{"id":26439,"date":"2004-04-07T21:29:28","date_gmt":"2004-04-08T02:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2004\/04\/07\/wednesday-at-the-fleet\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:55:40","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:55:40","slug":"wednesday-at-the-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2004\/04\/07\/wednesday-at-the-fleet\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday At The Fleet"},"content":{"rendered":"
Besides the Frozen Four games themselves, the leading story this week at the FleetCenter could be ice conditions. On Wednesday, the building will see five practices (the Montreal Canadiens and each of the Frozen Four teams) plus a Boston Bruins’ Stanley Cup playoff game at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
Thursday, BC and Maine will have optional ice in the morning, coupled with the two NCAA games. Friday and Saturday things calm down with only practices and the Bruins playoff game that night, and Saturday’s national championship game.<\/p>\n
Still, remake after remake of ice will have to take some toll on the surface. <\/p>\n
As the progression of hours moved by on Wednesday, commentary on the ices conditions began to slip, but few felt at this point that there will be a problem. <\/p>\n
“Right now I think the conditions are great,” said Denver’s Connor James, whose team practiced right after the Montreal Canadians, the first of the four Frozen Four teams to practice. <\/p>\n
By the time Maine finished, the third of the four, commentary wasn’t as positive.<\/p>\n
“When we started [practice], the ice felt pretty good,” said Maine’s Greg Moore. “As things went on it started to get kind of chipped up.”<\/p>\n
Still, comparing to some of the conditions in the regionals, not many want to complain.<\/p>\n
“I thought that the ice is good, it was fast,” said Minnesota-Duluth’s Beau Geisler, whose team faced less-than-perfect conditions at the Midwest Regional in Grand Rapids a week and a half ago. “It wasn’t chipped up. It wasn’t like it was out in Grand Rapids where there was [standing] water on the ice.<\/p>\n
“Albany was worse,” said Maine’s Todd Jackson about the conditions at the Pepsi Center, where Maine won its region to advance to the Frozen Four. “We survived that and both teams are going to be playing on the same ice, so it really doesn’t matter.”<\/p>\n
Some players even hope that the Stanley Cup playoff game could magically help them.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully those NHL games will leave a little extra skill on the ice,” said Denver goalie Adam Berkhoel. “And we can pick up where they left off.” <\/p>\n
Denver forward Connor James will play Thursday’s national semifinal in pain.<\/p>\n
James, the Pioneers’ second-leading scorer with 35 points, played in 158 straight games before fracturing his right fibula in the final weekend of the regular season. He missed the WCHA playoffs and the NCAA West Regional, and Gwozdecky said last week his chances of playing in the Frozen Four were 50-50.<\/p>\n
After James got through Wednesday’s practice, Gwozdecky pulled him aside and asked how he was doing.<\/p>\n
“He kind of looked at me in surprise, as if, ‘You actually think I’m not going to play?’ He’s going to play. He’s already made that decision, and I concurred. If he wants to play, he’s going to play. <\/p>\n
“How much he’s going to play — I would like to think that we’re going to, I don’t want to say ease him in slowly, but he probably won’t get as much ice time in the first half of the game as he’s used to. We’ll just see how he is in the first period and go from there.”<\/p>\n
James said he was in pain during the team’s workout, but said that won’t stop him.<\/p>\n
“I knew that going in,” he said. “This is something I’m going to have to play with. … Hopefully that pain will just go away with the excitement of finally playing hockey.”<\/p>\n
The death of Pioneers legend Keith Magnuson in a December car accident was a shock to the program, Gwozdecky said.<\/p>\n
Magnuson, a former defenseman and coach for the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, was a two-time all-American with Denver and was the WCHA’s MVP in 1968. He remained close to the program, driving from his Chicago home to Madison, Wis., to see the Pioneers play Wisconsin and spend the day with the team.<\/p>\n
The Pioneers wear a sticker on the back of their helmets to honor Magnuson.<\/p>\n
“I think in the back of everybody’s mind, everybody realizes what Keith meant to Pioneer hockey,” Gwozdecky said. “Keith was Mr. Pioneer. He lived and breathed crimson and gold. … I think he would be very proud of this team and how they have responded to all this adversity they have faced in the middle of the season and where we’ve put ourselves now.”<\/p>\n
Boston College head man Jerry York is well-known in his tenure at the Heights to call on sports legends to provide a bit of a spark to his team. This week, he went to the top of the recent list — asking two-time Super Bowl champion coach Bill Belichick to provide a motivational speech to his players. <\/p>\n
“[Belichick] talked about playing at home and not taking that for granted,” said York about the fact that the club is playing this weekend just 15 minutes from campus at the FleetCenter. Belichick should know, having had to coach his team through three home games, including this year’s AFC Championship, en route to his two Super Bowls. <\/p>\n
“Bill [Belichick] was outstanding,” said York, “He’s just what you’d expect from what’s now one of the legends of coaches.”<\/p>\n
York went on to say even that Belichick did his homework before heading to the Heights. <\/p>\n
“He was for poised and very, very prepared,” said York. “He knew all about college hockey and the Frozen Four. I was very impressed, as were the players.”<\/p>\n
Belichick joins a long list of sports figures to address the Eagles. When they won the national championship in 2001, York called on then-heavyweight champion Johnny Ruiz. Names like Los Angeles Kings general manager Dave Taylor as well as NHL coaches Pat Quinn and Mike Keenan have graced BC’s list of speakers leading up to past Frozen Fours. <\/p>\n
Thursday’s semifinals will match league foes in each games for the first time since 1984, with the WCHA’s Minnesota-Duluth and Denver playing in the noon time game, and BC and Maine playing in the nightcap. <\/p>\n
When asked about being familiar with Maine, BC defenseman J.D. Forrest might have done the best at summarizing things. <\/p>\n
“There aren’t that many secrets between the two teams,” said Forrest. “It’s all going to come down to who wants it more.<\/p>\n
“I know you hear people say that all the time in sports. But when there are no secrets between teams, that’s about all it comes down to.”<\/p>\n