March 25, 2006
Northeast Regional | Regional Final
BC Wins the Big One
One win erases a season of disappointment against the Eagles' archrivals

By Jeff Howe

Boston College 5, Boston University 0
Team	Goal	Str
Time	Assists
First Period
1-BC	Brian Boyle (22)	EV
6:24	Unassisted
Second Period
2-BC	Matt Greene (3)	EV
4:40	J. Rooney, S. Gionta
3-BC	Joe Rooney (4)	SH
13:22	B. Ferriero, B. Boyle
4-BC	Joe Rooney (5)	SH
16:00	S. Gionta
Third Period
5-BC	Benn Ferriero (16)	EV
14:26	C. Collins, B. Motherwell
Goaltending
BC: Cory Schneider, 60:00, 28 saves, 0 GA
BU: John Curry, 60:00, 26 saves, 5 GA
Penalties: BC 10/20; BU 11/22
Power Plays: BC 0-7; BC 0-6
Attendance: 8,742
All-Regional Team
G: Cory Schneider, Boston College (MVP) D: Peter Harrold, Boston College D: Sean Sullivan, Boston University F: Brian Boyle, Boston College F: Chris Higgins, Boston University F: Joe Rooney, Boston College

WORCESTER, Mass. – It’s amazing what one win can do for a team to erase a season full of nightmarish memories against a certain opponent. For the 20 or so hours leading up to Boston College/Boston University VI, everyone in the Eagle locker room admitted that this one game could define their season – one in which they were fast becoming the property of the Terriers.

They had lost the Beanpot championship, their Hockey East regular season crown on the final night of the schedule, and they came out on the wrong end of a 2-1 overtime classic in the Hockey East title tilt just one week before. This historic rivalry doesn’t typically play out to be as one-sided as it was in 2005-06, and with a 5-0 blanking of their Comm. Ave. counterparts in the Northeast Regional final, Boston College finally leveled the playing field.

“It’s incredible,” BC senior and Hobey Baker finalist Chris Collins said. “This is the high point of my career. It’s really easy to forget about those three trophies when you’re heading to the Frozen Four. We wouldn’t have rather beaten any other team in the country besides BU to get there.”

Having lost to the Terriers four times in a row, the Eagles made no secret of the fact that they wanted another crack at them with both teams having their seasons on the line.

“In our minds, we wanted another shot at BU,” said Joe Rooney, who led the charge with two goals and an assist. “We were pretty excited when they won their game [in the semifinal against Nebraska-Omaha], and we played unbelievable tonight. We feel like we got them back.”

“We felt like we should have won in the Hockey East finals with the way we played,” said Cory Schneider, who recorded his eighth shutout of the season, a new BC record. “We were eager for another crack at BU because we knew we’d beat them. We didn’t watch a lot of film or have a game plan going in because we had seen them enough and knew them well. We came out with good energy and buried them. It’s a great feeling.”

On the other hand, though, Boston University appeared wary to have to take on BC for a sixth time this season, and they knew how hard it would be to beat them for a fifth consecutive time. Defenseman Dan Spang said it didn’t help the cause with the way BU won the league crown the weekend before.

“We got that win against them in overtime last week and celebrated in front of their net so that probably fueled their fire,” he said.

With the victory, the Eagles will take on North Dakota for a chance to move into the national championship, while the Terriers’ participation in the Frozen Four festivities will be resigned to their couch.

“Coach Parker and all those guys are just great players, and they’re great people off the ice, too,” Collins said. “We respect BU a lot, and we’re sorry they have to go home. But at the same time they sent us packing three times this year so it’s kind of a good feeling.”

Back in January, it looked like BC could do no wrong and was destined for an April flight to Milwaukee, but after struggling in late February, the Eagles fell from the No. 1 team in the country to the No. 3 seed in both the Hockey East tournament and the Northeast Regional. But with scoring coming from three different lines of late, a defense that has severely limited its opponents’ grade-A chances and a penalty kill that is playing more like a power-play unit, Boston College has regained its peak form.

“We’re all excited, and I couldn’t be prouder than being on this team,” Collins said. “The group of guys here are just incredible. It’s been an unbelievable ride so hopefully we can keep it going.”

TERRIERS IMPOUNDED

Jack Parker has been asked many a time over the past couple months to compare the current Boston University team to the great ones of the past, and he has often talked about Chris Drury's squads of a decade ago and the 1977-78 club that took home 21 victories in a row.

The difference between this team and the two mentioned before lies on the ring finger, however. The 2005-06 version of the Terriers accomplished a lot of great things – a 27th Beanpot championship, two Hockey East championships and an 11-game winning streak to name a few – but their dream of matching some of the great Parker squads of the past was abruptly spoiled when they couldn’t get past their biggest nemesis on Saturday night.

They can look back upon the growing stardom of former walk-on goalie John Curry, the heroic comeback by David Van der Gulik and the legend of the freshman line. But this sweet season will have a salty aftertaste because, in the minds of the 20 kids on the bench, they could have accomplished more.

“It was a great season for us, but it was hard for us to end it by not going to the Frozen Four,” BU coach Jack Parker said.

