Travis Roy Jersey Retirement
The latest chapter in the Travis Roy story will be played out at Walter Brown Arena this Saturday when Boston University retires his number. The unprecedented tribute will take place during pregame ceremonies that will also include the hoisting of another Beanpot championship banner.
"We’ve never retired a number here," says BU coach Jack Parker, "and we’ve had a lot of great players, including a lot of great players who have worn number 24, like Keith Tkachuk and Mike Sullivan.
"But we decided that this was just such an unbelievably special situation. From a character and desire point of view, no one has ever epitomized what BU hockey is about more than Travis Roy."
If not for the fateful and tragic injury suffered in the first shift of his first collegiate game, Travis would have been a senior on the Terriers last season. Instead, he missed an entire year of classes in the ensuing nightmare and remains a quadriplegic, albeit one who is an inspiration to those with disabilities and without.
"There’s no question that it’ll be an emotional night at the rink," says Parker. "His parents and sister and everybody will be there en masse and the crowd will get into it, obviously.
"It’ll be tough for [Travis] and his dad, but there’ll be a nice banner hanging there and when we get into the new rink it’ll be there as well. He’ll be the first one ever, but I think that’s apropos."
There may be no new words to say about Travis, but he remains one of the great testaments to the indomitable human spirit.
BU’s New Rink
Boston University continues to move toward a new facility that will put it on par with the new and refurbished arenas across Hockey East.
"We hope to be in it by the 2002-2003 season," says Parker. "They’re moving along pretty well. The first phase is almost done with the new dorm going up.
"It’ll be 6300 seats and I’m excited about it."
The Mentor and the Understudy
In the three-plus years since Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder left UMass-Lowell, former assistant and current River Hawk head coach Tim Whitehead has shown no deference to his old mentor. Lowell has rolled up a 10-3-1 record against the Huskies, the latest a 4-1 victory on Sunday at the Tsongas Arena.
"Hey, they come to play when they play Northeastern," said Crowder after the loss. "That’s their MO. They play with fire and they play with heart. Congratulations to Tim Whitehead."
Whitehead initially offered a more whimsical explanation.
"We’ve been skating an extra player actually," he deadpanned. "We’ve had six guys on the ice and he’s had five. He’s so stubborn he doesn’t see it.
"[Seriously, though], that’s just the way it’s fallen. Obviously, any games that we can win, it feels great when you’ve got guy who’s won three Coach of the Year Awards. Any time we can steal one from his team, it’s a good win."
Good enough that Whitehead’s wit shown through on almost every topic.
The shaky ending of the second period?
"The best thing that happened was that the Zamboni came out," he said.
Mark Fontas’ pass to John Campbell for a breakaway?
"John gave a yell and he communicates very well, especially when he wants the puck," said Whitehead.
A Silver Lining in the Got-Swept Cloud
Despite dropping both games to St. Lawrence last weekend, Merrimack could find some significant consolation in two positive developments.
For starters, Stephen Moon (6-5, 250) saw his first action of the year. Moon appeared in 15 games last year, but patella tendon problems in his knee wreaked havoc throughout and forced offseason surgery.
This year, the Merrimack staff brought Moon along slowly, not letting him practice until physically he was 100 percent. Until that point, the defenseman was restricted to ice time before and after the rest of the team practiced. He also worked daily with athletic trainer Scott Abbey.
This past week, that patience was rewarded when Moon rejoined his teammates in practices and on Saturday played his first game. He suffered no after-effects and, knock on wood, should be a major contributor as the rust wears off.
"If he stays healthy, he’s going to be a big help to us," says coach Chris Serino, who is basing his belief that Moon will stay in the lineup on more than just crossed fingers and whistling past the injury graveyard. "He took a vicious hit — a kid dove at his legs and chopped him — and he got right up. So that was an encouraging sign.
"He’s a big, strong defenseman who can move the puck out of our end. That, in itself, is huge. You can draw up all the breakouts you want, [but you need] someone who can get it out and get it out quickly.
"He also adds to our power play. You have to respect him up top the way he shoots. That opens up down by the net a little."
And being 6-5, 250 doesn’t hurt either.
"He’s obviously a physical presence," says Serino. "It does slow down other teams from coming in wild on us. Against a team like ours where our defensemen are a touch slow, teams try to put the puck low on us all of the time. If you punish them a little for doing that, maybe they’re not so quick to do it anymore."
Perhaps not as eye-catching as Moon’s presence, but also of significant importance was the penalty-killing duo of Nick Parillo (5-9, 180) and Nick Torretti (5-8, 185).
"They’re small, but they’re tough," says Serino. "They compete every minute they’re out there and they did a fabulous job. They almost scored a couple shorthanded goals for us.
