PARKER’S LEGENDARY STATUS NOT LOST ON CURRENT PLAYERS
They sit there in amazement, listening to a legend promoting his program with an effortless kind of swagger that really can’t be duplicated anywhere else in the country. Hockey prospects dream of moments like this, talking to a coach like Boston University’s Jack Parker, who wants them to wear a Terriers jersey for four years.
Jack Parker and the Boston University Terriers are one win away from the school's fifth national championship, and Parker's third as head coach.
Parker isn’t slowing down a bit in his 36th season on the BU bench, and he’s looking to add a third national championship to his coaching résumé Saturday night when his Terriers take on Miami in Washington, D.C.
But as Parker has said in the past, the easiest way to win a hockey game is to get off the bus with the best players. Therein lies the tradition at Boston University.
“You’re kind of in awe of him,” freshman goalie Kieran Millan said. “He’s been a huge part of college hockey for 30 years, and when he says he wants you, it’s kind of hard to say no considering the great talent they’ve had at Boston University and the amazing alumni they have. He’s got quite a bit of pull. It’s pretty amazing what kind of pull he has.”
“I can remember the first meeting I had with him in his office, and I was so intimidated to be sitting next to this guy,” said sophomore defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who committed to Parker over legendary Michigan coach Red Berenson. “The one thing I can remember is he said, ‘If you want to play in the Beanpot, you can play for four teams.’ Then he said, “If you want to win the Beanpot, you’re coming to BU.’ That was something that kind of drew me to BU was that whole tradition behind it and the Beanpot.”
Millan and Shattenkirk are two of Parker’s most prized recruits over the last few years, along with guys like Colin Wilson, David Warsofsky, Nick Bonino and Jason Lawrence, among others. In fact, Inside College Hockey ranked Parker’s 2008-09 freshman class as the third best in the country, and the Terriers had the second best classes in each of the two seasons prior to that.
Parker’s credentials open a ton of doors for him in the recruiting world, but his confidence and coolness through the process is what gets the acceptance signature on paper. While assistant coaches David Quinn and Mike Bavis take care of the brunt of the early work in recruiting, players know it’s for real once they finally meet with Parker.
“The way Jack talks, he seems to know you’re going to commit there,” said Millan, who chose BU over Denver and Miami. “He’s confident that he knows his (closing pitch) is going to help you there, and it gives you confidence. With his record there, it’s hard to say no.”
“He talks to you and tells you how much he wants you to come there,” said Warsofsky, who turned down Boston College and New Hampshire to play at BU. “He kind of makes the decision pretty easy on you and what he wants you to do.
“He makes you feel real comfortable with him. He’ll go watch you play and then he’ll obviously contact you when he can. He makes you feel like he wants you at his program and makes you feel like it’s the right spot for you.”
Mostly, though, players appreciate Parker’s honesty. He references a couple examples from the past decade when pitching his plan. With the amount of high-caliber players coming through the program, guys who can leave for the professional ranks anytime they choose, Parker has had plenty of experience dealing with some of the most important decisions in a lot of players’ lives.
For instance, he told Mike Grier after his junior season in 1995-96 he was ready to leave for the NHL, and Grier has gone on to have a solid career. Chris Drury, on the other hand, didn’t receive the same advice. Parker told Drury he’d be better off returning for his senior season in 1997-98, and Drury put up 28 goals and 29 assists and won the Hobey Baker Award before moving on to have a tremendous NHL career. Neither player would regret their respective decision.
“I think [honesty] is real important when you’re recruiting them and then when you get them here, too,” Parker said. “If you’re not honest with them, they don’t believe you. And if they don’t believe you, they don’t trust you.”
- Jeff Howe
REDHAWKS RAMPING UP
Slow and steady progress.
That’s what marked the first quarter-century of Miami hockey, as the program grew from an upstart with winning records in its first two seasons in 1978-79 and 1979-80 to an adolescent team that hoped to finish above .500 in the 1980s and eventually a consistent winner in the 1990s.
Miami freshman defenseman Will Weber has been a regular in the RedHawks lineup all year.
But that model has been thrown out the window since the turn of the century, as the RedHawks have made a quantum leap into the upper echelon of college hockey with a current senior class built on momentum drummed up by their predecessors and compiled the winningest record in college hockey over the last four years.
As Miami works to solidify its standing as a national powerhouse, Thursday’s victory over Bemidji State — which improved the seniors’ career record to 106-43-14 — will be an important cornerstone for the program. And it’s a cornerstone that will etch those seniors, whose memories might have faded more quickly as a team that had the best record in the country over their four-year career than it will as a the first Miami athletic team to compete for a national championship in any sport, prominently in the RedHawks’ history books.
But no matter how significant a part senior Brian Kaufman and his classmates played in placing this most important piece of the puzzle, the captain knows that a great deal of credit goes to the coaching staff and the alumni who helped pave the way.
“I think it was on the rise when we came in, it was already on its way up for sure,” Kaufman said. “Coach [Enrico] Blasi and [assistant] Coach [Chris] Bergeron have been here for a while have done a good job and we just came here at the right time. Obviously our class was a big part of it, but it was started before we got here and we’ve just been able to continue it, and I think that it’s going to continue to go up from here.”
Kaufman, Blasi, and the rest of the RedHawks have been inundated with phone calls and text messages congratulating them, helping the team understand just how big of an impact that the chance to compete for a national title means for the program and the university at large.
“The president of our school is here and was the first one to congratulate us when we got off the bus at the hotel. That says a lot right there,” Kaufman said. “I’ve gotten a lot of e-mails from alumni and friends after last night’s game saying that the whole town was going crazy.”
And, for some of those students celebrating their school’s victory, there was an added bonus when faculty decided tomorrow’s game was so significant that they needed to see it in person.
“About four or five of my teachers canceled class and flew out here for the game,” Kaufman said. “It’s been really special.”
Having reached the biggest stage in college hockey for the first time and seen such strong support from the Miami community, Blasi is confident that his team is amongst the elite to stay. While he can’t predict year-to-year results, he knows that he has put together a top-notch coaching staff that understands the important role the hockey plays at their institution, and that their talent and passion will help keep the team competitive as a perennial power.
“It’s just been a really good staff,” Blasi said. “Everyone is on the same page, and when your staff is on the same page your players will be on the same page. It’s a great group of guys, really good coaches and kids.”
- James V. Dowd
CONSIDERATION FOR COACHES OF THE YEAR
Parker admitted in the Friday press conference that he had briefly organized a write-in campaign in hopes of having this year’s Spencer Penrose Award for national coach of the year shared by brothers Frank Serratore of Air Force and Tom Serratore of Bemidji State.
“The coach that might have had a better year than Frank is Tom Serratore, who did an unbelievable job,” Parker said. “I was going to write my fellow coaches and suggest that we disregard the ballot and do something special, and write in the Serratore brothers. We’d be making a fabulous statement for two guys who are great coaches. It would’ve been pretty cool.”
Alas, Parker learned from Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna, who is also head of the American Hockey Coaches Association, that write-ins were not permitted. Thinking about two proud Italian Americans sharing the trophy, Parker also seemed disappointed that there was no Serratore brother named Fredo.
“The Serratore brothers would’ve been pretty good,” he joked. “It’d be like a Godfather thing — they put a gun to somebody’s head and got the trophy.”
- Jess Myers
