WELCOME TO THE JERRY YORK INVITATIONAL

Sorry Jack !! (Photo by Melissa Wade)

For those of you that are NHL fans, have you ever seen the commercials that say "History will be made" ? Well last night, history was made in a big way. The Boston College Eagles officially ended Jack Parker and BU's magical run in a tournament that they have owned for so long in a 3-2 OT victory Monday night. The Eagles were led by a first period goal from Pat Mullane who made just a fantastic individual effort to give the Eagles the 1-0 edge after a period. In the second, the Terriers tied it up on the first of two power play goals for Garrett Noonan. As time was winding down on a BC power play late in the stanza, Chris Kreider continued to prove to everyone in the building why he is the best player in the league when he roofed a snap shot over BU goalie Kieran Millan to give BC a 2-1 lead after two. In the third, it was the Terriers who scored another power play goal, this time on a 5-3, in the middle of the third to tie it up going into OT. 

In OT, it was Bill Arnold who was the man that will officially go down in Beanpot lore as the man who put an end to "The Age of the Terriers" and continued"The Age of the Eagles". You may ask well why are my saying this win is bigger than the previous two Beanpot wins ? I don't know if people realize that no other team has won three Beanpots in a row besides the Terriers since the Eagles did it back in the mid 1960's. As much as BU people don't want to admit it, the torch has been passed. For so long, every single Eagle fan has had to suffer through a year in and year out beating in the hands of Terriers in this tournament. But now, it is the Terriers that can't seem to overcome the Eagles in the Beanpot as BC has won now four straight vs Parker and his team in this great tournament. 

Overall, this has to be one of the great college games I have ever seen in my life. Sure there were some missed calls and a couple of unnecessary whistles. But in the end, it was a hard fought back and forth battle between two teams that really wanted this game. There are a couple guys that I want to talk about and the first will be Parker Milner. It is no secret that Parker has struggled in his career @ BC vs BU but last night was truly one of the great goaltending performances I have ever seen. Every single BU fan on twitter loves to write on his wall about how he is terrible and will never win a game vs them. Well he just stood them and their team right up on the biggest stage. For a kid to have that type of toughness and to be that good under pressure in that type of situation after all he has been through this season is simply special. 

The next name I would like to get to is Johnny Gaudreau. Now you all know that he is my favorite player and I think anyone who doesn't think he is the best freshman in Hockey East is crazy. The last BC player to win the Beanpot MVP as a freshman was Brian Gibbons in 2008. Just by saying that, you know Johnny G is in some pretty elite company. Although he may not have had his best game of the season last night, he is still the biggest 5' 150 lb threat hockey has every seen (Besides Nathan Gerbe and Brian Gionta).

The third name I would like to talk about is a man by the name of Chris Kreider. You know when I made up that list of top 10 players BC has had since 2000 over the weekend ? I didn't include any current players because I wanted to wait until the end of the year but right now, Chris would be around #5 or #6 on that list. I have never seen a guy that is 6'3 have that kind of speed on the ice. Sure, there are a lot of smaller guys that can go as fast but a 6'3 guy ? Not to mention his shot almost went through the net it was so hard. Just an amazing hockey player. 

Ok sorry I am going overboard on the names but only two more. Coach York said last night that Brian Dumoulin's performance was one of the best he has ever seen. After maybe Leetch, Mottau, and Coach Brown,  I truly think that Brian Dumoulin is the third or fourth best defenseman BC has ever had. I am not sure of the exact number but Dumoulin must have played 18 of the 20 minutes in the OT. I'm not joking. He virtually created that game winning goal because he screened Millan when Arnold was winding up to shoot. If not the best defenseman in BC history, definitely one of the best offensive defenseman I have ever seen. 

Ok, I promise just one more paragraph. The final name I would like to talk about is Jerry York. There are a lot of great coaches in the history of college sports (Paterno, Smith, Coach K, Bowden) but Coach York, in my opinion, needs to be talked about as one of the great college coaches of all time. You will never find a better mix of a coach, disciplinarian, mentor and person in your life. After every game, whether it's a win or a lost, he is the first guy to compliment the other team and talk about how his team played without being too critical. This university needs to do something really special for this man because he has brought not only this program but this school and this sport in general to a level that no one will ever match. 

More to come tomorrow. 

Surely a special day to be an Eagle fan/student/alum 

GO EAGLES