) in college hockey history.

But York made the statement with the confident air of a man who expects to be there when the final cards are dealt.

NOTEBOOK
BOSTON - While Boston College is looking to defend its national title, here's a look at Hockey East's other Boston-area schools following media day on Wednesday:

Boston University
Legendary BU bench boss Jack Parker has seen plenty of surprises in his 37 seasons at the helm of the Terrier program, but few could have prepared the 65-year-old for the shock he got late last July. Parker went into the hospital to have a stent implant, but left after having quadruple bypass surgery on his heart.

"I feel fine," said Parker on Wednesday. "I was all blocked up. They say I'll have more energy, now that everything's flowing again."

Which leaves the Terrier coach, who has more wins (834) at a single institution than any other hockey coach in NCA history, itching to get back on the ice. He also has a team that he's excited about, despite losing five of last year's top six scorers (only 31-point man Chris Connelly returns).

"We have 17 freshmen and sophomores on the roster, so we're very, very young," said Parker. "It's quite a turnaround from the championship season of two years ago." This coming season, the Terriers must make due without the bruising presence of Eric Gryba (the school's all-time penalty minute record holder), slick puck-moving defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (who left a year early to pursue his pro career with the Colorado Avalanche), and feisty forward Nick Bonino. The loss of Bonino, a face-off specialist who was critical to BU's success when he was healthy, may loom largest, but Parker wants to make certain his gifted-but-young blueliners continue to mature.

"Our biggest concern will be on defense," he said. "The only guy (on defense) back from the championship team is David Warsofsky, but he's a hell of a player."

A talented junior goaltender tandem of Kieran Millan and Grant Rollheiser return from last year's 18-17-3 squad as well. Also keep an eye on the freshmen forwards, led by NHL draft picks Charlie Coyle (San Jose) and Yasin Cisse (Atlanta). "It'll be interesting. I think it's a terrific (incoming) class," said Parker. "We expect two or three forwards to be very important right out of the gate. And from what we've seen in practice, we can expect a lot of them."

Merrimack College
The Warriors have one of the league's most gifted offensive threats in sophomore Stephane Da Costa, who ran away with the league's Rookie of the Year honors last season after tallying 45 points on 16 goals and 29 assists. However, like BC, Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy (an Eagle alum) must prevent his charges from being simply happy with getting to the Hockey East playoffs. "We took huge steps, but we didn't achieve a lot of our goals," said Dennehy. "Complacency won't be part of our vocabulary."

To make inroads, and possibly gain home-ice advantage in the Hockey East playoffs, the Warriors must improve on last season's woeful 4-16-1 road record. "What it comes down to is confidence," he said. "We know we're good enough. Now we have to take that on the road."

A key could well be the play of junior goalie Joe Cannata. "I think Joe Cannata is floating under everybody's radar," said Dennehy. "I think he's one of the best goalies in the league. And when the lights are shining brightest, he's at his best."

Northeastern
Woe to any Husky who thinks coach Greg Cronin won't be breathing fire this season. The Huntington Hounds missed the Hockey East playoffs last year on the last game of the season, a short 12 months after one of the program's most successful campaigns of recent vintage.

Sophomore netminder Chris Rawlings will have another year under his belt, and if he can mirror the same improvements he showed last season, NU will be set in goal. The incoming freshmen class, which includes forward Cody Ferriero, who spurned Boston College, looks promising as well, with a quartet of towering defensemen, Jake Hoeffler (6-foot-5, 210), Jamie Oleksiak (6-foot-7, 240), Luke Eibler (6-foot-2, 180), and Anthony Bitetto (6-foot-2, 200).

"Those guys are going to be critical," said Cronin. "I'm tired of being small. We've got to make sure we're defending our net."

Up front, Cronin expects typical tenacious Northeastern hockey from his upperclassmen forwards, especially captain Tyler McNeely and fellow senior Wade MacLeod, as well as talented sophomore Steve Quailer, who was granted a medical red shirt after a season-ending injury last fall.

UMass-Lowell
So, who's left to play defense for the River Hawks? UMass-Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald acknowledges that the conventional wisdom is to build from the net out, but the reality is that he lost his top two goaltenders and four top defensemen from last year's 19-16-4 squad. Perhaps UML's best defense will be a strong offense.

"I think we can roll out 12 really good forwards," said Riverhawk coach Blaise MacDonald. "Our forwards are faster and better than last year."

MacDonald said he'll rely heavily on the leadership of his four captains, and especially senior center Scott Campbell.

UMass-Amherst
Coach Donald "Toot" Cahoon lost his two most potent offensive players from last year's squad when James Marcou and Casey Wellman turned pro. "We've got 13 freshmen," said Cahoon. "We're the youngest team in college hockey. We're the great unknown."

"But I love the character of our kids,' he said. "The joy of this is that it's fresh. I'll have their attention."

FINIS

Dropping the puck at the Frozen Four

Well, the time for talk is over, as the Frozen Four is set to get under way at Ford Field in Detroit. Here is the second of two Boston College previews done for ESPNBoston.com.

BC fine-tunes game during Frozen Four prep week
Against Miami, Eagles can't afford to make mistakes

BOSTON – If nothing else, Boston College has proved to be a remarkably versatile and resilient hockey team during its current run through the postseason. The Eagles put the clamps on an offensively gifted UMass Minutemen team, 5-2, in the second game of their Hockey East quarterfinals, shut out a determined Vermont squad, 3-0, in the Hockey East semifinals, and surrendered a single tally to rugged Alaska in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, winning 3-1.

But book-ending those games were a couple of old-time shoot-'em-up affairs; a 6-5 win over the Minutemen in the opening quarterfinal game at BC, and a 9-7 barn-burner against Yale in the NCAA Northeast Regional final. Toss in a pulsating 7-6 overtime win against Maine in the Hockey East final, and BC followers have to wonder which team is going to show up for the Frozen Four semifinal against No. 1-ranked Miami University RedHawks (29-7-7) on Thursday evening (8:30 p.m. ET start).

Eagles coach Jerry York has insisted he's only interested in the common denominator, which is that BC won all six games. In the playoffs, every team has talented shooters, York said, and goals are going to get scored. As long as the No. 3 Eagles (27-10-3) can notch another victory, York said he doesn't mind how it looks. Still, the last thing the Eagles want is to get into a track meet with their opponents this Thursday.

"We don't want to be playing a shoot-out kind of game" with Miami, said BC assistant coach Greg Brown before the team flew out to Detroit on Tuesday. "Some of the choices we made against Yale were too ambitious. We don't want to go into a prevent defense. We want to stay aggressive. But at the same time we want to make smart choices."

Here's why. If the Eagles make mistakes, the RedHawks have a slew of veteran snipers who can capitalize. They have seven forwards who registered 20 or more points, led by senior Jarod Palmer (18-27-45), and juniors Andy Miele (15-29-44), captain Tommy Wingels (17-25-42), and Carter Camper (15-27-42). Add several big-time defensemen with offensive pop – notably Chris Wideman (5-17-22), Cameron Shilling (4-15-19) and Joe Hartman (6-8-14) – and Miami, averaging 3.4 goals a game this year, looks like a team more than capable of running up the score.

