Terriers expect hostile atmosphere
FARGO, N.D. — When the pairings were announced for the NCAA Division 1 men’s hockey tournament, Boston University coach David Quinn looked out of the corner of his eye to the reaction of his players.
He saw nothing but smiles when it was announced the Terriers would travel to play the University of North Dakota.
“If you’re an elite hockey player and you’re serious about being an elite athlete, this is the game you want to play in,” Quinn said. “You get to play North Dakota in Fargo in front of their home crowd. It’s going to be a heck of an atmosphere against a really good hockey team.”
The second-seeded Terriers are in enemy territory for today’s matchup with third-seeded North Dakota. They are well aware there won’t be many cheers for them at Scheels Arena, 80 miles from Grand Forks, where the defending champs call home.
“Maybe seven or eight people in the building will be cheering for us, maybe there’ll be 20,” Quinn joked. “We certainly understand the passion for North Dakota hockey throughout the state. They’re kind of like the Patriots of North Dakota.”
BU may have the higher seed next to its name in the West Regional, but there is no advantage when it comes to the location.
“I think anytime you can come into a building like this and have everyone cheering against you it fires you up,” BU freshman forward Clayton Keller said. “I think we’re really looking forward to it. It’s just going to be a great experience.”
This stage is nothing new to many on the BU roster. Plenty of them have entered Scheels as the enemy from their days in the USHL, playing against the Fargo Force. Five of the top six scorers and the starting goalie for BU have come to Scheels as the opposing team.
Sophomore forward Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson played at Scheels Arena when he played for the Omaha Lancers in the USHL in the 201314 and 2014-15 seasons.
“It’s a real fun rink to play on, and it’s going to be a great atmosphere,” Forsbacka Karlsson said. “It’s actually very similar to the rink I played in Omaha, so I know how loud it can get when it’s packed, so we’re looking forward to the game (today).”
UND is well aware of the advantage it has with the crowd. The Fighting Hawks had the experience in 2015 when Scheels hosted a regional for the first time.
“It’s a home game for us, that’s for sure,” North Dakota goalie Cam Johnson said. “The atmosphere is unbelievable. There’s not going to be a seat in the house and it’s going to be 99.9 percent UND fans, so I know we’re all excited.
“It’s going to help with momentum swings. If we’re not playing our best hockey and the crowd gets up and gets behind us maybe it could change things. Getting the crowd behind us is going to be huge.”
This will be the fourth time BU has had to fly to a regional since 2003. The last three resulted in firstround losses.
“We’ve traveled to a lot of hostile environments this year,” Quinn said. “We show up to a building the building is usually sold out and the crowd hates us with a lot of passion.
“We’ve played at Michigan, at Denver, at Boston College this year when the places are sold out and the atmosphere was hostile. Our guys enjoyed it. We’ve played in environments like this, so our guys are a little bit battletested from that regard.”