March 26, 2006
East Regional | Regional Final
Black Bears' Brothers in Arms

By Ken McMillan

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Maine Wins Tug-of-War to Claim East

ALBANY, N.Y. – Advancing to the NCAA Frozen Four is a special treat for Maine senior John Hopson, but he says it would mean nothing if he wasn't able to share this experience with his younger brother, sophomore Keenan Hopson.

"He's my brother and I really wanted to play with him,'' Hopson said. "You can get that chemistry with other players but (with) a brother, he's blood. It's deeper than the friendship. I just wanted the experience.''

The bond was never stronger than at this weekend's NCAA East Regional. Third-seeded Maine advanced to its third Frozen Four in the past five seasons with a 5-4 victory over top-seeded Michigan State. The Black Bears jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead, thanks to two tip-in goals from regional MVP John Hopson, both off plays set up by his brother.

"It's a dream come true,'' Keenan said. "For starters, just to play with him. For him to get MVP and score those goals and for our team to move on, I know he's excited and I'm excited ... it's just an awesome feeling.''

Added John: "Just the chance to play with my brother is phenomenal but coming to such a good program as Maine ... I really haven't grasped it yet. It's pretty hard to imagine going from not even coming close to making the NCAA Tournament to now being in the Frozen Four.''

John Hopson risked everything to make this connection happen, withdrawing from school midway through his junior year and giving up his assistant captaincy with Alaska Anchorage with no promise that the brothers would ever play together.

Born almost 26 months apart, the Hopsons were separated by hockey's age divisions -- John would move up just as Keenan qualified. John, now 24, had hoped the UAA coaching staff would see its way to signing Keenan, now 22, but apparently he was not a good fit for the Seawolves and John decided to leave school.

"We decided to make our own destiny and try to play together somewhere,'' John said.

Maine was eager to sign Keenan, who made a request of assistant coach and primary recruiter Grant Standbrook.

"I told Grant I needed a place to play with John and they accommodated us perfectly,'' said Keenan, who honestly never expected the school to go for it. "I don't know why they took a chance on us but they did and thank God they did.''

As per NCAA transfer regulations, John Hopson had to sit out an entire season, which meant he would be out of game action for nearly 22 months.

"It's pretty tough,'' John said of his layoff. "All you can do is practice, sit in the stands and watch your team win and lose. Just sitting out that whole year makes me appreciate what we're given, just to be able to go out and play every day. It really motivated me to play at my peak level or as close to it as possible this year.

"There were sacrifices but I think it's all worth it ... just even for one game to play with my brother would have been all worth it,'' John added. "Now going to the Frozen Four, those are minor things in the long road.''

The sacrifices his big brother made to make their family dream happen is not lost on Keenan, who feels he has to live up to the gesture.

"It's almost a little pressure,'' Keenan said. "I want him to succeed so much just because of all he let go there (in Anchorage). He was an assistant captain and he had friends there. To drop that and come to a place he didn't know just to be with me, I just hope for the best for him every day.''

The Hopson brothers are paired on Maine's third line with junior Mike Hamilton, and also on power play and penalty kill units. Centerman Keenan (4 goals, 19 assists) is the playmaker and right winger John (10-14) is the closer.

"I think as brothers we expect plays to happen the same way and we're thinking the same way on the ice,'' John said. "We don't really have to say a whole lot to each other ... we kind of know which way each of us wants the other person to go before we get to that situation.''

"We complement one another perfectly,'' Keenan added.

In the regional final, the brothers were tuned in to one another. Leading 1-0, Keenan set up Mike Hamilton's shot from along the left dasher boards and John tipped it between the legs of Michigan State goalie Jeff Lerg at the 10:21 mark.

Five minutes later, while on a power play, Keenan passed the puck back to Matt Duffy on the blue line. His blast from the right point was again tipped out front by John, this time going over Lerg's shoulder for a 3-0 lead.

"I was just fortunate to be in the right spot at the right time,'' John said. "It's a great thing to get two goals in the biggest game we could have all year just to get to the Frozen Four.''

Following the game, John walked up to Keenan in the triumphant Maine locker room and said simply: "We're going to the dance.''

Now that John has finally got a chance to play with his brother, the last goal is to win in Milwaukee.

"I think playing with Keenan is definitely a thrill, but if we can get a national championship, that would just put icing on the cake,'' he said.