Further, given coach Enrico Blasi's penchant for juggling his lines, Miami is a very difficult team to scout, and to match up against. Which explains why BC is more concerned about its own game.

"There's no question they're an extremely talented team," said Eagle captain Matt Price of the RedHawks. "We don't expect to go into Miami and play a 9-7 game."

Against Yale in the regional finals, the Eagles "started running around a little bit" after streaking to a 9-4 lead, and got careless, said Price. The Bulldogs took advantage, roaring back with three unanswered goals to cut the BC lead to 9-7 before the clock ran out.

"We got away from some of the fundamentals, some of the core values that made this team successful," said Price. "Taking care of the puck at both blue lines is significant. At this level, if you give a player a half step, he'll do something with it. We have to negate that."

Likewise, BC's associate head coach Mike Cavanaugh said recent practice sessions were used to fine-tune, and not reinvent, the team. "We're going to play the way we always play," he said on Monday. "Whether it's the first game of the year or the semifinals of the national tournament, you have to do what you do well. You can't change your style. We're not going to be a neutral-zone trap team. We're going to play a pretty aggressive style."

Comparing recent high-scoring wins, Cavanaugh said he was more concerned with the lack of discipline that the Eagles showed in the Maine game. "We want to be smarter playing with the lead," he said. "Maine was more disconcerting that Yale, because we allowed them to get back in it."

Four times in the Maine game, the Black Bears struck for a goal less than three minutes after a BC tally, twice within a minute. "We couldn't hold the lead, and that's something we emphasized all year long," said Cavanaugh. "We just didn't execute. That happens."

If the Eagles do get in a hole early on Thursday, digging out could prove a Herculean task. Miami has a young-but-talented defensive group (all freshmen and sophomores), plus a pair of sophomore goaltenders – Cody Reichard and Connor Knapp – who are boasting All-American numbers. Each has a goals against average under 1.90, and a save percentage above .920. As a team, Miami has a 1.84 goals against average. And although the Eagle forwards have shown this post-season that they're a deep group, with a number of role players stepping up to contribute, expect Miami to key on BC's resurgent second line of Cam Atkinson (27-23-50), Brian Gibbons (16-30-46) and Joe Whitney (16-23-39), which exploded out of a mild post-season slump to score six times against Yale.

"I think we have so much depth, it's not going to be one line scoring," said Atkinson. "We have to have everyone contributing. We just have to realize that the offence will come, but defense comes first."

The fact that BC's leading scorer was equally conscientious of his line's defensive responsibilities speaks volumes about the Eagles recommitment to protecting their own net. Senior Carl Sneep, the lone upperclassman on BC's blueline, said the Eagles' defensive corps, while young, is game-ready, thanks to a number of high-profile games this year, including the Frozen Fenway match and Beanpot final (both against Boston University), and the Hockey East and Northeast Regional sweeps.

"I'm just telling them to focus on their game," said Sneep. "It's knowing how to deal with pressure situations, and not let it break your focus. We just have to play our game."

Meanwhile, junior goaltender John Muse (pictured above), already with one national championship on his resume, brings a quiet confidence that Sneep and Price said is the backbone of their squad. The Eagles will need him at his best.

"We really want to try to implement a complete game plan," said Brown. "Defensively you want to make the ice smaller for the other team. On the offensive side, you want to expand it. If you can take away time and space, it's hard for the other team to do what they want to execute their game plan, no matter how good they are."

Both coaches also downplayed any potential motivation that Miami might have facing a Boston team in the NCAAs for the fourth straight year. Blasi's RedHawks dropped the previous three contests, the last two by identical 4-3 overtime scores, first to BC in the 2008 quarterfinals, and then in heartbreaking fashion to BU in last year's championship game.

"They're a different team and we're a different team," said Blasi, referring to the 2007 and 2008 NCAA games between Miami and BC. "As far as a rematch, that's great for media and Hollywood stories. We're focused on what BC is today. I can tell you they're really quick and fast and offensively explosive. We'll have to be at our best to give them a good game.

"This is the Frozen Four," Blasi said. "Both teams have experience in it. So I think you can throw the experience out the window, and it will come down to the two teams playing on the ice."

York echoed similar sentiments. "I think all the teams that make it to the Frozen Four have great motivation," he said. "The prize we seek lives with you for the rest of your life."

FINIS

Eagles set to fly in Detroit

After last Sunday's wild 9-7 win over Yale, the Boston College Eagles found themselves in familiar territory, as one of the last teams standing in college hockey's Frozen Four. Here's the first of two previews written for ESPNBoston.com.

Eagles mix youth and experience

BOSTON -- The enormous, poster-size hockey schedule that adorns the wall outside the Boston College locker room is different than most. Like any schedule, it features opponents, game dates and times and locations. But the games are listed in reverse order, like an inverted pyramid, with the first games of the season listed at the bottom in miniscule print. The date on top, in large, bold print, is April 10, 2010, the NCAA championship game at Ford Field in Detroit.

That maroon-and-gold poster, while simple in design, speaks volumes about how Boston College approaches the season, and epitomizes coach Jerry York's singular focus. York and his Eagles expect to be in the running for a national crown every year, and they make no bones about highlighting that goal. The fact they were daring enough to state it this year, with such a young team gathering at the Heights, is a testament to the team's ironclad resolve.

"We didn't make it last year," BC's senior captain Matt Price, pictured above, said earlier this week. "We want to get back to it."

Two years ago, the Eagles stood on top of the NCAA hill, dispatching the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in the 2008 finals. But the 2008-09 campaign was a disappointment by BC standards. The team went 18-14-5 overall, but only 11-11-2 in Hockey East. The Eagles came within a whisker of making the Hockey East finals, where a win would have ensured an automatic bid to the NCAAs. But three third-period goals by arch rival and eventual national champs Boston University tripped up the Eagles 3-2, and ended BC's season prematurely.

Even more daunting, York knew he was losing three top-notch senior defensemen in Anthony Aiello, Tim Filangieri and Tim Kunes. When sophomore Nick Petrecki signed a pro contract, and stalwart goaltender John Muse underwent serious hip surgery, York suddenly had a gaping hole in his defense. He looked for defensemen Carl Sneep, a senior, and Tommy Cross, a sophomore, to take on leadership roles. And he called on freshmen Brian Dumoulin, Patch Alber, Patrick Wey and Philip Samuelsson (son of former NHL defenseman Ulf Samuelsson) to play major roles, as well as freshman goaltender Parker Milner to help relieve Muse's workload.

"We're going to break in four first-year players [on defense]," York said last fall. "There will be some growing pains in that process. I'm still optimistic that, as we go deep into our season, this corps will be very solid."

