The Pikes Peak Club honored the 2014-15 Eagles this afternoon at the 66th annual hockey banquet. I know the players took a couple minutes to thank all of the members of the club but I want to say thanks to the board, particularly Mr. Fred Kinsman who invited me to the festivities this afternoon. I can't say enough about how much they do for the BC Hockey program, it's certainly an asset that no other program in the country has.
The awards and all that were fantastic but the real highlight for me was Mike Sit's speech in which he thanked the club, the staff, and his parents. About halfway through, he got pretty emotional and I wouldn't be lying if I didn't sit back and think about what he was saying for a second. Here's a kid who has been somewhat criticized by me and other fans for his performance on the ice but when it comes to the things off the ice, the things that really matter, he is the best of the best. Not only did he have a 4.0 GPA, he (and other members of the team) helped deliver toys to sick kids at Children's Hospital and held numerous events to benefit the kids at St Columbkille School in Brighton. I know, I wasn't always jumping up and down about how things were going on the ice for Mike but today I realized a couple things about our alternate captain. I've always known he was one of the hardest workers on the ice, he kills penalties, blocks shots, finishes checks, does all the things a third or fourth line grinder should do but the biggest takeaway for me was that this kid absolutely loved playing hockey at Boston College and in the mind of this fanatic blogger, that matters more than anything. Did he score a ton of big time goals like a Johnny G or a Kevin Hayes? No but he took more pride in playing hockey at Boston College than anything in his life and for that, I want to thank him and the rest of the senior class. I wish them nothing but the absolute best in whatever challenges lie ahead and as a lot of people talked about today, the BC Hockey community is always here for you.
I thought the coolest part of the presentation was when a couple members from the 1965 team came up to the podium to speak to the guys for a second and said something along the lines of there is nothing in his life that makes them more proud than to be an alumnus of Boston College, in particular, it's hockey program. Everyone wants to talk about Michigan grads and Stanford grads and Harvard grads, but all I will say is this, there is no group of people in this entire world that oozes with pride more so than graduates of Boston College do and that could not have been more evident today. I don't care who the heck puts that jersey on next year, if they're beaming with affection and love for Boston College such as people like Mike Sit, Quinn Smith, Mike Matheson, Coach Brown, and Coach York did in today's banquet, I know we will be in a good spot.
Let Operation Tampa begin.
Go Eagles.
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