BOSTON - In last week's NCAA West Regional held at Yost Ice Arena, the Michigan hockey team was propelled into the national semifinals due in large part to the boisterous home crowd.
In tomorrow's NCAA championship game, that same home-ice advantage could play a large role in determining this year's champion. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, that home-ice advantage belongs to their opponents - Boston
College.
Yesterday, in front of an NCAA Tournament-record crowd of 18,089 pro-Boston College fans at the FleetCenter, the second-seeded Eagles defeated No. 4 seed Ohio State, 5-2. The loss ended the Buckeyes' Cinderella season and gave the Eagles a chance to win their first national title since 1949. Tomorrow's game will be the second chance for a Boston team to win the national title in Boston. Boston University did it in 1972.
"We were strong mentally," Boston College coach Jerry York said. "We stayed very focused."
The Eagles came out of the gates aggressively. Boston College's forward, Brian Gionata - the freshman scoring sensation with 62 points on the season - had a breakaway at 8:40 in the first period. Ohio State freshman goaltender Jeff Maund tried to poke away the puck, but Gionata calmly held onto it, skated around the outstretched Maund and scored.
"In the second half of the season, he's been the best player," Boston College center Marty Reasoner said.
The Buckeyes were outplayed throughout the period, and they found themselves the victim of crucial penalties. One costly Ohio State penalty was Ryan Jestadt's five-minute major and 10-minute misconduct that earned him an ejection from the game.
At 10:24 in the second period, Boston College forward Jeff Farkas forced in a shot just inside the post from behind the net to give the Eagles a two-goal lead, and it looked like the home favorites were on the verge of a blowout.
But the Buckeyes came charging back.
"With a 2-0 lead, we couldn't get Ohio State to break," Boston College coach Jerry York said. "They had chances to get themselves right back into the game."
Ohio State forward Dan Cousineau collected a Tyler McMillan rebound and beat Boston College goaltender Scott Clemmensen, top-shelf, putting the Buckeyes on the scoreboard at 15:02 into the second period.
A mere three minutes later, Cousineau scored again on a beautiful cross-ice pass from Todd Compeau, tying the score, 2-2.
Then Boston College turned to its big guns. Reasoner - the Eagles' scoring dynamo with 32 goals on the season - scored on a one-timer from Gionta at 6:21 into the third to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead. It was all they would need, although the Eagles added two more goals in the third period for good measure.
Now, the Eagles - who have been staying at home and not in hotels, so as to treat this weekend like any other one - will prepare for the title game against Michigan.
"We watched (Michigan) today in our dorm rooms," Gionta said. "They have a real strong team. It'll be a battle Saturday night. We'll have to come out focused and ready to play."
The Wolverines have only faced the Eagles nine times - the last time on Dec. 2, 1990, which was a Boston College victory. Three of the meetings, however, have been in the NCAA Tournament. Of those three, Michigan beat the Eagles in 1948 and 1950 for the national championship.
And in recent years, the two schools have had an off-the-ice- "rivalry."
"Michigan and us have been recruiting the same players for the last three years," York said.
"Some go to Michigan, some go to Boston College. They've been one of our chief rivals at recruiting talent and talented players."
The Wolverines, who last won the 1996 title, will be looking to extend their NCAA record of eight championships, when they take on the Eagles, Saturday night in Boston, in front of an assuredly pro-Eagles crowd.
04-03-98
| Previous Article | Next Article |
should be sent to: daily.letters@umich.edu | should be sent to: online.daily@umich.edu |