Those players, including Muse, made York look like a prophet. York said his 37 seasons as head coach have taught him to be patient, allowing younger players to develop. Standing next to the oversized schedule this week, he pointed to the early season games, and said those are his team's proving grounds, when it's important to make sure everyone is getting enough ice time.

"In the early part of the season, in October and November, you're not going to shorten your bench," York said. "The idea is to win as many games as you can, but you're trying to give everyone a chance."

Though every game is critical, especially in the pair-wise rankings that are used to determine the teams that make the NCAA tournament, York said it's just as imperative to cultivate talent from top to bottom. York didn't deviate from form, even when the Eagles hit a rough patch right after the Christmas holiday season, losing twice in the Wells Fargo Denver Cup to St. Lawrence and Denver University, and to Boston University 3-2 in the outdoor Frozen Fenway game at Fenway Park.

"That was a low period, but I've always said that's the best time to buy stock in BC hockey, because it'll take off," York said this week. "You're not going to win every game. The trick is to be positive, and weather that storm. We knew we had a good club, and I could see the young kids maturing."

Since the Frozen Fenway game, the Eagles have gone on a 17-4-1 tear (including the NCAA tournament), which bolsters York's reputation as a coach who gets his team playing its best hockey when it counts the most. York's record in March at BC -- 75-25-6 -- bears out his game plan. The senior class of Price, Sneep and alternate captains Ben Smith and Matt Lombardi has gone a remarkable 25-3-2 in March.

"We've had some outstanding seniors with leadership over the years, and this class of seniors rivals any of the classes that I've had," York said. "They are mentors to our younger players."

While the seniors and juniors have led by word and example, the younger players proved to be a quick study. For example, sophomore Cam Atkinson, BC's dynamic right wing, exploded for 27 goals this year after potting seven his freshman campaign.

"Everyone from my class has stepped it up," he said. "Everyone's doing their part."

According to Smith, the Eagles couldn't have run the table in the Hockey East playoffs and Northeast Regionals without major contributions from their underclassmen. "That was one of our biggest questions coming into the year," he said. "We had a lot of freshmen and sophomores, and we were wondering how these two classes would contribute. They see the expectations, and it's great to see Brian Doumulin, Chris Kreider and Phil Samuelsson play so well."

"It has been a huge part of our success to be able to rely on [the underclassmen], especially Chris Kreider down the stretch, and those four freshman defensemen," Smith said. "For those guys, they knew coming in that they would have that chance to gain ice time and to succeed."

"At this stage of the game, it's all about team," Price agreed. "We've built that throughout the year. Right now, we're not seniors, juniors, sophomores or freshmen. We're all Eagles."

Price also acknowledged that the Eagles have benefited from playing in several high-stakes, big-venue games already, including the Frozen Fenway match, the Beanpot and Hockey East finals and the Northeast Regionals. In addition, Kreider played in the World Junior Championships, where his United States squad won the gold medal. Atkinson said those big stages are a major attraction of the BC program.

"That's why people come to BC," he said, "to play in these big games."

The games don't get any bigger than next week, starting with the NCAA semifinals. The third-ranked Eagles (27-10-3) stand a single game away from reaching the championship game. In their way is a worthy opponent, the consensus No. 1 team in the country, the Miami RedHawks (29-9-7). The game is set for April 8 at Detroit's Ford Field, just like it states on BC's schedule.

"We're very excited to be going back to the Frozen Four," York said. "It's the pinnacle for the coaches and players. The only thing that tops it is to win it."

FINIS

Wild regional final in Worcester

Just when I thought college hockey couldn't possibly get any more exciting, or nerve-wracking, than last week's Hockey East championship 7-6 overtime win by Boston College, along come the Eagles in a crazy 9-7 Northeast Regional victory over a gutsy Yale squad! Great for hockey fans; torture for coaches and parents!

Team depth carries BC to the Frozen Four

WORCESTER, Mass. — Speed may be lethal, but versatility and big-game experience proved unbeatable at the Northeast Regional as Boston College employed a dizzying arsenal of weapons to complete a sweep of Alaska-Fairbanks and Yale to land a spot in the Frozen four.

In the end, it was BC’s depth — the Eagles rolling four highly skilled lines — that brought the Bulldogs back to Earth, though Yale put up a valiant fight in dropping a wild 9-7 decision at the DCU Center. Like a football team that can succeed with a grinding, run-first attack or capitalize on an electric aerial show, the Eagles showed they could win almost any type of game their opponents wanted to play. Ugly or attractive, the Eagles were only concerned about the outcome.

“The objective is to win and advance,” said BC coach Jerry York after the Bulldogs cut a five-goal lead to two in the third period before running out of time. “They don’t ask you if it’s a pretty game.”

On paper, the combatants in Sunday’s regional final looked eerily similar. both no. 1 seed Boston College and no. 3 Yale brought a fleet of crafty, tenacious forwards who could skate like the wind and score in bunches, a crew of steady, puck-moving defenseman, and two coaches considered among the more cerebral in the Division I ranks.

But there were subtle differences, starting with big-game experience. The seven BC upperclassmen have a national championship in their back pocket from 2008. The four seniors — captain Matt Price, alternate captains Matt Lombardi and Ben Smith, and defensive leader Carl Sneep — have been to two NCAA finals, losing a heartbreaker to Michigan State in 2007.

“Having that experience as freshmen and sophomores, it really helped our [senior] class and the junior class lead this team,” said Smith. “We are moving in the right direction. Obviously, letting up seven goals, we have a lot to work on. But we are excited to move on to Detroit.”

Even the BC freshmen have big-game experience, having played before more than 38,000 fans at Fenway Park in January, more than 17,000 for the Beanpot final against Boston University in February, and more than 12,000 for the Hockey East semifinals and final earlier this month.

“It helps,” said York. “You can handle the jitters better when you have different experiences.”

Of course, the opportunity to have those experiences is directly linked to the seemingly endless parade of top-notch talent that York and his staff have brought to The Heights. on Sunday night, the Eagles got six goals from their second line of Cam Atkinson (hat trick), Joe Whitney (two goals) and Brian Gibbons, which had been kept in check since the first game of the Hockey East quarterfinals two weeks ago. five Eagles accounted for BC’s nine goals, yet none of them scored the night before in the team’s win over the Nanooks.

“To be successful, you can’t be a one-line team because that line can get shut down,” York said, acknowledging depth is a key component to a long run in the NCAAs. “We’ve recruited outstanding hockey players to BC. In a nutshell, that’s why we’ve been so strong. you replace good players with good players.”

The Eagles won in the trenches against Alaska on Saturday, 3-1. on Sunday, the goals came fast and furious, as the teams tossed caution and defense to the wind, combining for 16 goals, a regional final record. York and his players gave full credit to the Bulldogs for making life miserable for the Eagles on the defensive end.

“Those 9-7 games are always a little scary, but especially with a team like Yale, which is so good offensively,” said Smith. “It was just one of those nights where who can score the most goals wins, and we did.”

