Boston University celebrates the lone goal of last year's Hockey East championship game.
This weekend features the first marquee home-and-home of the Hockey East season, when Boston University and UMass Lowell square off in a two-part rematch of the 2009 league championship game.
BU and Lowell, Hockey East’s top-two teams according to the preseason coaches’ poll, meet Friday at Tsongas Arena before shifting to Agganis Arena on Saturday.
“They’re the team that ended our season last year, and we’re going to want to try to get back at them,” said Lowell junior forward Scott Campbell, who has three goals and two assists this season.” They’re ranked No. 1 in Hockey East, and we want to see how we match up against them going into this weekend. Even though it’s still early, we want to judge to see where we’re at.”
The Terriers claimed last season’s Hockey East championship by a 1-0 margin before they won the national title in Washington D.C. The River Hawks needed to pull off an upset to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, but the defeat left them out of the picture, which was tougher to swallow because they were one of the hottest teams in the country in March.
BU has entered the 2009-10 season knowing it will get every team’s best effort, but that will have a whole new meaning against the revenge-driven River Hawks.
“They’re obviously going to be pumped up,” said BU sophomore defenseman David Warsofsky, who assisted Brandon Yip’s goal in the Hockey East championship. “It’s a big game for them, kind of to get a little revenge on us from last year. The win last weekend we got against Michigan boosted our confidence a little bit, so I think we’ll be ready to match [the River Hawks].
“Once you get on the ice, it’s kind of a regular game. We know we’re going to get everyone’s best game. Yeah, there might be a little more on the line because we knocked them out last year, but in the end, it’s just another game for all of us.”
It wasn’t just last year, though. The Terriers defeated the River Hawks in three games in the first round of the 2008 Hockey East playoffs. While the 2009 championship was predictably competitive, the 2008 series wasn’t expected to be close at all. Part of that series helped Lowell establish some of the grit it displayed all of last season and through the opening weeks of this season. It’s also fueled Lowell’s fire for its games against the Terriers, as the two teams have developed a growing rivalry.
Both teams areimpressed by the other’s passion and talent, and there is a good amount of mutual respect between the sides. Warsofsky and Campbell also remember last year’s league championship very similarly.
“[I remember] just how hard the guys battled,” Campbell said. “BU had our number. They were such a dominant powerhouse all year. But the way the guys battled, we went down 1-0 and we just kept coming. [Our] guys had a no-quit attitude, and hopefully that’s something we can continue to build on going through this year with most of the guys coming back.”
“It was a hard-fought game,” Warsofsky said. “Nothing came easy that game. Lowell’s a great team. They come hard every shift. They have four lines that can really work, and they get solid goaltending. I just remember it wasn’t an easy game, and I don’t think this weekend is going to be any different.”
And don’t think the River Hawks are looking at this weekend as two regular old games. They aren’t hiding from their history with Boston University.
“From the past two years, BU has been the team that has ended our season both years,” Campbell said. “We are starting to get a pretty good rivalry with them. We’re always looking forward to BU games because they’re always up-tempo, they’re always exciting and a lot of fun to play in. I think this weekend will be no different.”
