Inside College Hockey | 2004 NCAA Frozen Four

April 8, 2004
NCAA Frozen Four
Notebook: Line 'em Up
Maine's big line got the better of the most vaunted line in the Frozen

By Joe Gladziszewski, Nate Ewell and Mike Eidelbes

Photo Gallery

BOSTON – It all happened sort of accidentally, but it turned out to be a huge part of Thursday's second semifinal, when Maine's line of Mike Hamilton, Jon Jankus, and Dustin Penner went head-to-head with Boston College's premier group of Patrick Eaves, Ben Eaves, and Tony Voce.

It happened so regularly, in fact, that it appeared Boston College coach Jerry York was looking to get that matchup. Rather, it was simply a matter of circumstance. As you would expect, York was happy to have the Eaves trio, which has combined for 56 goals this season, against any group that Maine deployed.

Instead of matching the top lines against one another York favored his fourth line, centered by Brian Boyle with wingers Ned Havern and Justin Dziama, against Maine's line centered by Ben Murphy with Cameron Lyall and John Ronan.

"I thought that they (Eaves) were comfortable going against any line (Maine) threw out there, and the matchup that we really liked was Boyle against Murphy, so that they could use their size against that particular line. We weren't really looking to match (Eaves) against anybody," York said.

In retrospect, maybe this matchup of circumstance wasn't in Boston College's best interest. To defeat Boston College one must start by limiting that line considered by many to be the best in college hockey. At the end of the night, Eaves-Eaves-Voce were pointless and on a bus back to The Heights. Hamilton-Jankus-Penner combined for two goals and two assists and were looking forward to Saturday's championship game.

"We tried not to focus so much on the matchups because we wouldn't get the ones necessarily that we wanted. We just wanted the D prepared to go up against that top line which is obviously very special," Whitehead said. "Our focus wasn't to get those matchups, really focused more on keeping our shifts short and being very aware when they were on the ice."

To win in the playoffs, little things need to go your way, and they did for Maine on Thursday night – intended or not.

Audio Files
Jeff Sauer on the Maine game
Maine's Prestin Ryan
Jeff Sauer on the Denver game
Denver's Max Bull

UNDER PRESSURE

When Dustin Penner scored his go-ahead goal 1:05 into the third period, you could sense the pressure shift to the Boston College Eagles.

A senior-led team that was expected to contend for the national championship since September, the burden of expectations was nothing new to the Eagles. Now, playing in their hometown, against a seemingly unbeatable goaltender and with the season on the line, they might have been heavier than ever.

If it bothered the Eagles, however, most wouldn't admit it. There was frustration, to be certain, but this was a team that thrived under pressure.

"We kind of like that, actually," said senior assistant captain J.D. Forrest. "When you come into a season and everyone expects you to do well, it means something about your team. The expectations are not going to change at BC. Every year it's the same thing: if you don't get to the Frozen Four, you didn't do what you were supposed to do. We enjoyed that part of the year, it was fun."

Junior center Ryan Shannon echoed those thoughts.

"I think we thrived on that more than anything," Shannon said. "We're used to it. We thought we could use that to our advantage coming in here."

One Eagle admitted that the pressure may have caught up to BC in the late stages of the season, but thought Jimmy Howard – not any external expectations – was much more of a factor in the Eagles' third-period struggles.

"I think [the pressure] caught up to us at the end of the year, when we had that stretch when we went 1-5-1," junior defenseman Andrew Alberts said. "We lost track of the game we played all year. But I keep my head high. I thought we played a great game tonight, we just couldn't get one by him."

As the game ended, the Eagles' shoulders slumped. No one smashed a stick in frustration, but the players on the ice leaned on their sticks across their knees. Senior captain Ben Eaves, who had wrapped up his splendid career, stayed that way until his younger brother, Patrick, skated over to console him.

INCH's Three Stars

3. Dustin Penner-Jon Jankus-Mike Hamilton line, Maine
Maine's grit line also provides skill. They won the head-to-head matchup with the vaunted line of Eaves-Eaves-Voce.

2. Prestin Ryan, Maine
Something about defensemen named Ryan. Caldwell for Denver and Prestin for Maine can play on our team any time. We're happy to get to see them again Saturday.

1. Jimmy Howard, Maine
The Black Bears' star said that his 41 saves weren't as tough as you'd think. Maybe that's because he makes it look easy.

SEEN AND HEARD AT THE VAULT

• Maine's poise in close games is quite remarkable. For the eighth game in a row, the Black Bears won by a single goal. While Jon Jankus was throwing all of the credit in Jimmy Howard's direction, Dustin Penner spoke about the team's ability to stay focused under duress.

"We are getting used to it and come to a kind of a calmness just knowing that if we bide our time and convert on our Grade A chances that we should get the win most of the time."

• Maine coach Tim Whitehead was asked about the matchup with Denver and honestly admitted that there's been hardly any preparation or thought about the championship game. Some coaches choose to enter the tournament ready to play three teams – a semifinal opponent and either potential finalist.

• Lower-bowl tickets for tonight's game were available for $250 on Causeway Street before the game.

• Ben Eaves' second-period holding penalty was just his second penalty of the season. Between him and Steve Saviano of UNH, arguably Hockey East's top two forwards, they combined for three penalties on the season. Eaves' brother, Patrick, matched Ben's season total for penalties in the first period tonight.

• Jimmy Howard brought Colin Shields' little brother back to the Black Bears' locker room after the post-game press conference, even though the younger Shields didn't have the appropriate credential. "Told you I'd get you through," Howard said.

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

Dave Ryan, a good friend of college hockey, called the St. Louis-San Jose playoff game for ESPN that began just as this game ended. Ryan, mentioning Niko Dimitrakos, not only said that Dimitrakos was a Maine grad, but also brought up the Black Bears' victory and the score of the game.

Maine defenseman Troy Barnes threw a textbook open-ice hip check in the second period. For some reason, he had to sit in the penalty box for two minutes afterwards. We hope he didn't feel shame, because he shouldn't have.

Nice work by assistant referee Dan Carey, who raised his arm for a crosschecking call on Maine's Michel Léveillé that referee Derek Shepherd couldn't see.

We talked about the banners after the first game, but as the FleetCenter crew put them back up after the game, they earned a minus. We were disappointed to see so little respect for the retired number banners of the likes of Robert G. Orr and Phil Esposito, which were left to sit on the ice and even stepped on once.

Maine's Greg Moore showed some good jump at times during the game, but took a costly penalty early in the second when he was called for roughing while Shepherd had a delayed penalty called against BC.

The official scorers had a rough day Thursday, changing one Denver goal during the second game. Several goals were announced as unassisted, despite being set up by nice passes (and then changed later). Don't they know that some of us have fantasy pool standings at stake?

WHAT'S NEXT

Maine meets Denver Saturday night for the national title, as the Black Bears seek their third national title and first since 1999.

Boston College, meanwhile, will look to defend its Hockey East regular-season title, but will have have to do it without Ben Eaves, Tony Voce and J.D. Forrest. Patrick Eaves and Andrew Alberts, both of whom could sign with NHL teams, could move on as well.