Flames prospects vying for NCAA title
Frozen Four tournament features best teams in U. S. college hockey
The occasion perhaps had a jobfair feel to it.
You know, check out the fulltime employees, get a peek at your potential future. See how it might look, might sound, might feel, to play in the National Hockey League one day.
So, invited by the Calgary Flames, four prospects — Jon Gillies, Mark Jankowski, John Gilmour, Brandon Hickey — congregated in the TD Garden press box in Boston on March 5 and coolly followed the action. Without doubt, they could imagine themselves out on the ice, well- established veterans getting the job done in Flames sweaters.
But, late in the contest, in a matter of seconds?
David Schlemko reduced them to squealing fans.
Everyone remembers the newcomer’s out- of- this- world shootout conversion to beat the Bruins. Including the kids. “Oh, man,” says Jankowski. “That was unbelievable, for that to be his first game and for him to do that. All of us, as soon as that happened, we all jumped up. We were going nuts. We didn’t know what to expect from him. Then to pull that? One heck of a move.”
Adds Gillies: “Mark, John and I were going just as crazy as all the people around us. A pretty cool thing to be a part of for a night. We found out later he didn’t play much during the game. That’s what makes the Flames team so special this year — their belief in themselves, their belief and trust in each other.”
That was the last time the Flames’ draft picks had visited TD Garden.
Now, a month later, they’re heading back.
This time, though, they’re the centres of attraction — Gillies, Jankowski, Gilmour for the Providence College Friars; Hickey for the Boston University Terriers — as participants in the NCAA Frozen Four.
“We’re all excited, we’re superpumped,” says Jankowski. “We’re not just excited to be here. I know it’s great to make it to the Frozen Four and everything, but we’re not just ( satisfied with that). We really feel that if we play Friar hockey we can win the whole thing. “So why not us?” On April 9, in one semifinal, the Friars meet Omaha. The Terriers, in the other bracket, face North Dakota.
The winners face off April 11 for the title.
Schools, in other words, are simply two victories from being crowned national champs.
“The way you can think about it is how feasible it is — how any team in the Frozen Four has a really good chance to win it,” says Gillies. “There’s no favourites or anything like that. It’s just who ever is playing the best hockey this time of year. We have full confidence in ourselves and we believe in each other. We know what we have to do to win.”
En route to TD Garden, Providence knocked off Miami ( Ohio)
It’s a unique feeling and an honour, really, to make it to the Frozen Four. It’s such an accomplishment.
and Denver. The Friars are making their first trip to the championship showdown in 30 years.
Gillies, for his latest netminding heroics, is Hockey East’s defensive player of the week.
“I think I’ve played well,” says the six- foot- five native of South Portland, Maine, who, in his junior year, went 22- 13- 2, with a 2.00 goals- against average and a .929 save percentage. “I accomplished a lot of the things in my game that I set out to accomplish at the beginning of the year. And I’ve had a great team in front of me … the way we’ve played.”
Gillies was the Flames’ thirdround pick in 2012.
Their first- rounder that year was Jankowski, a centreman. He, too, is a junior. “It’s gone well — I’m really happy with this year,” says Jankowski, a Dundas, Ont., native who amassed 24 points in 35 outings. “My progression … I’m trying to be a great two- way forward, being dependable in the defensive zone.”
By the Flames, Gilmour was taken 198th overall in 2013.
His junior year was derailed by a broken finger that required inseason surgery. He ended up missing a half- dozen games.
“I took some strides as a defenceman and also as a leader on my team,” says Gilmour, who wound up with 11 points in 28 contests. “I put a little more weight on my shoulders. I really tried to take that next step. I think I upped my game, for sure.”
Focus now is on a week’s worth of workouts before heading to Boston — an hour’s drive away from the Providence, R. I., school — on Tuesday.
Even if they do happen to be the toast of the campus.
“It’s been fun the last few days to come back and share the accomplishment,” says Gillies. “These are fun practices, the best practices of the year. I mean, you get to come to the rink and you realize that you’re one of four teams still practicing — and that’s it. It’s a unique feeling and an honour, really, to make it to the Frozen Four. It’s such an accomplishment … with all the amazing programs in college hockey.
"We don’t look past that. We know how fortunate we are.”
Catching the Flames’ commodities in action is easy, given the television coverage.
Gilmour insists that following the NCAA’s championship is a splendid idea.
“I would suggest that all Canadian kids take a look at it,” the Montreal native says. “It’s really exciting hockey. Not putting down major junior or anything, but it can be just as exciting to watch. A lot of people pay attention to it down here. It’s pretty special.”