For weeks now, I’ve been wishing and hoping and praying (and sticking pins in my Gary Bettman voodoo doll) that this ridiculous lockout would come to an end.
With no foreseeable resolution in sight, I have to focus my hockey attention elsewhere…for the sake of my own mental health and for those around me.
Luckily, Sunday was the unofficial start of the Boston University Men’s Hockey season. Although college hockey will never be the NHL, it is a very welcome and satiating alternative, especially at BU.
You see, BU Hockey is one of the premier college hockey programs in the country. It has produced countless numbers of NHL stars, Olympic medal winners, and All-Americans. They won national championships, the most recent in 2009 in what can only be describe as an “epic OT win”.
Three years later and I still get goosebumps every time I see this clip.
Additionally, BU is a member of Hockey East which includes Boston College, Maine, University of New Hampshire, and UMass (Lowell & Massachusetts), who have also produced NHL-caliber talent. Add in Notre Dame next season and you’d be hard pressed to find a more competitive and prestigious conference in NCAA Hockey.
But the thing I love most about college hockey is the “Before They Were Famous” cache. You have a chance to watch players grow – not only physically but in their understanding of the game of hockey.
Their passes become sharper, their slapshots more accurate, their hits harder. And then for the lucky few who do make it into the NHL, you gets to say “I saw them when”.
When they make it to the NHL, you cheer them on, even when they play for your arch rival.
You always write them in on the All-Star ballot, even if they have no chance of making it.
BU had a rough go of it in the off-season with major internal drama and the loss of key players. The team has 9 freshman, include 2 goalies who will fight for the starting job, but watching them on Sunday, I’m filled with a tentative optimism for the season ahead.
Alot can happen in college hockey. The pendulum can swing from one extreme to another over the course of a season, a game, or even a period.
College hockey might be an imperfect game but it is exciting, entertaining, and passionate.
And right now, it’s the only game I got.
Tags: Boston University, Boston University Hockey, Hockey East, NCAA Hockey, Terriers
I’m sorry, you used a Torchwood gif and it rendered me a sobbing, hysterical mess like at the end of Children of Earth. WELP. Never cried so hard at a TV show or movie in my life.
I will re-read when I have composed myself. Maybe while singing a John Barrowman ditty.
/nerdrant
I am right with you, Pants…
I’ve also never screamed so much at a TV show before.
I hear you. While there is a college team in Vancouver, UBC isn’t my alma mater, and they don’t play many home games.
HOWEVER, Vancouver also has the Vancouver Giants of the WHL/CHL and, despite living down the street for 5 years, I went to my first game this weekend. IT WAS LEGIT. SO EXCITING. Fast paced, hard hitting, these boys too will be in the NHL one day very soon. It was high caliber hockey and you forget in an instant the some of the players were born in NINETEEN NINETY SIX. They played Cotton Eye Joe in the arena and I was like “This song? OLDER THAN THE TEAM.”
AAAAANNNDD… as I was leaving the arena I literally bumped into Giants-alum Milan Lucic, who was very gracious when I asked for a picture. That’s right folks, I made words to an NHL player. This is progress. No sign of Giants co-owner Michael Buble though, but he was at the game…
Jess, I so proud of you. You made the words to the hockey player and didn’t pass out.
See! You’re going to be just fine.
BTW – Cotton Eyed Joe makes me very stabby.
To be fair, I did make words to Intern Jeff Skinner. I said “Congratulations” (for winning the Calder) and “Thank you” after he took a picture with me. My exchange with Looch was much the same.
I will never be able to make words to Jonathan Toews. I have just accepted this.
Can we go back in time to when that happened, now that I know you, so you can slip him my number while taking the picture? Because that’d really work for me.
Sadly I am without TARDIS, but I AM going to Edmonton in two weeks so I’ll keep my eyes peeled for Taylor Hall.
College hockey is all I have right now also. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch a few games at my alma mater (Michigan) but I’ve at least got Northern Michigan University (small school, but D1 hockey) right in my backyard so I get some live action on a regular basis!
So I revisited your beautiful blog for a little pick me up since I am upset about the NHL season. But as I am reading I see the clip of my beloved alma mater hockey team Miami University in their worst moment! Goodness, I will never forget that day. I was present at that game and I wish I wasn’t… but hey hockey fans go through a lot, huh? I think that is what makes us so tough.
But cheers to college hockey. I am still watching Miami hockey and attending the boyfriend’s games so hopefully those games will fill the hockey void. I pray!
Sorry, Sarah Jane.
That BU victory was the most epic. The sheer drama and ballsy move by Jack Parker to pull the goalie with 3 min left, down 3-1 will forever live in infamy.