Halfway through the Hockey East season, Boston University had a lot of work to do to put itself in desirable postseason position.
As usual, the talent was there. The Terriers lineup included seven NHL-drafted defensemen, while five total members of this season’s rookie class were picked by pro clubs last June alone.
But things weren’t clicking. For BU, which was 8-11-1 and 6-7-1 in Hockey East play at its lowest point in the season following a Jan. 6 loss to Maine, the semester break came at the absolute perfect time. After the Black Bears’ 3-0 shutout, the season would never be the same.
"It’s been a tale of two seasons for us," BU head coach David Quinn (Cranston, R.I.) said. "It looked like there was really not a lot of hope, and we just started getting better goaltending, our D-corps started playing better, our freshmen started to emerge a little more. It just started snowballing.
"And we kept at it. We didn’t look at the big picture. We took every game as it was and just were dialed in."
They were dialed in, all the way to TD Garden. BU lost just two of its next 18 games (both with junior Jordan Greenway away at the Olympic Games with Team USA), culminating that stretch on March 17 with a 2-0 win over Providence for its ninth Hockey East title.
Quinn and the Terriers entered this Hockey East postseason in an unusual situation. And when the road came to an end, the championship was made all the more meaningful.
"I was fortunate to play on the first one in 1986, was here for a couple as an assistant, and obviously 2015, but this is the first time we had to win this thing to get into the national tournament," Quinn said. "I think that makes this one a little bit more special than the others. What had to go into it, the adversity we faced, and the path we created for ourselves just says an awful lot about the guys in the locker room."
The stars were numerous.
Greenway scored eight points in six games after returning from South Korea, while sophomore Jake Oettinger posted a .958 save percentage over BU’s sevengame unbeaten streak that ended with the Hockey East title.
Second-year defenseman Dante Fabbro had points 10 times in a 14-game stretch, and junior Bobo Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.) recorded points in three conference tournament games, scoring two goals.
"Bobo is a money player," Quinn said. "He gets to the areas where you need to get to to score, plays at a pace. He’s just a great teammate, a great team player and continues to improve. It’s great to see him get rewarded on the scoresheet."
Of course, there were other stars. How about newcomers? Rensselaer senior transfer Drew Melanson, who was attending BU without the benefit of a scholarship, scored seven points in eight games, including goals in three postseason outings. And Logan Cockerill was the leader of the rookie class as he entered the Hockey East semifinals on a 10-game point streak.
Especially in this year of outstanding parity in college hockey, it didn’t take a wire-to-wire effort for BU to attain the desired result. It was a matter of finding its stride at the right time.
"When you’re going to the rink every day working as hard as teams like ours do, winning this championship is a special feeling," said Carpenter, who entered the NCAA tournament with a team-high 20 goals. "You could just feel it when you walked to the rink, the chemistry everyone had. It’s a really close group of guys, and special things can happen on the ice when you have that. We work for each other."
It was a win, too, made even more special for the Terriers seniors as they exacted revenge on the Friars on Garden ice four years after a Frozen Four championship setback.
Captain Brandon Hickey and four current classmates were freshmen on that 28-win team that included Hobey Baker Award winner Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass.). The sting from the Frozen Four setback always will exist, but the program’s first Hockey East title since that season was a possible first step to reaching the sport’s pinnacle again.
"It’s obviously a special thing to go out there and win a championship, but (us seniors) kind of felt like we slayed our demons a little bit," said Hickey, a defenseman who hails from Leduc, Alberta.
"I couldn’t be happier for the guys out there for them to get to experience winning a championship. It’s something you’ll remember for the rest of your life."
The Hockey East title contest was Hickey’s 145th collegiate game, so he knows just how darn difficult it is and the hard work and determination that it takes to return to the top. But for a team that boasts a slew of newcomers and found confidence in playing a smart and simple game down the stretch, Hickey said perhaps ignorance was bliss.
"As a freshman, you’re obviously pretty excited about it, but you’re a little naive and think you’re going to get to the championship every year," Hickey said. "Hockey East is very, very competitive, and it showed throughout the tournament with a ton of one-goal games and a really close nailbiter again (in the championship).
"Having the last crack at it go our way is something pretty special."