After the game, Smith acknowledged that BC’s versatility was crucial to not only winning the Northeast Regional, but gave the team confidence heading to the Frozen four.

“That’s going to help us moving forward, being able to play both types of games, being able to gut it out like we did against Alaska, and being able to use our offense and our firepower to win a 9-7 game,” said Smith.

Despite the final score, perhaps the single most glaring difference between the teams was in net. BC junior John Muse came into the regional final boasting a sparking 14-1 postseason record. In NCAA tournament games, Muse was 5-0 with a 1.75 goals-against average and .947 save percentage. And although his statistics may have taken a hit on Sunday, Muse never looked rattled. The East Falmouth native kept his composure in the face of a furious Yale comeback over the last eight minutes.

“He competes,” York said of Muse. “He probably wishes he had a few of those goals back. But the fact is, he’s a winner, and he’s going to the Frozen four.”

At the other end of the ice, Yale junior Ryan Rondeau allowed only two goals against the Fighting Sioux of North Dakota after winning a two-week, three-player goaltending audition to get the start. his performance, and the start, was a surprise to many Yale followers, since Rondeau hadn’t played since Nov. 7, in a 3-3 tie against Union. on Sunday, however, Rondeau’s game came apart at the worst possible time, and the junior barely made it past the halfway point of the game, leaving with BC holding a 5-2 lead.

BC’s Brian Gibbons opened the scoring with a short-side sizzler that could have beaten even the best D-I keepers. Yale, the nation’s top scoring outfit, responded predictably, pouring shots on the BC net, forcing Muse to make big saves on Broc little and Colin Dueck before Brian O’Neill knotted to score. The backbreaker for Rondeau came three minutes later.

With BC short-handed, Sneep attempted a clearing one-timer from his own zone. O’Neill got a got a stick on the shot, which floated the length of the ice, bounced once about 10 feet in front of Rondeau and over the goalie’s left shoulder.

“That was a huge goal, and a long goal,” said a smiling Atkinson. “I think the momentum just shifted right there and then.”

Though Yale coach Keith Allain stuck with Rondeau for another 14 minutes and three BC tallies, it was clear the netminder was fighting the puck. The teams traded goals to open the second period, but Atkinson struck for his first of three just 11 seconds after Mark Arcobello had brought the Bulldogs to within 3-2. Atkinson scored again at the 10:29 mark to give the Eagles some breathing room at 5-2, and Allain pulled his junior netminder seconds later.

Rondeau’s goaltending colleagues didn’t fare much better. The Eagles blistered eight shots on senior Billy Blase, with Whitney and Atkinson (in the AP photo above) connecting. Allain then opted for freshman Jeff Malcolm, who was victimized by two Jimmy Hayes goals within 23 seconds early in the third (the fastest back-to-back goals by the same player in an NCAA regional game).

Down 9-5 with less than 13 minutes remaining, Yale showed that, while comparatively thin on postseason experience, it was big on heart.

“We have offensive talent,” said Allain. “We’ve come back before. when you do something once, you get confidence that you can do it again. It’s a belief, and it’s talent.”

Over a five-minute stretch in the last seven minutes of the third, Yale attacked BC relentlessly and was rewarded with goals by Arcolbello (13:32), O’Neill (15:55) and little (18:38). It was, however, too little, too late.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of my guys,” said Allain. “There were numerous occasions during the course of the game where they could have thrown in the towel, but didn’t.”

York said Yale deserved credit for refusing to quit. Still, he added he wasn’t overly concerned with his team’s apparent lack of a killer instinct.

“Winning hockey games is putting teams away,” he said.

Afterward, Muse looked relieved but relaxed. “Just like Maine last week [a 7-6 overtime win in the Hockey East final], it shows how tough it is to take a team’s sticks away,” said Muse. “No one wants to see a 9-7 game, but we won, and that’s the key.”

“And we’re not finished yet,” he said. “We’ve got two more games to win in Detroit. The key is to go out there and enjoy ourselves. It’s business, but we’re going to have fun.”

With such a level-headed goaltender, and a team with more depth and versatility than some collegiate All-Star squads, the Eagles figure to be a force at Ford Field.

Brion O’Connor is a Boston-based freelance writer. he can be reached at brionoc@verizon.net.

FINIS

BC steps up, takes out Alaska

Despite teetering on the brink of hockey overload, I have to admit there's nothing quite like the NCAA playoffs. Saturday night's Northeast Regional semifinals were another great example. Here's the recap, done for ESPNBoston.com ...

Eagles advance to Northeast finals, to face Yale

WORCESTER, Mass. – If this keeps up, the Ballad of the Unsung Hero may soon rival that of Doug Flutie and the Hail Mary Pass in the annals of Boston College folklore.

On Saturday, BC's Matt Lombardi reprised that role (photo at right, by Melissa Wade), while freshman Pat Mullane added his name to an ever-expanding list of role players rising to the occasion as the Eagles edged a resilient Alaska Nanooks squad, 3-1, in the Northeast Regional semifinals.

"Our team was in a terrific battle tonight," said BC coach Jerry York. "I've never been in a NCAA Tournament were the games aren't difficult.

Last week, it was Lombardi, a senior alternate captain and self-admitted grinder, who boldly stated, after the Eagles overtime 7-6 Hockey East title victory over Maine, that teams had to be willing to trade chances in tournament play. Lombardi had just walked the talk, registering his first career hat trick (after scoring seven in his previous 140 games), including the game-winner, to send the Eagles into the NCAA tournament on a high note.

"Trading chances" was exactly how the BC's Northeast Regional semifinal match with Alaska (18-12-9) started, with each squad getting quality chances but unable to connect. Alaska, making their debutante appearance in the NCAA playoffs, four times zones away from home, hardly looked like deer in headlights as they went toe-to-toe with the highly skilled Eagles (26-10-3).

"We're a confident group," said Nanook alternate captain Kevin Petovello, a junior from British Columbia. "We've got a ton of guys with a lot of heart."

York agreed. "We had all we could handle," said the Eagles bench boss. "I don't think there's any stage fright in their players. We feel very fortunate that we're moving on. It took pretty good effort to get past by Alaska."

But it was Lombardi, one of the BC's designated checking forwards, who put the Eagles on the board first with a mercurial rush while BC was a man down, with Tommy Cross in the box for interference. After the puck got chipped behind the Nanook defense, Lombardi tracked it down at full stride and went steaming in on goal. Just below the hash marks, Lombardi pulled the puck hard to his backhand, and slipped it under Alaska goalie Scott Greenham's right pad for his first shorthanded strike of the season (and BC's sixth), and the first surrendered by Alaska all season. It was Lombardi's fourth goal in two games, after he erupted for his hat trick against Maine.

"That was a huge goal," said BC captain Matt Price, Lombardi's linemate.

In the second period, the teams began duking it out in, resulting in a predictable march to the penalty box. Both squads employed active sticks and active bodies to limit top-quality scoring chances, and when the puck got through to Greenham or BC's John Muse, the goalkeepers were up to the task. The Nanooks successfully killed off three penalties, and then ratcheted up the pressure late in the period.

