Media Day from Worcester

WATCH THE PRESS CONFERENCE

Opening Statement:

YORK: "We like all the other 15 schools involved are very excited. I think it is something we all look forward to are NCAA tournaments. You know you see the excitement with watching the basketball the last few weeks and the same thing permeates in the hockey world, to be part of a group coming in to Worcester and having Harvard as an opponent, it's pretty exciting for our team and for our coaches and I'm just genuinely proud of our team this year to make it to the NCAA Tournament and now our sights are set to see if we can get by Harvard who has an awful lot of problems for us."

On the strength and parity within NCAA hockey which makes the tournament wide open:

YORK: "I think the level of hockey throughout the United States and the collegiate rankings is not A-Z anymore it's a lot tighter. You might perceive some upsets, but just like in basketball, it's who's the best team that particular night. In hockey, there are 50-plus teams that play, but it's not a wide disparity among the league's now and even the bottom parts of leagues are strong and you see some upsets. Look at RIT upset Robert Morris, I think the field is very balanced. Ferris certainly wasn't a lock to come out of the WCHA, I just think it's a lot closer the really top end teams and what we generally consider 16 and below is extremely close now."

On playing in Worcester (Last 5 regionals held in Worcester, BC has advanced to the Frozen Four, 3 Nat'l Titles):

YORK: "The venue is close to home so it's good for our student body and our alumni who live in the area to come join us, but other than that it's a hockey game, it's a hockey rink and you can't say we won here this particular year so we will win tomorrow night. It's a brand new situation for us each year and if we won that many times then we've played very very well when we won. Nobody just lets you advance to the final Championship Game. It's comfortable because it's close, but I don't think because we won here in the past we will win again, you have to earn it."

On Teddy Doherty:

YORK: "He's been a good player for us. He's bounced back-and-forth from defense and forward and never complained about it. He's worked on his strength since day one and he's always been a terrific leader, but his skill level has shown constant improvement. We are glad he's with us now, one of only two seniors who dress for us. He's had a nice career here at BC."

On familiarity playing Harvard, a common opponent, as opposed to a new team you are seeing for the first time:

YORK: "We drill our film preparation no matter who we play. We are pretty familiar with the NCHC and Big Ten we follow it very closely with a lot of televised games. We follow college hockey very closely at BC. I think this is Teddy's [Donato] best team he's had, certainly Criscuolo, Kerfoot and Vesey are top end players and form an outstanding line, but whoever we would have played would have had comparable players like that. We are a little more familiar because we see them on a more regular basis. The comfort level is never up or down, we are always uncomfortable going into a game because we respect the other opponents. So, whether we would have played Duluth, Providence or Harvard we would be uncomfortable."

On the continuity of Harvard's first line:

YORK: "I think you can tell watching them play they move pucks well. They present a lot of creative offensive chances by moving the puck and Thatcher [Demko] needs to be aware when they are on the ice and our teams aware also, but they are deeper than just that line. They have an outstanding line, but like I said this is his [Ted Donato] best collection of players he's had."

On high penalty minutes per game / penalty kill success:

YORK: "Sometimes the top end teams, it's just human nature, we get more calls against. We go into most games as a favorite and I think it's human nature to protect the underdog and that's part of it. Whether it's basketball or football or hockey we see some of that. The majority of it is we just need to defend by moving our feet and not reaching. When you reach, you cause problems if it's a hooking penalty or tripping penalty, moving our feet will help with that. It's nice getting to the national tournament because everyone is considered a good team and you don't have that 'Hey we got to protect the underdogs'."

On local recruiting battles for Massachusetts players between Beanpot schools:

YORK: "We are always competing against Harvard, BU and Northeastern, the Beanpot schools, they are all difficult to recruit against, no one just walks in the door. We also have Michigan coming in and Notre Dame and North Dakota when we go west. So, it's not easy to get the top top end players to your school, but the Beanpot schools with Boston kids we run into that a little more and it's never easy recruiting players."

