BU kids chasing title that eluded their dads
The 1990-91 Boston University Terriers were a powerhouse hockey team fueled by future NHL stars under coach Jack Parker.
Mark Krys was the captain and Tony Amonte (Hingham) and Keith Tkachuk (Melrose) were two of the top scorers. After winning the Hockey East tournament, BU played for the NCAA championship in St. Paul, Minn., but fell to Northern Michigan, 8-7, in triple overtime.
Fast forward one generation and BU’s past is on a collision course with the present under fifth-year coach David Quinn. Chad Krys, Ty Amonte and Brady Tkachuk have an opportunity to go to back to the Frozen Four in St. Paul and aim to finish off the title run that eluded their fathers 27 years ago.
“I think that is probably the thing that stung the most for my dad and his career here,” said Krys, a sophomore defenseman from Ridgefield, Conn. “I think if you ask anyone that was on that team I’m sure losing that game the way they did in all those overtimes was probably their biggest regret for sure.
“BU runs pretty deep in our family and my mom went here so it is pretty special for them to see me playing.”
The Terriers’ road back to the Twin Cities begins Saturday in Worcester when they take on top seed Cornell in the Northeast Regional semifinals.
BU has been a point of entry to the NHL for the Tkachuk and Amonte families. Keith Tkachuk played 19 seasons for the Jets, Blues, Coyotes and Thrashers and is considered one of the best American-born players in NHL history.
“He’s told me all the memories he has from that team and how they came just a bit short in all the overtimes but he was pretty disappointed,” Brady Tkachuk said of his dad. “Looking back there was a lot of good players on that team. I think the two things he didn’t get in hockey were the NCAA title and winning the Stanley Cup. I think those are his two biggest regrets.”
Tony Amonte, now the head coach at Thayer Academy, was the Terriers’ representative on the NCAA All-Tournament Team. He played 17 years for five different NHL teams and appeared in five All-Star Games. He was recently inducted in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
“It’s pretty cool to do something he’s done,” said Ty Amonte. “He went really far with his hockey career and I would really like to do the same by doing the right things and playing the game honest like coach Quinn says. Hopefully that will get us to St. Paul.”
The Terriers might be the most dangerous team in the tournament. They went into the Hockey East tourney without an NCAA fallback position. Their only option was to win out, which they did with a 2-0 victory over Providence.
So BU traveled the hard road to Worcester.
“It was a win-or-die attitude that we had and everyone knew what was at stake even though we weren’t talking about it too much,” said Krys. “We like the way we’ve played in the second half and winning the Hockey East tournament is a difficult thing to do. We were the (No. 4) seed going into Hockey East and the (No. 4) seed going into the regional but we don’t see ourselves as the underdog. We are confident with how we are playing.”