MANCHESTER, N.H. \u2013 On paper, top seeded Boston University looks by far like the hottest team in this weekend\u2019s Northeast Regional. The Terriers have just two losses since Christmas and are the only club of the four participants to have won its league championship last weekend.<\/p>\n
If you listened to head coach Jack Parker speak, though, heading into the tournament, you might never know that. Parker was disappointed with his team\u2019s effort down the stretch, through the Hockey East quarterfinals and even last weekend when the Terriers beat Boston College and Mass.-Lowell to win the Hockey East title.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s no surprise, then, when asking the players what the past week of practice was like it didn\u2019t sound very much like a Club Med atmosphere.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got in a few kids\u2019 faces [at practice],\u201d said senior co-captain Matt Gilroy. \u201cI think we got the wins last week and that was important. But the atmosphere in practice all week was that we had to work real hard. We really got after each other and we\u2019re really excited to get to the national tournament right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always been difficult to judge whether the team is ready to play tonight or ready to play this week,\u201d said Parker when asked what to expect on Saturday night. \u201cWe had a good week of practice and the kids seem to be enthusiastic. The stars seem to be aligned properly and we just came off a big win. But you never know what\u2019s going to happen with the emotions of a tournament. You never know what will happen with the pressure of an NCAA tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n
Get Out the Measuring Tape<\/strong><\/p>\n Parker, during his team\u2019s practice on the Verizon Wireless Arena ice on Friday, pulled out a tape measure and began measuring the space between the lines. His findings were that the rink sets up as expected, with 64-foot neutral zones, matching what is suggested by the NCAA.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I looked at [the neutral zone] upstairs, it looked bigger than our rink,\u201d said Parker. \u201cWhen I looked at it on the ice, it looked normal. I just wanted to see what it was.<\/p>\n Back to Parker\u2019s Roots<\/strong><\/p>\n Ohio State is not a very familiar opponent for the Terriers. Saturday\u2019s game will be the first between the two schools in the NCAA tournament and the two teams have met just twice ever, both in holiday tournaments and both won by BU.<\/p>\n For Parker, though, one of those games may be more memorable. BU\u2019s contest with Ohio State on December 28, 1973 at the Rensselaer Tournament in Troy, N.Y., was just Parker\u2019s second game behind the BU bench. Parker had taken over the reigns at Christmas time when Leon Abbott was let go by the school. Parker\u2019s Terriers beat Dartmouth in the opening game of the tournament, then faced Ohio State the next evening.<\/p>\n For the record, BU won that game, 6-5.<\/p>\n Wilson Has Added Incentive<\/strong><\/p>\n Colin Wilson may be a tad more familiar with Ohio State than the rest of the Terriers as he\u2019s played with Buckeyes\u2019 John Albert, Joseph Palmer, and C.J. Severyn prior to arriving on campus. The four guys skated together on the U.S. Under-18 Team in the National Team Development Program before embarking on college careers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s obviously going to be an exciting game here,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cPlaying against old teammates makes it a little bit more exciting; it makes me want to win just a little bit more to get a little bragging rights against those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n BU History 101 with Jack Parker <\/strong><\/p>\n They\u2019ve won the Ice Breaker Tournament, the Denver Cup, the Hockey East regular season, and the Hockey East Championship\u2026so where does the 2008-\u201909 Terriers rank among the other clubs in BU history?<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s pretty easy to say who the best teams are in BU history,\u201d said Parker. \u201cIt\u2019s the teams that won the national tournament. You measure everybody else to them. The best team that didn\u2019t win the national tournament would probably be the \u201976 team and maybe the \u201996 team. The \u201996 team was probably the best team, but it was the most difficult year; that was the year of the Travis Roy injury. It was a difficult year for everybody on that team; we were defending national champions and we lost in the semifinals of the national tournament. This year\u2019s team is as good a team as I\u2019ve ever coached up until this point in the season. It remains to be seen whether or not, you know, if they\u2019ll join the other four as the best in BU history.\u201d<\/p>\n Playing Against the Hunter<\/strong><\/p>\n BU coach Jack Parker was very well aware that his first round opponent, Ohio State, has already beaten the other three number one seeds: Michigan, Notre Dame and Denver.<\/p>\n He hopes his club doesn\u2019t become the fourth.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re probably thinking, \u2018Here\u2019s another number one seed to beat,\u2019\u201d said Parker. \u201cThey\u2019ve beaten some good teams and we\u2019re going to have our hands full.\u201d<\/p>\n Melissa Parrelli contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MANCHESTER, N.H. \u2013 On paper, top seeded Boston University looks by far like the hottest team in this weekend\u2019s Northeast Regional. The Terriers have just two losses since Christmas and are the only club of the four participants to have won its league championship last weekend. If you listened to head coach Jack Parker speak, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1425],"tags":[1441],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n