For months, everyone has been waiting for the Boston University hockey team to break out and show us the caliber team that we all expected. But it didn’t happen. Each game brought disappointment. Even a win over Northeastern did little to quell the feelings of impending doom, because after all, it was only Northeastern.
Getting swept by Boston College seemed to be the final nail in the coffin. It looked like we were going to be riding out a lame duck season and playing for next year, torturing ourselves by imagining what could have been while eagerly awaiting the arrival of Bourque, Boomer and a new arena.
With the Maine Black Bears, the third-ranked team in the country, coming into Walter Brown for two games, it didn’t look like things were about to get any better. Sure, there was still some optimism floating around Babcock Street, but the Terriers had come up short each “make or break” weekend thus far, so why would this one be any different?
As the seconds ticked off the clock on Friday, it seemed that our feelings were confirmed. The season was done. By allowing eight goals, Sean Fields simply confirmed what people have been saying all season: he just doesn’t have it this year.
And then everything changed. Finally, our beloved Icedogs gave us that glimmer of hope we’ve been searching for all year. Not just a win, but a huge win, in a close game, over a very good team. Jack Parker summed it up perfectly after the game when he asked members of the media if it was the team’s first win. It was just that big.
Of course Sean Fields is the major story of the weekend, rebounding from Friday’s disaster to post a shutout. All season we’ve been looking for the Sean Fields we saw at the end of last season. Every now and then, we’d get a tiny glimpse, letting us know that it was still there somewhere, just waiting to come out.
Finally, when it mattered most, Sean Fields let it all hang out. As my heart sank with every loose puck and every shot, I couldn’t help but think back to the end of last year, when Sean Fields was Superman. For the first time all season, whenever there was a breakaway or a shot I thought to myself, “It’ll be fine. We have Fields in net.”
But Sean Fields shouldn’t be the biggest story of the weekend – the Terrier team as a whole should be. For the first time all year, this team was showing passion and intensity. I noticed it first on Friday, when the team was hitting hard and there were a couple near-fights during the game.
Following Friday’s game, the team could have rolled over and died. They could have given up, but they didn’t. Instead they came out playing even harder, skating even faster. Each person on the ice wanted to win. For the first time all season, the team was playing with a sense of urgency. Once again there were numerous fights (and one big fight) that showed you how badly this team wanted to win the game. Rather than showing emotion in being disappointed after the game, the team displayed a tremendous amount of emotion on the ice during the game.
Of course, it might not be a good thing to get too excited about one game. As the season hangs in the balance, maybe the team just bought itself another week. But I don’t think that Saturday’s game was an aberration – I think that these are the real 2003-2004 BU Terriers, the Icedogs we’ve been waiting to see. Saturday night was their coming-out party.
History seems to be on BU’s side also, because for some reason, BU teams play well in February. Last year, the Terriers only lost one game in February, posting a 6-1-1 record and securing another Beanpot in the process. Two seasons ago, the team was perfect in the month of February, winning all eight of their games.
It’s not unreasonable to imagine the Terriers catching fire in February and carrying that momentum over into March and the Hockey East Tournament and if we’re lucky, the NCAA Tournament. After all, it happened last year. In the next few weeks, the Terriers will play some of the very best Hockey East has to offer. If they play like they did on Saturday, there’s no reason they shouldn’t beat these teams. And scoring wins over such quality opponents would vault BU into the national rankings.
Right now, there are still a lot of “ifs” and uncertainties surrounding the BU season, especially considering that the renewed sense of optimism stems from one game which came after an 8-4 drubbing. But if the real Icedogs show up for the rest of the season – the team that hits hard, plays with passion and does the small things that are necessary to win – we should be in for a fun stretch run.
And in the meantime, we finally have that glimmer of hope we’ve been looking for.