"We responded like we have all year," said Nanook coach Dallas Ferguson. "We never quit."

With less than three minutes to go, with the Nanooks enjoying a 5-on-3 power play, Muse twice came up big to rob Alaska's freshmen sensation Andy Taranto on the doorstep, the first a dazzling reaction right pad save, the second time on the winger's juke to the glove side.

"He's been playing phenomenal lately, and you need that" in the NCAAs, said Price of his junior netminder. "A huge save can pick up your bench and turn that momentum the other way."

The third time proved the charm, however, as the Nanooks kept charging at BC during the power play, and Dion Knelson slipped a feed in front that an unmarked Taranto buried to knot the score, 1-1. The power-play tally was the 18th goal of the season for the CCHA's leading freshmen scorer.

"It was a relief to get that first goal," said Taranto, acknowledging that Muse was a difference-maker. "He played fantastic. He's a hard-working guy, and you can tell that he has a lot of experience in net. And his D corps played great in front of him."

It was anybody's game starting the final stanza. The Nanooks survived another penalty to start the period, but BC charged ahead on a tic-tac-toe counterattack at 3:46. BC freshman Mullane, a fourth liner, lugged the puck up the left side before dishing it off to Linemate Steve Whitney and heading for the net. Whitney calmly shoveled it over to fellow freshman Patch Alber, who fired it on net, where Mullane tipped it past Greenham for his eighth goal of the season and a 2-1 Eagles lead.

"Any team that is going to make a push here in college hockey is going to need everyone to step up, and everyone is going to play a different role every night," said BC's latest unsung hero. "Sometimes your checkers are going to score, and that's something you need. The more guys you have going the better off we are going to be, and we've seen that in the last couple of games."

The Nanooks were far from finished, however. Greenham kept Alaska in the game almost singlehandedly, denying Price on a stuff attempt and then robbing junior Cam Atkinson with a terrific glove stop.

"Scottie was good all night," said Ferguson. "He stops all the ones he's supposed to, and a couple he's not supposed to. He obviously did his job tonight, and gave us a chance to win."

In the last four minutes, Alaska threw everything they had at the Eagles, and were almost rewarded when Dustin Sather chipped the puck in tight past Muse. The puck, however, clanked off the crossbar at the 17:50 mark.

"We gave ourselves a chance tonight," said Ferguson. "It just didn't go in."

Twenty two seconds later, BC got its insurance marker. Fittingly, Price, BC's senior captain who was the Eagles best penalty killer (along with Muse) all game, got a step on Nanook defenseman Joe Sova in a chase for a skittering puck, with nothing between him and a vacant net but open ice. Sova hauled down Price before he could get off a shot, and the Eagles were awarded an automatic goal, sending them into Sunday's Northeast Regional final.

Expect the Eagles to show up, willing to trade chances. "You can't play holding your breath," said York. "You have to get after it."

The only question that remains, then, is whether Boston College roster has another unsung hero ready to step into the spotlight.

No. 3 Yale 3, No. 2 North Dakota 2

Once Boston College dispatched Alaska, the general consensus was that the Eagles would face No. 2 seed North Dakota (25-13-5), resuming a tournament rivalry that had the two teams squaring off in the NCAAs seven of the last 10 years. Yale, though, was in no mood to cooperate, and not even BC coach Jerry York would look past the Bulldogs.

"That's going to be a hard game to handicap," said York beforehand.

The No.3 seed Yale (21-9-3) earned the right to face BC on Sunday evening, after the speedy Bulldogs upended a rugged North Dakota squad, 3-2. The win marks the first time Yale had beaten the Fighting Sioux in six meetings. From the start, it was clear that Keith Allain's Bulldogs weren't going to let the loss of stalwart defenseman Sean Backman affect their game.

Yale captain Ryan Donald said the Bulldogs came into the game relaxed in their underdog roles, "playing with house money."

"They're very quick, an excellent offensive team," said BC's associate head coach Mike Cavanaugh, who was scouting the game. "That's a really good hockey club."

The Bulldogs raced out to a 2-0 lead on two exceptional goals by junior Denny Kearney. In the opening period, Kearney deftly deflected a point blast by Tom Dignard that fluttered over Brad Eidsness and into the net. At the 12:49 mark of the second stanza, Kearney tallied his second with a nifty move in tight, drawing Eidsness to his backhand before quickly shifting the puck to his forehand and tucking it home.

"That was a big time goal," said Cavanaugh.

Three minutes later, the Sioux had a chance to cut into the Bulldogs lead, but Darcy Zajac's penalty shot bid rang off the left post behind Ryan Rondeau and stayed out.

With less than four minutes left in the second, Yale took a seemingly insurmountable lead on a gritty play by senior Mark Arcobello. Rumbling into the high slot, Arcobello ripped a low shot that went wide right, but caromed off the kick plate and back in front of Eidsness. Arcobello collected his rebound and snuck it inside the right post for a 3-0 margin.

In the third, the Fighting Sioux fought back. With three minutes gone, North Dakota's Brett Hextall circled into the left faceoff circle and rifled a wrist shot over Ryan Rondeau's right shoulder. Three minutes later, Matt Frattin scored on a sensational individual effort to bring the Fighting Sioux to within one. Driving hard to the net, using his body to shield off Yale defenseman Nick Jaskowiak, Frattin managed to squeeze the puck past Rondeau, off the right post and into the back of the net.

For the final 14 minutes, though, the Yale defense clamped down, and Rondeau shut out the Fighting Sioux the rest of the way. That defensive group, said Cavanaugh, will be a concern for the Eagles when the two teams square Sunday at the DCU Center (5:30 p.m. ET).

"They played really well, moving the puck, and getting it to their forwards," Cavanaugh said. "They won the ECAC Hockey title the past two years, and that's not easy to do. Keith and his staff have done an excellent job."

Allain acknowledge that the road to the Frozen Four doesn't get any easier, with Boston College in the way. "BC plays the game a lot like we do," he said. "They have small, quick forwards, and they play an up-tempo game."

"They're a real solid team, the No. 1 seed in this regional. We'll have our hands full."

FINIS

Eagles win a wild Hockey East final

Just when I thought nothing could top the Hockey East semifinals on Friday, along comes Saturday's final, one of the best college hockey games I've ever witnessed!

BC overcomes Maine comeback, wins title in OT

BOSTON – The Maine Black Bears started their 2009-10 campaign with a bonding exercise, climbing the state's tallest peak, 5,267-foot Mount Katahdin. It was a harbinger for the season, as Maine faced a near-constant uphill battle, starting with low expectations (picked to finish 8th in the preseason polls) and continuing with a rash of injuries, and later suspensions, to key starters. But Tim Whitehead's squad persevered, battling to the regular season's final whistle, sneaking into the 4th place. Even then, they needed to come from behind to beat UMass Lowell to take their quarterfinal series, 2-1, sending them to Boston, where the Black Bears dispatched the BU Terriers 5-2 on Friday.