On Northeastern's late season surge to win Hockey East Championship:

YORK: "Never from a 1-11 start or 1-10 start [have I seen a team make such a run to close out a season] I've seen teams go on runs, the really good clubs, but generally it's they've been very good and all of a sudden they go on a run, but what Jim [Madigan] did is remarkable. A team that looked like they were in disarray lost a couple games real early to Bentley and just never could put it together, and all-of-a-sudden to achieve what they've done is remarkable. If I had a vote for coach of the year, and I will later on, he is certainly my favorite. I thought they were a pretty good club, they competed very hard, but in my wildest dreams I never thought they would run off 22-23 games and play as well as they have. They haven't upset anyone their play has been outstanding."

On Notre Dame's departure from Hockey East to join Big Ten in 2017-18

YORK: "I thought they really added a lot to our league, especially the BC/Notre Dame Rivalry. The two are major Division I schools battling each other in different sports. We would have liked to have seen them stay, but I can also understand the footprint with the Big Ten, they can bus to Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State it's going to be a lot easier for their travel situation. We are going to miss the Irish for sure. In the long run it is better for them and we wish them the very best of luck. We will still play them, ND/BC we will still play."

On teams from the Northeast in the tournament:

DOHERTY: "This is really good for our conference. We had a really strong conference this year and it's evident by all the teams we got in. With Northeastern winning the Hockey East Tournament it speaks to how deep our league is. They were the sixth seed and with the top five teams, all of us could have easily won that tournament. It's something to be very proud of, it's a very deep conference, we go to war every weekend with any team we play against. It's something that we're very proud of here at Boston College."

On his experience at Boston College:

DOHERTY: "It's been a great four years here, hopefully we can extend it a few more weeks. It's been everything I ever thought it would be. My teammates made it so special for me, we got to the Frozen Four in Philadelphia, that's probably been the highlight of my career for sure along with the Beanpots. Hopefully we can get down to Tampa this year, but it's been an incredible four years and I can't thank my teammates and my coaches enough."

On Boston College's success on defense:

DOHERTY: "Thatcher [Demko] has backstopped a pretty good defensive core we've got here. I think we've been a little lackadaisical in our defensive zone lately, and it's been a point of emphasis for us this week. Bearing down in the d-zone and eliminating the other team's chances, and versus a team like Harvard that's going to be critical. If we're going to win this game, we've got to limit their offensive zone time. Of course, Thatcher has a lot to do with it, he's been playing great. We expect the same out of him, and he has high expectations for himself."

DEMKO: "Like Teddy said, we've been trying to emphasize it a little bit. We've been having some good defensive numbers this year, but we all think that we can still be better. This week in practice we really worked on it and our compete level in the d-zone was really high. That's something we're looking to do and carry it into this weekend."

On preparing for Harvard:

DOHERTY: "I guess I'd say that we prepare the same way for every team that we face. The fact that it's a Beanpot opponent that we're playing and that we've seen them, it benefits us because we know what we're getting ourselves into. We know how good their offense is, it's high octane and they have a lot of strengths that we need to be ready for. Playing a team like Harvard, it helps us a lot, there's a little bit of change from when we played them in February but not much, so we're ready to go with that."

On growing up in the area/his nature as a teammate:

DOHERTY: "Being from Hopkinton, I always went to BC games, my uncle played for Coach [Jerry York] when they won the national championship in 2001 in Albany. Ever since I saw them win that game, I wanted to go to Boston College. Being able to be recruited by Coach York, it was almost indescribable, unrealistic. I'm just so happy with the decision to come to Boston College. As far as contributing, I'll play goalie if I have to. If Thatcher got hurt, I'd step in the net for sure. I just do whatever I can to help the team win. Be a superstar in your role, that's what Coach has been preaching since day one when I got there freshman year. Just doing the best I can, playing wing or defense or whatever I do."

On Teddy Doherty's play:

DEMKO: "I love this kid. He's one of my best friends on the team, along with everyone else. He's been an incredible leader this year. He keeps things light, but at the same time, there's that level of focus in the room. It's just been a lot of fun, he makes it fun coming to the rink every day. It can be a grind mid-season coming to the rink every day, working hard and getting on the ice for practice, but he makes it fun somehow every single day. All the guys look up to him and he'll definitely be missed next year."

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