Inside College Hockey | 2004 NCAA Frozen Four

April 7, 2004
NCAA Frozen Four Notebook
Experience Leads BC into the Fleet
We've gathered notes from all four teams' Wednesday practices

By Joe Gladziszewski and Mike Eidelbes

BOSTON – They've been through the drill before, but it was a whole lot different in 2001. Boston College was at the Frozen Four in Albany, and a contributing group of freshmen including J.D. Forrest, Ben Eaves, Ty Hennes and Tony Voce followed the lead of a stout senior class and captured the school's first national championship in 52 years.

This time around, those freshmen are taking on the leadership role, which they learned from a senior class that included Scott Clemmensen, Bobby Allen, Rob Scuderi, Brian Gionta, Mike Lephart, Marty Hughes, Dan Sullivan, and Mark McLennan.

Ben Eaves made note of the change in responsibility during Wednesday's press conference. "I was out there taping my stick and guys like (Brian) Gionta and (Scott) Clemmensen were up here talking. Leading the team is a lot better than being along for the ride," he said.

Forrest picked up a lot of pointers from those seniors, simply by paying attention in the locker room.

"They were tremendous, and it wasn't so much what they said it was just the way they prepared for the games and how they played the games," he said. "That kind of stuff sticks with you more than what they said."

Ty Hennes, a rookie fourth-liner that played in all 43 games that freshman year, echoed Forrest's remarks, and embodies a player that he holds in special regard.

"Mike Lephart was a guy that I looked up to for the way that he played. He didn't get a lot of media attention, but he was a guy that brought it every day and it's hard not to look up to a guy like that," Hennes said.

Listen In

INCH checks in with audio interviews with a player from each of the four semifinal teams:

Tony Voce
Connor James
Jimmy Howard
Evan Schwabe

MAINE

If Boston College's experience is something for the Eagles to rally around, the same can be said for their semifinal opponent, the Maine Black Bears. Maine was at the Frozen Four just two years ago, and lost the National Championship in overtime to Minnesota at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center.

The Black Bears are using that experience as motivation. Falling one-goal short of the biggest prize in college hockey wasn't good enough for Maine.

"It's great to be back obviously. We were here a couple years ago. For the guys that were here, it was a great experience two years ago, but we'd like to take it a step further this year," senior captain Todd Jackson said.

The coaching staff is looking at the experience of 2002 in an educational sense, rather than a motivational sense.

"Having been here two years ago, our players recognize how difficult it is to get back. There's a lot of respect for how difficult it is to win it having come that close," Coach Tim Whitehead said.

"The determination is the other thing that has carried over from two years ago, that desire to go another step no matter what the obstacles ... we want to get another championship. We know how tough it is to get here, but we're really looking forward to this challenge."

Wednesday Photo Gallery

Connor James was all smiles at Wednesday's practice.

Adam Berkhoel stops a teammate during Denver's skate.

Boston College players listen attentively to Jerry York at Wednesday's practice.

A look at the FleetCenter as Maine skates on Wednesday.

DENVER

College hockey media members are generally pretty good at developing interesting story lines. With Denver, however, the one question everyone in attendance at Wednesday’s pre-semifinal skate was, Will Connor James be in the lineup Thursday?

The senior forward and the Pioneers’ second-leading scorer, who broke his right leg in the team’s last regular season game against Colorado College March 6, resumed skating Saturday and was on the ice for today’s practice at the Fleet Center.

“It’s not that bad,” said James. “It’s gotten better every day. The hope is that I’ll be able to just go…and play hockey.”

James is still wearing a walking cast. One the ice, Denver trainer Erik Rasmussen has fitted his right skate with a custom-built splint to help stabilize the leg. James says the splint works fine, but forces him to modify his skating stride and hinders his mobility slightly.

Coach George Gwozdecky says he’ll exercise caution in managing his ice time, especially during the early parts of the Thursday game with Minnesota Duluth.

“I took Connor aside [after practice] and asked him how he felt,” Gwozdecky said. “He actually looked at me like, ‘You actually think I’m not gonna play?’”

James responded to Gwozdecky by pronouncing himself ready to play, even though he admitted to experiencing some discomfort in his leg.

“I don’t think you have setbacks when you’re playing in the Frozen Four,” James said. “It’s not going to feel as great as if it wasn’t broken, but that’s something you have to deal with.”

Gwozdecky’s father is a doctor in Thunder Bay, Ont., so it’s somewhat fitting that the Denver coach made the best observation regarding James’ injury.

“As long as it doesn’t affect his hands,” he said.

MINNESOTA DULUTH

After beating Minnesota in the Midwest Regional final in Grand Rapids, Mich., two weeks ago, Minnesota Duluth goaltender Isaac Reichmuth said his teammates felt like playing another game right away. It’s not difficult to understand Reichmuth’s point of view, but it’s certain that more than one Bulldog appreciated the break.

