Boston College Athletics
Eagles Square Off For NCAA Title
April 08, 2000 | Men's Hockey
April 8, 2000
By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - There are five North Dakota seniors remaining from the school's 1997 NCAA hockey championship. Not too many people alive can remember the last time Boston College won it all.
The Eagles won the second NCAA hockey tournament, in 1949, and haven't been able to take home the trophy since. They'll try to change that when they play the Fighting Sioux in the Frozen Four title game tonight at the Providence Civic Center. North Dakota coach Dean Blais hasn't lost too many games the past few years, and each one leaves him thirsting for revenge.
The one that is foremost on his mind these days is last year's loss to Boston College in the NCAA hockey tournament West regional. On Saturday night, Blais gets a chance to get even.
"We talked about it all year that the perfect matchup would be BC, and lo and behold, here we are," Blais said Friday, a day before North Dakota faces Boston College for the NCAA championship.
"I wouldn't say it's a grudge match. But it's one of those ways people get motivated," said Blais, who earlier in the tournament extracted his revenge on Wisconsin for taking away the conference's regular-season title. "When someone beats you, you don't want them to beat you twice."
The Fighting Sioux lead the series with Boston College 8-4. In the most recent matchup, the Eagles won 3-1 to knock North Dakota out of the 1999 NCAA tournament.
It's the only time since 1997 that the Fighting Sioux haven't either won the title or lost to the team that's won it all.
Five players remain from the Fighting Sioux's 1997 national championship team. As the players prepared for this year's final, the seniors were able to lend their experience to the newcomers.
"We've told them what the championship is all about," forward Peter Armbrust said. "But this late in the season, we don't need to be giving them pep talks. We just let them know what it's all about and hopefully they get to experience what we did in '97."
The experience doesn't give North Dakota much of an edge over Boston College. Even though the Eagles haven't won it all since the tournament's second year, 1949, they've been in the Frozen Four each of the last two years, losing twice in overtime.
In 1998, Michigan beat Boston College 3-2 in overtime in the final at the FleetCenter in Boston. Last year, the Eagles were tied after regulation in the semifinals before falling to eventual national champion Maine 2-1.
"In Boston, we were just glad to be there. It was more of a Cinderella run," forward Blake Bellefeuille said. "The team attitude is different this year. I think we are more positive. We know we have the guys that can go out and win."
York said that his team has no fear of close games, despite the recent close calls. "You can't play like that," he said.
"It does leave a bad taste in your mouth, but we feel like we've paid our dues," Boston College goalie Scott Clemmensen said. "Coming that close like we have, we know how hard it is to just to get to that point."
Clemmensen said a 6-5 overtime victory over Michigan State in the West regional convinced the team that it was not a bad team when forced to play extra time.
"That got us over the hump. It sent a message to our team and it was a real confidence boost," he said. "Even though overtime hasn't been good to us, and even though the tournament's been kind of a letdown in the past, this year we're going to get some bounces."
BC defenseman Mike Mottau, a New York Rangers draft pick, has already picked up one trophy this weekend: he beat two teammates and seven others on Friday to win the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in college hockey.
"I think he'll be right up there with Doug Flutie, Dana Barros and (1991 Hobey Baker winner) David Emma as ambassadors for Boston College," York said. "We're certainly pleased to have him on our team."
Mottau is the third defenseman to win in the award's 20-year history, joining Harvard's Mark Fusco (1983) and Minnesota-Duluth's Tom Kurvers ('84).
"It's been a long time coming," York said, noting also that Minnesota's Robb Stauber, who won in 1988, is the only goalie to win the award. "I think it's time we look at the goaltenders, too."
Also Friday, Maine forward Jim Leger was given the Humanitarian Award, an honor that has been handed out since 1996 to recognize hockey's finest citizen.
Leger, of Saugus, Mass., went from being a walk-on to captain of the defending NCAA champions while compiling a 3.67 grade point average as a public management major. He has also volunteered at the university's Toys for Tots program and worked with local school children through the Community Reading Program.
The Hobey Baker finalists included two of Mottau's teammates, Brian Gionta and Jeff Farkas - just the second time three teammates have been among the finalists. North Dakota forward Jeff Panzer was also among the finalists.
"I'm really proud of the two guys on my team who were finalists," Mottau said. "Hockey is a team game. This is an individual award, and there's no possible way this could be accomplished without my teammates."
If BC is to win the weekend's big prize, it will take Mottau, Gionta, Farkas - and more. The Fighting Sioux are looking at the game as a chance for revenge for Boston College's victory in last year's West regional.
