March
18, 2006
Hockey East Championship
Yip,
Yip, Hooray!
BU claimed the Hockey East title, and
a freshman provided the difference
By
Jeff Howe
| Boston
University 2,
Boston College 1 OT |
| Team |
Goal |
Str |
| Time |
Assists |
| First
Period |
| 1-BC |
Mike
Brennan (1) |
EV |
| 3:24 |
J.
Rooney |
| Second
Period |
| 1-BU |
John
McCarthy (2) |
EV |
| 14:30 |
B.
McGuirk, R. Weston |
| Third
Period |
| No
Scoring |
| Overtime |
| 2-BU |
Brandon
Yip (9) |
EV |
| 14:22 |
C.
Higgins, J. Lawrence |
| Goaltending |
| BC:
Cory Schneider, 74:22, 37 saves, 2 GA |
| BU:
John Curry, 74:22, 29 saves, 1 GA |
| Penalties:
BC 6/12; BU 4/8 |
| Power
Plays: BC 0-4; BU 0-6 |
| Attendance:
16,433 |
| All-Tournament
Team |
G:
Cory Schneider, Boston College
D: Peter Harrold, Boston College
D: Dan Spang, Boston University
F: David Van der Gulik, Boston University (MVP)
F: Brian Boyle, Boston College
F: Jacob Micflikier, New Hampshire |
BOSTON – David Van der Gulik may have
been the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, but freshman
Brandon Yip was the hero.
The Hockey East Rookie of the Year had been
mired in an 11-game goal-scoring drought, having not lit
the lamp since Feb. 3, but he beat Cory Schneider –
who looked invincible during both nights at the Garden –
14:22 into overtime to crown Boston University as 2-1 winners
over Boston College and the 2006 Hockey East Champions.
“It’s nice to savor this,”
BU coach Jack Parker said. “We haven’t won this
tournament since 1997. We’ve been in the finals a
couple times and the semifinals a lot, but we haven’t
been able to get the championship trophy. That has been
a goal of ours all year long. Last year was a good year,
but we got beat in the semifinals. This year, we’ve
got to win a championship at the end of the season, and
we finally got one.”
Jason Lawrence carried the puck into the zone
on the left side and fired a pass across the ice to Chris
Higgins at the right point. Higgins then found Yip at the
back door, and Yip was able to knock the puck past the left
post and Schneider’s right skate to cause a wild celebration
at the TD Banknorth Garden.
“Jay [Lawrence] made a great play coming
across the blue line going wide, and he gave it to Higgins,”
Yip said. “I just went to the net hard, and he was
able to find my stick. Fortunately, it went in.”
Yip, Higgins and Lawrence – BU’s
Orange Line – capped off yet another stellar performance
at the Garden, as the freshman trio was also instrumental
in the Terriers’ Beanpot championship in early February.
“If you can’t get excited in front
of 18,000 people, there is something wrong with you,”
Yip said. “Just coming to the Garden and seeing all
the jerseys up top is just amazing.”
“They have stepped up all year long,”
BU goalie John Curry said. “They play with so much
confidence. That third line is unbelievable . They have
been getting it done for us, and we’re going to need
them to continue to do that. The winning goal was pretty
fitting for the Hockey East championship.”
MARQUEE MATCHUP
With the way that John Curry and Cory Schneider
had been playing in net throughout the night, it appeared
that it may have taken a Herculean effort to end the game
before sunrise on Sunday morning.
Schneider stopped 37 Terrier shots on the
evening and four in overtime while Curry made 10 huge saves
in the extra frame and 29 total. The BC netminder stole
the show in regulation, but it was Curry’s backstopping
efforts in the 14-plus minutes of bonus hockey that caused
a majority of the championship highlights.
“John contributed a lot in this game,”
Brandon Yip said. “He made some big saves in overtime.
He basically got it done for us.”
With 15:44 to play in overtime, Curry was
able to get his right leg in the way of a tough wrister
off the stick of Benn Ferriero from the left point, and
he used his glove to bat away a high wrister from Brett
Motherwell three minutes later.
“At that point, it was pure adrenaline
reactions,” Curry said. “You’re not thinking
about much. You’re just trying to remain as high in
the crease as you can and just react. You’re just
going on pure instinct. I made some plays, but my defense
really helped me out as well.”
Boston College kept pushing the envelope,
and after the Eagles ripped off three quick shots around
the eight-minute mark of OT, Jack Parker was forced to call
a timeout to settle his troops down. Two minutes later,
Curry got some extra help from his two best friends –
the left and right posts.
“John Curry made some big saves,”
BC coach Jerry York said. “He got a little lucky on
some of them.”