"St. Lawrence is usually very good on the power play and they were [2-for-12] on the weekend. We had a number of guys killing penalties, but Parillo and Torretti really put pressure on [St. Lawrence.]"
Off the ice, the Warriors also got a dollop of good musical news. Jill Martin, their national-anthem-singing wunderkind, won a state amateur singing competition and went on to the finals in Las Vegas where she competed in the gospel, traditional country and new country categories. She took first place in all three and, oh yeah, got requests for a demo tape.
Hey, she won’t make a difference in Merrimack’s implementation of a strong-side man-to-man defense and weak-side zone, but there’s no one in the league who can match what she does.
Trivia Contest
Last week’s trivia question was: What did [the Oct. 15] Boston College-Bowling Green contest have to do with Valentine’s Day night?
As it turned out, no one got the correct answer, which was that Bowling Green had a line that consisted of left wing Curtis Valentine, center Greg Day and right wing Tyler Knight. Just getting the trio would have been sufficient, but extra points would have been available for anyone noting that the sequence from wing-to-wing gives the perfect order, namely Valentine-Day-Knight.
Infinitely more creative, however, were some of the wrong answers. The stoppage in play early in the second period because the lights went out proved to be an unintended red herring that many of you simply could not resist coupling with Valentine’s Day night.
The best of these came from Ed Mills, a senior at BC, who earns a tip of the fedora for the following gem: The lights went out but the game was still on.
One can only hope that this week’s answers will prove so entertaining. With fingers crossed that the quipsters will deliver again, here it is: What Hockey East player missed so many games last year that the team apparently forgot his name? (It’s misspelled on his jersey.)
Once again, mail your responses to Dave Hendrickson and the first correct answer will win next week’s tip of the fedora.
League Honors (Oct. 19-24)
KOHO Player of the Week JEFF FARKAS, Boston College (SR F, Williamsville, NY) was explosive for the Eagles, scoring 5-3-8 in two league games to give BC first place in Hockey East.
Rookie of the Week CAM McCORMICK, UMass-Lowell (FR G, Kamloops, BC) posted 20 saves on 21 shots from Northeastern to earn the 4-1 win against the Huskies on Sunday night.
Defensive Player of the Week PETER METCALF, University of Maine (SO D, Pembroke, MA) was named to the J.C. Penney Classic All-Tournament Team with 2-2-4, including a goal in each game.
And for good measure, let’s also acknowledge the winners from the previous week (Oct. 15-17).
KOHO Player of the Week GREG CLASSEN, Merrimack College (SO, F, Aylsham, SK) posted 4-1-5 in Merrimack’s season opener against Holy Cross to assume an early overall scoring lead in Hockey East.
Rookie of the Week MARTIN KARIYA, Maine (FR, F, North Vancouver, BC) debuted for the Black Bears with 2-1-3 over Maine’s two-game sweep of Minnesota.
Defensive Player of the Week BOYD BALLARD, Providence College (JR, G, Weyburn, SK) made 63 saves over two games for the Friars for a 1.66 GAA and a .940 saves percentage.
And Finally, Not That It Has Anything To Do With Anything, But…
While one might have expected a commentary on Jim Gray and his Pete Rose interview — yes, it was inappropriate badgering even though Rose (and Shoeless Joe Jackson) still deserve their Hall of Fame ban — this week’s irrelevant observations are going in another direction.
And that is…
If there’s any justice, Bruce Willis will soon have his second big hit of 1999. Coming on the heels of the deservedly mega-successful The Sixth Sense, The Story of Us pairs Willis with Michelle Pfeiffer in a film directed by Rob Reiner. (Hey, has The Meathead directed a single bad movie? Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally…, Misery and A Few Good Men. The guy knows what he’s doing.).
The Story of Us is funny, touching, thought-provoking and just flat-out what movies ought to be more like.
And while on the topic of films, any theatre that arms an usher with a flashlight and requires him in the middle of the movie to tell people to get their feet off the backs of the seats is beneath contempt and deserves neither your business nor mine.
It’s tough enough to avoid that lowest life form, the Neanderthal who talks during movies (for whom the electric chair is far too kind a punishment). But if you have accomplished that feat and the movie has successfully drawn you into its world and caused you to suspend your disbelief, then it’s downright criminal to yank a film fanatic out of that world and remind him that there really is just a screen there and those characters aren’t really real but instead just photographic projections. All to get someone’s feet off the seat backs. (Not mine, in case you’re wondering.)
Charge me seven or eight bucks for films that increasingly are more about special effects than real characters. Gouge me to the tune of nine bucks or so for popcorn and a soft drink.
But when there’s a good one up there on the big screen, don’t mess with it.