Ultimately, though, the one obstacle the Black Bears (19-17-3) failed to scale was the team from The Heights. Boston College (25-10-3) went 2-0-1 against Maine during the regular season. And on Saturday, at the Hockey East finals, Jerry York's squad from Chestnut Hill ended the Black Bears year in heartbreaking fashion, surviving a furious Maine comeback to win, 7-6, on an overtime strike by senior Matt Lombardi.

"Sometimes the hero comes out of obscurity to become the MVP and a real difference maker," said York of Lombardi. "I'm so excited for Matt, who has worked extremely hard for four years. To get rewarded like that is pretty special."

The game-but-outgunned Black Bears never led in the game, but they never quit, either. In the end, however, all they succeeded in doing was setting the stage for Lombardi, who picked the perfect night to record his first collegiate hat trick, securing tournament MVP honors in the process. In the overtime session, Maine came at the Eagles, taking several long-range shots that missed the target. BC nearly closed it out at the 5-minute mark, but Maine's Dave Wilson denied Steve Whitney's bullet with a lightning-quick glove save. Twenty seconds later, BC captain Matt Price chipped the puck low. Lombardi went and got it, and drove to the net, jamming it through Wilson for the game-winner.

"Matty (Price) was talking about how hard it is to get to the top of the mountain," said a smiling Jimmy Hayes, who registered a goal and an assist for the Eagles during regulation. "There's only room for one team on top of the mountain, and it's just unbelievable when you're up there."

The title marked the 9th league championship for the Eagles, and the third in the past four years. But it didn't come easy.

Maine twice climbed out of a one-goal hole to finish the first period knotted with the high-flying Eagles, 2-2, despite being outshot 16-8. From the opening faceoff, the Eagles were the aggressor, launching a fuselage of shots at Maine's Wilson. The senior netminder – arguably Maine's MVP through its playoff run after stepping into the starter's role, posting a 1.47 goals against average and .938 save percentage though the first four playoff games (compiling a 3-1-0 mark) – stonewalled BC through the first 11 minutes.

At the 11:44 mark, BC burst Wilson's bubble. With the Eagles on the power play, Pat Mullane sent a perfect pass to BC defenseman Carl Sneep at the right point. Sneep's slapshot scorched past a Maine defender and beat Wilson gloveside, just inside the right post. Maine, though, responded 24 seconds later. Captain Tanner House, storming straight through the slot, took a low shot that Muse bobbled. Charging hard to the net, Maine's leading scorer Gustav Nyquist tapped it past Muse to knot the score, 1-1.

BC's Lombardi gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead at the 15:19 mark on a wacky goal. Lombardi beat Wilson to a loose puck and managed to chip it past the Maine goalie. Black Bear defenseman Mark Nemec, grabbed the puck while sliding on his backside, but couldn't stop his momentum, and both he and the biscuit ended in the Maine net.

And again, Maine answered, almost immediately. Freshman Joey Diamond, one of Maine's brightest stars this weekend, parked in front of the BC net and deftly redirected a backhander by Maine defensemen Jeff Dimmen past Muse.

"We're proud of how our guys competed and the poise we showed under pressure down the stretch," said Whitehead. "There certainly wasn't any quit in our team."

In the second period, the Eagles managed to put some distance on Maine, scoring two unanswered goals in the first six minutes. BC's Joe Whitney struck first at 1:39 during on a power play opportunity, snapping a shot from the left point through a screen set by teammate Ben Smith and past Wilson's block. At 5:25, BC's Lombardi got his second goal of the game (and his first multi-point game of the season) to give the Eagles a 4-2 cushion. Senior captain Matt Price ripped a shot wide from above the right faceoff circle that Wilson overplayed. The rebound came off the backboard to Lombardi, who wrested it through a Maine defender, the shot deflecting off Wilson's gloves as he tried to scramble back into the net.

However, an uncharacteristic BC parade to the penalty box (six minors) allowed the Black Bears to sneak back into the game. Following a monster 5-on-3 penalty kill by the Eagles, highlighted by tenacious team defense and Muse's quick glove hand, Maine got within a goal at 15:04. House set up residence directly at the top of the crease, took a tape-to-tape feed from Nyquist, and blasted it past Muse's left pad to finish a superb bang-bang play. The penalty parade also helped put the clamps on BC's offense over the second half of the second stanza, as the Black Bears outgunned the Eagles, 16-5.

"Our plan was to not take penalties," said York, noting that Maine came into the final touting the nation's most potent power play. "We're were shooting ourselves in the foot the entire second period."

The first two periods, however, proved to be only a prelude to a rollicking third stanza. After an uneventful first five minutes, BC's Hayes gave the Eagles a two-goal cushion at 5:16 with a slick spin-o-rama move to Wilson's left. Using his body to shield the puck, Hayes swept it on net and through Wilson. Three minutes later, the Black Bears started mounting yet another comeback. Maine's David de Kastrozza, pouncing on a puck that had ricocheted from behind the net, sent a laser past Muse's right ear to bring Maine within one.

At 14:23, Lombardi floated a soft shot on goal that Maine's Dimmen couldn't collect. BC's Barry Almeida, camped in front, did, and showing exceptional poise, pulled it wide of Wilson's left pad and tucked the puck inside the right post to give the Eagles a seemingly commanding 6-4 lead.

Maine, showing its trademark resiliency, kept battling. After a brief delay to replace a pane of Plexiglas, but only 26 seconds following Almeida's goal, the Black Bears scored again, Maine's Robby Dee sent an offensive zone faceoff back to Spencer Abbott, who cracked a seeing-eye shot that beat Muse over his blocker. Then, with less than 30 ticks left on the clock, Diamond potted his second with a sparkling move. Grabbing the puck from a scramble in the low slot, Diamond outwaited Muse and roofed a wrister to send the game into overtime.

"The captains came up [during the break before OT] and just told us to play a fearless game, and not be afraid to make mistakes," said BC's Hayes.

From there, Lombardi, the senior assistant captain from Milton, Mass., with only seven goals in 140 career games, lit the lamp one last time to complete his hat trick, culminating an MVP performance and knocking the Black Bears out of NCAA consideration.

"This really propels us into the national tournament," said York. "The Lamoriello Cup (the Hockey East championship trophy) is something we point toward, but the national tournament and the national trophy is really what we aim for. And we're going to go in there with guns blazing."

The Black Bears, meanwhile, are left to ponder what might have been, coming within a whisker of making the NCAA field, and to look ahead for another mountain to climb. "It stings really bad," said House, Maine's junior captain. "We want to be back here next year."

FINIS

The best night in hockey

Another weekend of outstanding hockey on tap this weekend at the TD Garden in Boston, including the single best night in college hockey, the Hockey East semifinals on Friday. This preview was done for ESPNBoston.com.

