A wise man once said, “The negativity in this town sucks.”
Okay, so that wise man was Rick Pitino, and he wasn’t really wise during his time in Boston. But he was on to something.
Watching the Terrier hockey game Friday night with my roommates left us all immensely disappointed. After the University of Notre Dame was pushed to double overtime by the University of Alabama-Huntsville, we knew getting past Michigan State University probably meant a birth in the Frozen Four for the Terriers. The Irish simply weren’t going to have the legs to move on.
Unfortunately, things didn’t work out. When a bad bounce led to the Spartan’s first goal and a pathetic mistake by an official gave a misconduct to Tom Morrow shortened the Terrier defense, you just knew it wasn’t going to be their night.
On campus this week, all I’ve been hearing is how awful this team’s play was. It certainly was a tough way to bow out. But please, hold the sob stories. If anything, fans should be thankful for what this senior class has accomplished. In their four-year run in the scarlet and white, this class brought the Terriers back to national prominence.
For anyone who’s not graduating this year, here’s a quick fun fact for you: The Terriers weren’t that good when these seniors were freshmen. In fact, they were pretty bad, finishing with a 12-17-9 record and barely qualifying for the Hockey East tournament.
John Curry, Tom Morrow, Kevin Schaeffer, Sean Sullivan and Eric Thomassian are all major reasons why Terriers have been so fun to watch the last three years. Say what you want about these Terriers, but they’ve won more than they’ve lost the past three seasons, which is better than a lot of teams get to say. It’s also rare you have a class in which everyone contributes like this one certainly did.
Thomassian’s timely passing skills were crucial. No matter what line he was on, he always made two other teammates play better.
Morrow used size and strength to mold himself into one of Hockey East’s finest defensemen. Furthermore, he became a Dog Pound favorite, inspiring a coast-to-coast T-shirt-purchasing frenzy.
Roche could simply put the puck in the back of the net. His hat trick against the University of New Hampshire earlier this season gave the Terriers their best tie of the year (and there were many to choose from).
Schaeffer became a rock at the blue line for the Terriers the moment he stepped on Comm. Ave. He was one of the most consistent performers on the team for all his four years.
Sullivan, the team’s captain, provided the spark the Terriers needed on more than one occasion with his bone crushing hits. My favorite moment of this season was watching him pulverize Boston College’s annoying midget, Nathan Gerbe, during the Beanpot.
And lastly, there’s Curry. Not much else can be said about him. He’s simply the most important goaltender in Boston University history.
Sure, this class wasn’t able to deliver a Frozen Four appearance, never mind a national title. Expectations are high when a school has a hockey program like this, and it’s definitely frustrating to fall flat early in the NCAA tournament as this team has the past three seasons. But only one team tastes actual glory at the end of every year — usually a team from the WCHA.
Take a look at what has been accomplished in the past three years — three Beanpot championships, one Hockey East Regular Season title, one Hockey East Tournament title and three NCAA Tournament appearances.
Trust me, winning those three Beanpots is a remarkable accomplishment. You’d struggle to find a New Englander that can tell you BC won the Hockey East Tournament come next fall. You’ll find plenty to talk about for the BU Invitational. The Hockey East Tournament doesn’t have DVDs covering its history, but the Beanpot sure does.
Winning a national title is the ultimate goal entering any season, but anything short in this town and you better at least have won the Beanpot. This team came through with three in a row, each better than the one before.
So, rather than feeling hostility toward the Terriers early Saturday morning as the final seconds ticked off the clock, I felt sadness as I watched Sullivan bend over in disbelief that his career was over. Knowing six integral Terriers will never step on the ice again is a tough pill to swallow.
But while everyone is doing the honors of running them quickly out of town, I’ll do the honors of saying goodbye to a group of winners that truly put the Terriers back on the map.
Chris Lyons, a junior in the College of Communication, is a weekly columnist for The Daily Free Press. He can be reached at [email protected].