Terrier seniors Brad Zancanaro and Dan Spang reflected on their most successful campaign while donning the red and white.

“It was a pretty good year,” Zancanaro said. “We won three championships, which is something we’ve never done here so we’re really proud of that. It’s been great playing with these five other seniors that I’ve lived with the last four years. It’s been an honor to play with them.”

“It’s been unbelievable,” Spang said. “We had great team chemistry. Guys came to the rink everyday ready to go. They’ve been willing to work hard, and that was the way everybody was able to get better. If you look up and down our lineup, every single player improved this year, and that is something to pride ourselves on. We got some championships that we haven’t gotten before, and it was a real honor to play with these guys.”

And BC coach Jerry York, who may have spent as much time watching BU footage this season as anyone in the cross-town locker room, acknowledged the rare year the Terriers had and explained the tough circumstances his opposition was playing under on Saturday night.

“You’ve got to give credit to BU,” York said. “They’ve had an unbelievable year with what they’ve accomplished. The pressure was kind of all on BU tonight to advance to the Frozen Four, and we were the underdog in the series. We lost four straight games [to BU], and it’s hard being in the favored role.”

INCH's Three Stars of the Weekend

3. Brian Boyle, Boston College The biggest player on the ice followed up a one-assist performance in the regional semifinal with the game-winning lamplighter on Saturday and a big assist to set up the third goal when he broke up a two-on-one and helped move the puck down to set up Joe Rooney’s first goal. 2. Joe Rooney, Boston College Benn Ferriero (himself a strong candidate for this list) told the media on Friday that Rooney was going to have a big night on Saturday, and it turned out that he was making an understatement. Rooney’s two shorties in a span of 2:38 killed any chance for a Terrier comeback. 1. Cory Schneider, Boston College The unanimous regional MVP stopped all 61 shots he saw in a 24-hour stretch and became the first goalie in regional history to post back-to-back shutouts.

SEEN AND HEARD AT THE DCU CENTER

• As if the rivalry needed any more fuel thrown, dumped and splattered all across the fire, those coordinating the event at the DCU Center strategically placed the Boston University and Boston College student sections right next to each other. The BU fans struck first, chanting, “Villanova! Villanova!” at BC. The Wildcats, of course, knocked the BC men’s basketball team out of the NCAA Tournament the previous night.

• Play was stopped for a short period of time about five minutes into the contest when Brett Motherwell rocked BU forward Brian McGuirk high off his feet and into the boards behind Cory Schneider.

• It looked as though BU had tied the game with about four minutes to play in the first period when Matt Gilroy fired a shot from beyond the right circle through traffic and off the stick of Bryan Ewing. From the naked eye, the puck looked like it beat Cory Schneider’s right shoulder and flew into the Eagle net, but after referee John Campion went to the replay, video evidence proved the puck hit the crossbar.

• With nine minutes to play in the second period, Brad Zancanaro (5-foot-5, 170 pounds) got into it with Brian Boyle (6-foot-7, 240 pounds) along the back boards. Zancanaro couldn’t follow the David vs. Goliath script, lost his helmet, and the refs blew the play dead.

• The DCU Center scoreboard was often playing highlights of NCAA championship games of the past, but there was one video clip that caused a stir throughout the Massachusetts crowd. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, a man who is as well liked around these parts as George Steinbrenner and a certain Republican president, had a minute of time to talk up the NCAA, which is celebrating its 100th year. Needless to say, Manning was booed viciously.

• Chris Collins’ parents were on hand for the night’s festivities after concluding their Regional marathon. They drove to Albany – in a rental car after theirs broke down this morning – to watch their son Greg play for UNH in a 1-0 loss to Michigan State. Then they headed back east to Worcester to witness Chris carry his team to victory. They were a little late for the UNH game but showed up on time in Worcester.

“What they have done all year has been incredible,” Chris said.

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

Throwback jerseys in all sports have become a style of the present and usually an appreciated acknowledgment of sports history. INCH salutes the BU fan spotted sitting in the front row to the left of the Terrier bench who was rocking his old school Jack Parker No. 6 sweater.

This marks the final time that BU will host the Worcester Regional, and the fine folks involved did a tremendous job to make sure things ran as smoothly as possible, from the catering all the way down the line. Holy Cross will assume the duties when the NCAA Tournament returns here in two years.

Watching two mascots play Frisbee on the ice together should have been a whole lot more fun to watch than it actually was. We’ll leave it at that.

It starts to become a lose-lose situation towards the end of a game when one team knows it’s moving on and the other realizes its season is about to conclude. It almost always results in chippier play as the clock winds down, especially among two teams that are such fierce rivals. But the referees were losing control of the contest fast in the waning minutes, as a couple players had to be helped off the ice from tough hits along the boards. Thankfully, no one on either team was seriously injured and the zebras didn’t DQ any Eagles with the game already decided.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Eagles became the first team to advance out of their respective regional in this year’s tournament and will take on North Dakota in the Frozen Four. Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 16 teams, Boston College has become just the second three-seed to advance to the national semifinals. Michigan also did so in 2003 out of the Midwest bracket after playing both games in Ann Arbor. BC will look to become the first No. 3 seed to win the national championship.