Not the same old same old in Hockey East

BOSTON -- Despite all the talk of parity in Hockey East this year, the semifinal pairings for the TD Garden on Friday have a very familiar look, with Boston College, Boston University, and Maine securing a chance to battle for the Lamoriello Trophy. Even the fourth team, Vermont, reached the Frozen Four last year after a Hockey East title-game appearance in 2008.

But a closer look reveals it was not "business as usual" in the league this year. The No. 1 seed, New Hampshire, was knocked out by Vermont, which barely snuck into the playoffs as the eighth seed. The BU Terriers, the defending national champs, needed a gut-check second-half run to secure home ice in the playoffs, which they parlayed into a 2-1 series win over a tenacious Merrimack squad. Maine's Black Bears -- picked eighth in the league's preseason polls -- endured a litany of injuries to gamely finish fourth in Hockey East, edging out UMass Lowell both for home ice and in their quarterfinal matchup. Which got us thinking that maybe all that parity chatter wasn't so farfetched after all.

Here's a look at Friday's two semifinal match-ups:

No. 2 Boston College (23-10-3) vs. No. 8 Vermont (17-13-7), 5 p.m.

Don't expect a high-scoring affair in Friday's opener. Vermont, after surrendering seven goals to a high-powered UNH squad last Friday, tightened up behind the stellar goaltending of Rob Madore to pitch back-to-back shutouts against the Wildcats. Boston College, having allowed the fewest goals in league play, similarly put the clamps on a skilled UMass squad, whitewashing the Minutemen in the third period of their series-clinching 5-2 win last Saturday. Translation? Goals will be at a premium.

Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon acknowledged that the road won't get any easier for his Catamounts. "BC's got such a great blend of having tremendous talent and the ability to score goals, but I also think they have a great ability to play team defense," Sneddon said. "They use their speed in a very good way on back pressure, they're very good on transition and their layers of defense are very solid."

In their two-game sweep of UMass, the Eagles displayed lightning-strike capabilities (11 goals in two games) and a lock-down defense when necessary (no goals in the last 19 minutes of Game 1, and none in the third period of Game 2), offsetting some glaring mental lapses. This season, the Eagles lost two of three against Vermont, but the teams haven't met since Nov. 15, prompting both coaches to discount those results.

"We have a pretty good understanding of how Vermont plays," BC's Jerry York said. "Kevin has been there a couple years now, and he is not changing or suddenly putting a different type of product on the ice. He's been pretty consistent over the years. We are going to play a team that has a strong goaltender in Madore and big, hard-nosed defensemen, maybe the biggest in the league. It's difficult for us to play [those types of] teams and get a lot of Grade-A chances against them."

Likewise, Sneddon said the early-season matches meant little now. "They were obviously a completely different team back then," he said. "I remember saying how good I thought they were going to become, with all their young freshman defensemen that obviously were top-end players but needed to gain experience in big games. Obviously they've achieved that going into the second half. They're extremely talented at all positions now, so the youth is not hurting them in any way, shape or form."

While relishing Vermont's role as underdog, Sneddon admitted he's wary of BC's myriad weapons, including the white-hot sophomore Cam Atkinson and junior snipers Joe Whitney and Brian Gibbons. "They have moments where they can open it up and make you look foolish because of their skills and their ability to finish, and then there's other moments when they know to shut it down and play tight team defense," he said.

York was still undecided earlier this week which of his two superb netminders, junior John Muse or freshman Parker Milner, would start. However, Vermont's Madore is a lock, despite a stinging critique by Sneddon after the 7-4 debacle against UNH on Friday. "We had every chance to win that game, but unfortunately some goals went in that just aren't typical for him," Vermont's coach said.

"Rob's probably the most mentally tough student-athlete we have on our team, so as much as it was about trying to spark Rob, it was to spark our team to play better defensively in front of him, and I think the team kind of rallied around him," Sneddon said. "The bottom line is he did the job to turn things around."

Both teams are also looking to upperclassmen to provide a leadership role in Friday's tilt. Last year, Vermont rallied from a quarterfinal loss in the Hockey East playoffs to make a run to the Frozen Four. For BC, redemption is a key theme, after the Eagles followed their 2008 national title campaign with a 2008-09 season that ended in the Hockey East semifinals.

"Our senior class has had a remarkable record in the month of March," York said. "They were 21-3-2 in their four years. They feel good about themselves and they want to make a good run here [in Boston]."

So don't blink. The first mistake could prove costly in this match, and the first goal could be the game-winner.

No. 3 Boston University (18-16-3) vs. No. 4 Maine (18-16-3), 8 p.m.

Both the Terriers and the Black Bears are battle-tested, but it's been a war of attrition. The Terriers took a pounding in their quarterfinal series against Merrimack, and while they gave as well as they got, the list of wounded is a long one. The key injury could be freshman D-man Max Nicastro, who needed 26 stitches to repair a severed artery in his right forearm Saturday. His status is day-to-day. Defensemen Colby Cohen and David Warsofsky are banged up, and Maine is also dealing with injuries to key players such as Jeff Dimmen and Mike Banwell on defense, and forwards Kyle Solomon and Brett Carriere. Further, Maine will continue to soldier on without the services of No. 1 netminder Scott Darling, who remains on indefinite suspension.

However, coach Tim Whitehead can take some solace in the outstanding performance submitted by senior David Wilson in the nets. "I am really proud of David. He has persevered, not just this season, but during his career here," Whitehead said. "He really rose up for our team when we needed him most this weekend in a very pressurized situation. He seemed to get stronger each night."

The Black Bears also got a huge series from sophomore defenseman Will O'Neill (two goals and an assist in Sunday's 3-2 OT win over Lowell) and junior captain Tanner House (an insurance tally Saturday and a series-clinching OT strike Sunday). "A big part of us taking a step this year has been Tanner's leadership, along with the other juniors and seniors. They have really re-established the culture that we want in our Maine Black Bear teams," Whitehead said. "Tanner was key not just in regard to the goals, but he also won some big faceoffs and played well defensively, just all-around gritty, hard-nosed hockey."

Maine will need that grit against a physical Terriers team unafraid to take penalties, though they take too many for their coach's liking. "We have taken a number of stupid penalties all year long," BU coach Jack Parker said. "It has not been a disciplined team."

Fortunately for the Terriers their best penalty killer, sophomore goaltender Kieran Millan, appears to have rediscovered the form that brought BU a national crown last year. Though Millan was quick to credit his team after the Merrimack series, Parker singled out the play of his netminder. "Special teams wound up being the catalyst for us," Parker said. "Kieran held the Merrimack power play to 1-for-18, and they were the third-best power play in the nation."

If there was one weakness Merrimack exposed, it was BU's trouble with a quick-strike counterattack. The Terriers defensive corps, led by captain Kevin Shattenkirk and senior Eric Gryba, will have to contain a group of talented forwards, including House and sophomore sensations Gustav Nyquist and Brian Flynn. "I expect a hard-fought, well-executed game from Maine. They can skate, they've got one of the best first lines in college hockey, they have the best power play in college hockey [clicking at almost 28 percent] and they have great goaltending," said Parker, noting that the loss of Darling isn't devastating. "Wilson played once against us and he was great [34 saves in a 2-2 tie at Maine, Feb. 14, 2009]. I'm not surprised that he stepped up and became the man for them in a crucial series."

