If they meet again, it’ll likely be for a bigger title
Not since 1978 when it was the O’Callahans and Fidlers and Craigs and Mullens and Skidmores and Boston University beat Boston College for the NCAA hockey title in Providence had we seen such a clash of local titans as we did Saturday night before a full house at TD Garden.
This time it was the Eagles and Terriers facing off for the Hockey East title for the first time since 2006 and only the third time ever.
And BC, which had waited a dozen years to wear the crown, turned in a dominant performance, hammering BU, 6-2, with four goals from Lexington freshman Will Smith.
More significantly, here were the country’s top two varsities going head-to-head in what could be a preview of coming attractions when the Frozen Four takes place in St. Paul next month.
Both BC and BU are guaranteed to be No. 1 seeds in the 16-team tournament whose draw will be announced Sunday night. If form holds they’ll meet for the championship in what would be a throwback to the days when Hockey East had an annual reservation in the title game.
At least one member of the conference has appeared in 20 of the last 31 finals, including eight straight between 1997 and 2004. During the last three decades five Hockey East teams have claimed 10 crowns, most recently Massachusetts in 2021.
The best run belonged to Boston College which produced more hardware than Paul Revere, winning four championships between 2001 and 2012. The last one coincided with the last time that the Eagles won the Hockey East tournament.
That was the drought that the Eagles, who won the regular-season pennant, were seeking to end in the Garden where BC lost to its archrivals in last month’s Beanpot semifinals and hadn’t been beaten since.
“Tonight was unbelievable,” said Smith, who was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. “We had expectations coming into this year. I mean, 12 years is a long time. We knew that coming into this game. It’s amazing how we finally got one back to Chestnut Hill.”
The championship aside, it has been a terrific campaign for Hockey East, which weeks ago locked up three NCAA berths after earning only two last year and now has a fourth.
Maine, which had BU back on its heels in a 4-1 defeat that was decidedly closer than what the scoreboard showed, made it to the big stage for the first time in a dozen years as a No. 2 seed.
“It’s been a special experience for all of us because we have such a special hockey community up in Orono, really the whole state,” said coach
Ben Barr, whose Black Bears downed defending national champion Quinnipiac and beat and tied BC during the regular season.
Hockey East people were hoping for five spots but both New Hampshire and Providence sagged down the stretch. But they were delighted to collect a fourth after UMass grabbed one despite Friday’s 8-1 loss to BC.
The Minutemen were hanging by a bootlace after dropping six of their last 10 to slip down to a tie for 14th with Colorado College in the PairWise rankings that determine the NCAA field.
Two teams outside the top 16 — Michigan Tech from the CCHA and RIT from the Atlantic – earned automatic spots by winning their conference titles.
That left UMass and CC, separated by thousandths of a percentage point, for the last at-large spot. Jim Connelly, US College Hockey Online’s bracketology expert, reckoned that of the 32 mathematical scenarios going into Saturday night only 37 percent favored the Minutemen.
“I’m not on the computer doing, what if this guy wins?,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel. “I don’t do that, but you hear things. It’ll come right down to the wire and if we make it, great. And if we didn’t we have only ourselves to blame.”
But when Cornell defeated St. Lawrence and Denver beat Omaha on Saturday, UMass got its ticket.
As far as Hockey East’s national title chances go, the conference likely would have been better off had UMass missed out. Ordinarily, BU would be playing in Springfield, a short bus ride from campus, with BC in nearby Providence.
But since UMass is the venue host it has to be in Springfield as a No. 4 seed. And since rules prevent teams from the same conference meeting in the first round, the Terriers likely will be dispatched to Missouri.
That’s what happened to BC in 2011. Although the Eagles were defending champions and the third overall seed, UNH was hosting in Manchester as a No. 4. So BC had to wing away to St. Louis where it was beaten soundly by Colorado College.
This year everything has been breaking the Eagles’ way. Traditionally, the trophy they’re most focused on is the one that’s in the building. That’s how they’ve won a couple of shelves full over the decades. Now that BC has hoisted the one available on Causeway Street there’s an even bigger one available in Minnesota. On the Heights, they remember what that one looks like, too.