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April 7, 2006
NCAA Frozen Four Notebook
Jump Around
Trying to define the undefineable

By Joe Gladziszewski

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – You have it or you don’t. It’s easily identifiable to onlookers. But it’s hard to define and describe.

Van Halen had it in 1984 and took it to the top spot on the Billboard charts for five weeks in a row. Coincidentally, that span occurred from the last week of February to the first week of April – the postseason in the college hockey calendar.

We’re talking about “jump” and we asked some participants in Saturday’s championship game to help us get a handle on the elusive word. Well, at least we tried to do that.

While its definition is hard to grasp its properties are easy to describe.

Wisconsin's Adam Burish defines jump as "having that excitement, having that enthusiasm to make something exciting happen."

Most people think of jump when a player reacts to a loose puck or makes a move in the offensive zone, but Wisconsin’s Adam Burish provided an insightful example of having jump on defensive zone coverage. “It’s having that excitement, having that enthusiasm to make something exciting happen. You can have great jump on a face off and explode out there and get to your point man,” he said.

Jump is transferable.

“I think you can give another person jump. You can see an intensity in players like Chris Collins or Joe Rooney or someone will make a big hit to get someone else into the game,” BC defenseman Mike Brennan said. “That’s what you have teammates for and that’s what their job is sometimes.”

Jump is often fleeting.

“It was one of those things. We had it last night,” Wisconsin’s Joe Pavelski said. “We came out on our first shift and we had a little bit, then we lost it. Coach got on us a little bit in the locker room and when Rosco (Ross Carlson) got that short-handed goal, I thought my whole body was energized. When you score a goal it’s really easy to get going more and more and it gives you that extra surge of confidence but when your whole team is pulling for a guy to do it and your whole team gets that jump from one player that’s jump.”

Goalies do not have jump.

“I’ve never heard of a goalie having jump,” Cory Schneider said. “I’ve heard of teams having it but I have never heard of a goalie having it.”

Some players have it all the time. Wisconsin’s Joe Pavelski said teammate Andrew Joudrey has even earned a nickname from it. “We call him 'Jumpin' Jouds.' He’s got the jump, he’s always moving his feet and kind of bouncing out there,” Pavelski said. “It’s just, jump is, I don’t know what it is, it’s just being pumped up ready to go and being a little faster on your skates.”

Motherwell said that it’s hard not to have some extra jump on weekends like this in front of a packed crowd and a national television audience. Players might not know exactly what jump is, just that it’s good to have, and we can expect plenty of it on Saturday night.

BC's Peter Harrold participated in the Eagles' Friday morning skate.

SEEN AND HEARD AT THE BRADLEY CENTER

• Boston College senior defenseman Peter Harrold participated in the team’s skate on Friday morning and appeared to be moving very well. Harrold suffered a high ankle sprain during Thursday afternoon’s semifinal win over North Dakota and missed a few shifts while his injury was treated by the BC medical staff.

• One key player did not participate in the bulk of his team’s early afternoon skate – Wisconsin goaltender Brian Elliott. He took the ice for a warmup and stretch but was back in the dressing room with his pads off 40 minutes before his teammates left the ice.

• Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan is covering the Frozen Four which isn’t surprising because the Eagles are participating. He deserves a stick salute for choosing to attend and write on this event rather than following the Globe’s outstanding golf writer Jim McCabe to Augusta for the Masters.

• Check the INCH Newsstand on Saturday for a feature on the Eaves family produced by the Wisconsin State Journal. As you know, Mike Eaves is the coach of the Badgers and his sons recently finished their careers as players for Boston College.

• Speaking of the Globe, we would’ve loved to have been a fly on the wall as hockey beat writer Kevin Paul Dupont sat with Boston College’s Chris Collins for at least 20 minutes on a training table in the hallway outside of the Eagles’ dressing room.

• It’s a difficult time of the year to reach coaches. Once their teams are eliminated from the post-season they hit the road on recruiting assignments or take some time to unwind from the season and catch up with family and friends. One coach we called for analysis on Thursday afternoon’s early semifinal between North Dakota and Boston College wasn’t able to return our phone call until Friday morning. His retrospective message said, “The only thing I was going to tell you is that both teams have suspect goaltending, but by now you already know that.”

• Teams are required to use NCAA-issued water bottles with the tournament logo and official beverage sponsor emblazoned on the side. Wisconsin’s staff wrapped tape around the bottles and wrote each player’s uniform number on the bottle. They were lined up numerically on the edge of the boards, creating an effect similar to when Boston University takes the ice.

• The Friday workouts are traditionally laid back and loose but Wisconsin’s was less formal than Boston College’s. The Badgers dressed in only the essential equipment for their light skate on Friday afternoon. Players (with the exception of the goalies) took the ice wearing sweatpants and practice sweaters and skates, helmets, gloves, and shinpads.

• The last ECACHL team to qualify for the Frozen Four was Cornell in 2003, but they’ve got the market covered for Friday’s Skills Challenge. Five players from the league will skate for the East team including Cornell’s Matt Moulson, Dartmouth’s Mike Ouellette, Harvard’s John Daigneau, Colgate’s Kyle Wilson, and St. Lawrence’s T.J. Trevelyan.