Though it's been a season of maddening ups and downs for the Terriers, Parker said he doesn't expect a letdown after BU's quarterfinal victory. "If we have a no-show type of game, our season is over," he said. "I know we have enough competitors and leadership to make sure that we are focused and ready." Whitehead, meanwhile, wants to make sure his Black Bears aren't simply happy to be in Boston for the first time since 2006. "It is a very good step for us, a very important step in our climb back up to where we want to be," he said. "This is a tough match-up for us. They're a strong team, and we respect them. We know what we're up against."

Brion O'Connor is a Boston-based freelance writer.

Boston College wins a barnburner

As an old hockey goalie, I can really appreciate a tight, defensive hockey game. But there's nothing quite like an old-fashioned, full-speed-ahead, damn-the-torpedoes scoring fest. Last night's Hockey East game between Boston College and Massachusetts had everything except overtime!

BC edges UMass in Hockey East quarterfinal slugfest

BOSTON -- Defense might win championships, but offense makes for fireworks, and there were plenty on display Friday night at Boston College's Conte Forum. When the smoke cleared, the Eagles (22-10-3) had eked out a 6-5 roller-coaster win over UMass (18-17-0), to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal series.

UMass coach Don Cahoon admittedly wanted to steer clear of a slugfest with the high-powered Eagles. "We're not going to go toe-to-toe with Boston College on that front," Cahoon said beforehand. "We need to compete and play smart and be on the right side of the puck and play with a passion that's going to allow us to hang in there with them."

The passion and effort might have been there for UMass, but the team speed of the No. 4-ranked Eagles (the No. 2 seed in Hockey East) constantly put Cahoon's troops on the wrong side of the puck. The result was a surprisingly high-scoring affair, with the Eagles building a three-goal lead by the end of the second stanza that the Minutemen couldn't overcome.

"I don't think either coaching staff was ecstatic the way the game was played," Cahoon said.

Interestingly enough, both Cahoon and his BC counterpart, Jerry York, went into the match praising their respective team's recent defensive efforts. But Friday night's donnybrook was fueled by turnovers and ill-timed penalties, and the crowd of 2,888 got exactly what Cahoon wanted to avoid: a toe-to-toe heavyweight bout.

In the first period, the marquee players for both teams took center stage. BC's leading goal scorer, Cam Atkinson, appeared to put the Eagles up 1-0 only 36 seconds into the contest, when he swooped behind the UMass net and tucked the puck between the left post and Minutemen goalie Paul Dainton. However, after review, the goal was disallowed, as officials ruled that Dainton was impeded by a UMass player who had been pushed into the crease by BC's Joe Whitney. Undaunted, Atkinson went back to work, and was rewarded less than three minutes later. Standing unmarked at the right faceoff dot, the sophomore from Connecticut took a short feed from Whitney and unleashed a laser wrist shot over Dainton's glove.

At 9:13, UMass answered when two of its top stars, James Marcou and Justin Braun, teamed up during a 5-on-3 power play, with Braun converting a slick pass from the junior playmaker. The Eagles regained the lead on Atkinson's second strike at 14:39. Lurking at the left post during a BC power play, Atkinson picked up a Ben Smith rebound and slipped it past a sprawling Dainton.

The pyrotechnics hit a crescendo in the second period. Just before the four-minute mark, UMass forward T.J. Syner was Johnny-on-the-spot, corralling a deflected pass from Kevin Czepiel and blistering a low shot past Parker Milner's left pad to knot the score at 2-2. Boston College then ripped off three unanswered goals in a two-minute span to put UMass on the ropes. At the 6:18 mark, Rangers draft pick Chris Kreider absolutely blew past the UMass defense on the left wing, cut across the slot and tucked the puck behind Dainton's left pad. "He's such a strong skater," York said of the freshman. "When he gets a step on the defenseman, even half a step, he's hard to contain."

A minute later, BC's Barry Almeida finished off a textbook 2-on-1, collecting a perfect dish from senior Matt Price and burying the puck with authority. At 8:22, Atkinson completed his half-game hat trick, taking a feed from Steven Whitney and rifling a snap shot from the left faceoff dot that beat Dainton clean over the right shoulder for a power-play tally and a commanding 5-2 BC lead.

Milner made the lead stand up with several sparkling stops, none better than stuffing UMass marksman Casey Wellman on the doorstep at the halfway point. However, Milner couldn't stop Wellman at the 17:15 mark. The high-scoring sophomore, left unmarked at the left post during a UMass power play, slammed home a pass from Marcou to cut the deficit to two. Less than two minutes later, BC returned the favor with a near identical power-play strike. Atkinson, at the bottom of the left faceoff circle, fired a pass through the top of the crease that a streaking Steven Whitney tapped home to reclaim the Eagle's three-goal cushion.

The third period opened with UMass showing it had every intention to "hang in there" with the faster Eagles. As Milner tried to extricate himself from a pile of players in his crease, UMass' Martin Nolet stepped into a pass from Czepiel and launched a rocket that found the back of the BC net. Twenty seconds later, Marcou skated out of the left corner from behind the goal line and swept a shot that broke through Milner, bringing UMass to within a goal.

"All of a sudden, UMass took the momentum away from us with those two goals in the third period, and turned it into a nail-biter," York said. "That's a formidable team for us to play."

York, in a break from tradition, had started Milner, a freshman, over junior John Muse, and the coach admitted the younger player struggled at times. "But he made some big saves for us at the end," York said.

Unless these two teams play a more disciplined game Saturday, the goalies for both squads can expect to see more fireworks in Game 2.

"It's a whole new ballgame [Saturday] night," Cahoon said. "Hopefully we'll show up and compete."

In other Hockey East quarterfinal action:
No. 3 Boston University 3, No. 6 Merrimack College 2
Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy likened his team's game against the defending national champs to David versus Goliath, and when his visiting Warriors took a 2-0 lead, it looked as if the upstarts from Andover might have their upset. However, Jack Parker's BU Terriers righted the ship, scoring the final three goals to notch the win.

No. 1 New Hampshire 7, No. 8 Vermont 4
In a shootout at the UNH corral, the top-seeded Wildcats roared back from a 4-2 deficit to score five unanswered goals, hanging a three-goal loss on the Catamounts in Durham, N.H. UNH captains Bobby Butler and Peter LeBlanc led the Wildcats with three points apiece.

No. 5 UMass Lowell 2, No. 4 Maine 1
The Black Bears, playing without suspended No. 1 netminder Scott Darling, struck first but couldn't hold off the visiting River Hawks, as Lowell took the first game of the series in Orono, Maine. The win marked the first time the River Hawks have beaten the Black Bears in the league playoffs.

FINIS