At this point of the season every player is nursing nagging bumps and bruises, but three key UMD players – forwards Junior Lessard and Evan Schwabe and defenseman Tim Hambly – played with injuries that limited their effectiveness in Grand Rapids.

“It was obviously good for us.” Schwabe said. ”We had three or four guys who were banged up and now I think with that two weeks off we’re ready to go.”

Lessard certainly appreciated the time off. Even though he scored two goals in the Bulldogs’ Midwest Regional opener against Michigan State, the Hobey Baker Award finalist was nowhere near full strength after hurting his knee in the WCHA Final Five third-place game.

“I was really banged up against Minnesota,” said Lessard, who will wear a knee brace against Denver tomorrow. “I was probably about 60 percent. “There are a lot more things I can do now that I couldn’t do in Grand Rapids.”

Even though the Bulldogs are healthier than they’ve been in weeks, Schwabe contends anyone with lingering pains will push them aside for time being.

“If you can’t get up for the game and battle through those bumps and bruises,” Schwabe said, ”you shouldn’t be playing.”

SEEN AND HEARD AT THE FLEET

• Minnesota Duluth has plenty of NCAA Tournament experience. Of course, it’s all possessed by the team’s coaching staff. Head coach Scott Sandelin won two national titles as an assistant at North Dakota. Assistants Lee Davidson and Steve Rohlik earned championships as players – Davidson at North Dakota in 1987 and Rohlik with Wisconsin in 1990. Lessard says the coaches have used those past successes to motivate the team.

“Lately, the coaches took their rings out and they’ve been wearing them around,” Lessard said. “If you want to win a championship, there’s no better way to start than with coaches who’ve won championships. They know what it takes to win.”

• Maine has played in its share of one-goal games this season – 18 one-goal games and seven straight one-goal wins, to be exact – and while the experience of being involved in tight contests helps come playoff time, credit Todd Jackson for thinking of the well-being of others.

“It’s a good sign for our team to win those kind of games,” Jackson said, “but at least for my parents I’d like to get a few goals up on a team and have it stay that way.”

• When he’s not coaching his team, Boston College’s Jerry York is running a veritable speaker’s bureau out of his Conte Forum office. Among the guests who’ve appeared at Eagles practices this season include Toronto coach Pat Quinn, Vancouver general manager Brian Burke and New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

• Like many players, UMD captain Beau Geisler will have family members in attendance at Thursday’s game against Denver. The senior defenseman’s parents made the trip from northern Minnesota to Boston. Staying behind, however, are Geisler’s siblings – all 10 of them. Beau, 23, is the clan’s oldest child.

When asked why only his parents were coming in for the Frozen Four, Geisler replied, “Airline fare would ‘em up.”

• Sometimes it’s the little things that make a trip to the Frozen Four special. For Denver, the players were buzzing about the police escort preceding the team bus to the Fleet Center this morning.

“We were all standing up watching,” Connor James said. “That was unreal.”

• Ron Grahame is an assistant athletic director at Denver as well as chairman of the tournament selection committee, but he’s better known in the Hub of Hockey as a former Bruins netminder in the late 1970s. Grahame is forever etched into Bruins’ lore for being the guy who was shipped to Los Angeles in 1978 for a first round draft pick in the 1979 Entry Draft. Boston used that pick to select a Quebec defenseman named Raymond Bourque.

When asked if his role in that trade entitles him to a free meal or two when he returns to Boston, Grahame replied, “I don’t think anyone remembers that anymore.”

• This just in: coaches for all of the Frozen Four participants are excited to be here.

The bench bosses for each team were asked for opening remarks at the press conferences following their respective practices. A sampling:

Denver coach George Gwozdecky: “We are excited to be in Boston. Everything on the trip has been excellent so far.”

Minnesota Duluth’s Scott Sandelin: “We are very excited to be here.”

Jerry York of Boston College: “I’m ecstatic, excited, any other adjective that you want to use about being back here in the Frozen Four.”

Maine’s Tim Whitehead: “We’re very excited to be here, obviously, but I’m sure that the other teams have said that.”

• Have you ever seen NESN color commentator and NHL scout Cap Raeder and NBC golf analyist Johnny Miller in the same room? Thought so.

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

Denver captain Ryan Caldwell is the early leader for the John Pohl Award for outstanding performance at an NCAA ice hockey press conference. The senior defenseman kept reporters chuckling with his responses.

For example, when asked for a key to the semifinal match against Minnesota Duluth, Caldwell replied, “We have to play tight defensively and let Adam [Berkhoel] make about 40 saves.”

The Bruins-Canadians NHL playoff series at the Fleet Center has forced some locker room juggling among the Frozen Four teams. Denver suffered the greatest inconvenience, having to move their belongings into an unused bathroom in the arena’s bowels. They’ll return all their stuff to a locker room prior to Thursday’s game.

Driving in Boston. You know that road in Boston that goes straight east-west? Neither do we.