His teammates, particularly those on the freshman
line who said they wanted to win this game for the veterans,
were just happy they could come through for Curry after
he was able to come through for them for 74 minutes.
“He kept us in the game,” Chris
Higgins said. “They were really taking it to us in
overtime. He is just a great goalie. He is unbelievable,
and he can steal games like that for us when the pressure
is totally on our side. He was a big backbone for us, and
luckily we got that quick break and could get that goal
for him.”
|
INCH's Three Stars of the Weekend
|
| 3.
John Curry, Boston University
He
didn’t have to be perfect on Friday night since
his team put up a nine-spot against the Wildcats,
but his 10 saves in the overtime period ranged from
very difficult to Academy Award-winning.
2.
Cory Schneider, Boston College
He, on the other hand, was – and had
to be – phenomenal from the drop of the puck
on Friday throughout the championship contest. The
Eagles will need him to play like this if they hope
to make any noise in hockey’s Big Dance.
1.
Brandon Yip, Boston University
It doesn’t really matter if no one
can recall what he did in the semifinal or even his
performance for the first 74 minutes of the championship
game (although he and his line were solid), but everyone
will remember the freshman’s championship clinching
score. |
SEEN AND HEARD AT THE GARDEN
• The BC student section began a first
period chant of “Let’s go Eagles,” which
the BU faithful responded with, “We can’t hear
you!” In retaliation, a BC student yelled, “BU
basketball, can you hear that?” This was all going
on while the Eagle hoops team was finishing up its disposal
of Montana in the second round of the NCAA Tournament while
the BU hoopsters were – well – probably at home
watching.
• As per the usual game between
the Terriers and Eagles, there was plenty of hitting to
go around, but BC’s Mike Brennan apparently didn’t
expect that to come from the goal post, too. Brennan was
chasing BU forward Kenny Roche in the BC zone when he and
the left post became acquainted. The post won.
• Rhett the Terrier and Baldy the Eagle
have had plenty of opportunities to get to know each other
with their respective schools meeting for the fifth time
on the ice this season. But when Rhett and Baldy both dove
headfirst into one of the nets during the second intermission
and began spooning for a couple seconds, their familiarity
turned into a painfully awkward feeling throughout the rest
of the building.
• David Van der Gulik was on the wrong
end of a great hit midway through the third period in the
BC zone. Van der Gulik was hit low, causing him to do nearly
a complete flip. He received a 5.2 on the takeoff, but got
an 8.5 on the landing.
• Hobey Baker finalist Chris Collins
was suffering from a hip pointer and was listed as a game-time
decision after barely stepping on the ice in the semifinal
round. Collins was able to play and almost put a big home
goal in the second period.
• Brandon Yip said in the postgame
press conference, “This was probably the biggest goal
of my career.” A few seconds later Jack Parker questioned
him, asking, “Probably the biggest goal of your career?”
Yip – and everyone else in the room – laughed,
re-thought it and responded with, “This was the biggest
goal of my career.”
PLUSSES
AND MINUSES
If
you have seen the bonus features on the “Wedding Crashers”
DVD, chances are you smiled each and every time the BC pep
band played “99 Red Balloons.”
Former
BU player and eternal local hockey hero Travis Roy was on
hand in the press area each night.
A
great hockey game was brutally interrupted during a second-intermission
game for a lucky fan. His job was to shoot a series of pucks
into a group of different nets, one of which had a voucher
that allowed him to earn a free flight anywhere in the continental
U.S. After the on-ice emcee told him which net to shoot
for, he continually shot at the wrong ones. It was like
telling your dog to go fetch a stick, but it would rather
run after traffic. After awhile, though, he complied with
the emcee – and the impatient crowd – and he
won the airline tickets.
Rhett
the Terrier was spotted out of costume before the championship
game on Saturday night, but he was still acting in character
as he had the attention span of a typical dog. Rhett came
flying out of the media room with his head turned in the
wrong direction and dumped his soda all over an esteemed
member of the media.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Terriers will be the top seed in the Worcester
Regional and will make the short trip west for the second
year in a row. Boston College will be in the tournament
as well, but its location is still way up in the air. It’s
tough to tell whether the committee will keep the Eagles
close to home after their solid run in the conference tournament
or if they will be sent somewhere out west after they stumbled
so badly during the final leg of the regular season. Also
up in the air is the fate of UNH and Maine, which both lost
in the semifinals on Friday. At least one of the two should
still get into the field of 16, and that appears to be Maine
right now. But without any of the other automatic bids going
to any Cinderella schools, UNH still has an outside chance
to dance.