WORCESTER – The Boston University and Boston College men’s ice hockey teams have met in some monumental games in the past. Decisive regular-season games, Beanpot finals and Hockey East tournament bouts all litter the historic series between two of college hockey’s greatest rivals.
But in the last two decades, none of those games can compare to tonight’s. BC-BU. 6 p.m. NCAA Tournament Northeast Regional Final. A chance to play in the Frozen Four on the line.
None of those games can compare. None.
So has this season come to for these two Hockey East titans. After dispatching their first-round opponents in thoroughly convincing fashion – BU by a 9-2 score over the fourth-seeded University of Nebraska-Omaha and BC with a 5-0 win over second-seeded Miami (Ohio) University – they’ll meet for the sixth time this season and 233rd time overall.
Surprisingly, it will mark only the second time the two rivals will have met in the NCAA Tournament. The other is easily the only game that dwarfs this one – the 1978 national championship, which BU won, 5-3.
And like in that game, this season has been one the top-ranked and top-seeded Terriers (26-9-4) have controlled against BC. After dropping the first game between the two teams, 2-1, the Terriers won the next four, handing the Eagles (24-12-3) nearly every one of their major losses this season.
First, BU exploded for four third-period goals to salvage a weekend series. Then it knocked off BC, 4-3, at Conte Forum when the Eagles were No. 1 in the country. Weeks later, BU captured a thrilling 3-2 win in the Beanpot final, their record 27th.
But the most important win was their last. In one of the most exciting Hockey East Tournament finals in history, the Terriers held off a rejuvenated Eagles offense in overtime just long enough for Brandon Yip to poke home the game-winner for the 2-1 win. It sent the Terriers into a wild celebration – and the Eagles into waiting for another chance to exact their revenge.
Sunday, the NCAA selection committee gave them that chance by putting the third-seeded Eagles into BU’s Northeast bracket. It’s one they’ve been itching to take advantage of.
“They’ve owned us this year,” said BC coach Jerry York. “With four out of five, the series is over. But with a one-game shot, it’s going to be a terrific regional final. Having said that, BU’s played very, very well, having scored nine goals twice in a couple games here against New Hampshire and Omaha, so they’re at the top of their game. And we have to be at the top of our game, for sure.”
There’s no doubt that a BU-BC game brings out the best between the two teams, and as they prepare for a possible Frozen Four berth, both are playing their best hockey. The Terriers have won seven straight and are unbeaten in their last 10 while the Eagles are 4-1 in their last five (the only loss, of course, coming to BU).
Yet what makes this regional final so interesting is the familiarity. Both teams know exactly what to expect from the other and because of that, York said his team plans to tweak some things for tonight’s game.
BC is a young, quick squad that has its goalie Cory Schneider (33 saves against Miami) probably playing than he ever has. BU, on the other hand, has a dominating goalie itself in John Curry and an offense that prompted York to declare that his team will need “a red-hot Cory Schneider” if it hopes to win.
Every game they’ve played this year has had the makings of a classic, and that fact alone put BU coach Jack Parker on the fence about whether he wanted to see BC at this point in the season.
“I thought about this since I saw the pairings,” Parker said, though at the time it wasn’t known if BU would play the Eagles or Miami. “I thought, ‘Do we really wanna play BC a sixth time?’ Jeez, the answer’s ‘no.’ But then you can turn around and say, ‘Do we really want to play a team that beat BC?'”
“I would say it’s six of one, a half dozen of the other,” Parker added. “We’ll play whoever shows up.”
That proved to be BC after it completely shut down Miami’s power play and made good on the bounces and opportunities afforded to them. York said that Friday, the “hockey gods were very good to BC.” Apparently, there were also good to every warm-blooded college hockey fan who drooled over this match-up the moment it appeared it could happen.
Last season, many people thought it would, but the University of North Dakota steamrolled through both BU and BC to capture the region’s Frozen Four berth. Now, they’ll get a chance to settle who’s the best in the Northeast – and more importantly, best among themselves.
“We’re pretty familiar with them obviously, so let’s just drop the puck and play,” Schneider said. “It will be a battle of wills.”
FROZEN NOTES
A victory would guarantee BU’s first Frozen Four bid since 1997. BC last made it that far in 2004 when the final two rounds were held in Boston. … Since the Terriers last made the Frozen Four, the Eagles have been there five times, winning it all in 2001 over North Dakota. Oddly enough, the Terriers lost the 1997 national championship to North Dakota. … BU leads the all-time series between the two teams, 118-99-15. The Eagles stand as the Terriers’ longest-running rival.
