Today is a special day. Not just because this is my final column or because there’s a new episode of “The O.C.” tonight. It just happens to be my birthday. Lucky for me, I got a heck of a birthday present a little early when BU clobbered B-Line-rival Boston College.
Without question, this season has been something of a paradox, even a little disappointing after the way the team stumbled out of the gate. As a senior, I couldn’t help being a little worried. This will be my final season with such a deep connection to BU hockey, the last chance I’ll have to sit in the student section without feeling uncomfortable.
You can imagine the anxiety – being a senior preparing for life after classes and dining halls is enough; having a bad hockey team on top of it all just might throw me into a suicidal rage. I kept having these flashbacks to the 2003-04 season. The similarities are there: a team coming off an NCAA Tournament season, losing a great captain, an anemic power play and more, right down to the looks of the seniors in the stands, as we collectively shake our heads and ask “Why does it have to be this year?”
Saturday did much to erase those looks. For me, Saturday’s game reminded me of everything that’s good about Boston University athletics and why I will miss BU hockey so much.
Saturday’s game marked the last time the current crop of seniors will see BU host BC, barring the unlikely event that we host them for the Hockey East playoffs. Going in, I couldn’t help but think back to the times I saw the teams play inside Walter Brown Arena. Good ol’ Section 8 was crowded and cramped and the section had twice the number of people as it did seats. But nobody seemed to care that you couldn’t quite see the other end of the ice; it was BU-BC, the place was rocking, and it was just a privilege to be a part of it all.
For maybe the first time, that feeling found its way to Agganis Arena. Saturday’s game legitimized the building of Agganis Arena. Section 118 was wild, but for the first time so was 108. It was reminiscent of the day when Section 7 and Section 8 battled to see which was louder – and that’s exactly how it should be. BU is a premier hockey team playing in a state-of-the-art venue in front of a packed, rabid crowd. If only it were like that for every game.
Completing the experience was the postgame festivities, and there’s no better time to party with a bunch of hockey fans than after a big win over BC. A little added bonus was the presence of a Superfan. While a relationship with people from the other end of the Commonwealth Avenue only adds to the rivalry, it never stops a fair amount of celebrating at their expense.
As an example of how much fun this rivalry can be off the ice, I challenged my friend Ryan to put his Superfan shirt on the line in a game of Beirut. The truth is that it was never even close, and Ryan Moore’s Superfan shirt now hangs above my toilet.
Saturday might have softened some of the bad memories from earlier in the season, but there’s always a chance that it could just be a false hope (Boston teams are good at doing that). Personally, I believe that the win over BC is indicative of how good this team is and what it can do in the future.
At this point, BU might not be getting a lot of respect in the polls (unranked in the USA Today and insidecollegehockey.com polls, No. 18 in the USCHO poll), but that’s largely a result of an unimpressive record. It’s tough to rank a team that’s 5-6-2, at least until you look a little bit deeper.
Not counting an empty-netter by UMass-Amherst, all of BU’s losses have come by one goal, with the exception of a game against UMass-Lowell. Since losing to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Lowell, BU has played 10 games, 9 of them against teams currently ranked. Considering those teams comprise nearly half of the top 15, a 4-4-2 record isn’t too shabby. If the Terriers can keep focus in the upcoming stretch of games against unranked opponents, their record should catch up with their ability and win a little more recognition.
With the end of the semester suddenly here, graduation is becoming scarily near. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many more opportunities for a night like last Saturday. But that game proves, at least for now, that the season won’t be as disappointing as some may have imagined. A night out will be an amazing way to celebrate a birthday, but the real gift came last Saturday.
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