Photo by: Joe Sullivan
Boston's Championship Reaches Inevitable Conclusion
March 23, 2024 | Men's Hockey, #ForBoston Files
Boston College. Boston University. No. 1 vs. No. 2. The Hockey East Championship.
The banners atop TD Garden's ceiling weave the general story of greatness among the Boston sports scene. On one side, the Celtics hold their green-and-white banners aloft as a tribute to the 17 championships and two-dozen retired numbers amassed over a 75-year stint as the NBA's premier franchise. Across the arena, the Bruins' six gold Stanley Cup championships stand among the division crowns and retired numbers of their own legendary, Original Six history.
The area between the two teams' championships feels a bit like a no man's land around the giant video board, but either side of of the arena offers a glimpse into the local history salted into the grassroots of Boston's overall sporting climate with flags proclaiming the hockey champions of both the Beanpot and the Hockey East postseason.
Plenty of championship glory is baked into both of those local hockey exhibits, but the stories feel more like a neighborhood tale than the grand spectacle of the Larry O'Brien Trophy or the Stanley Cup once hoisted by Milton C. Schmidt, and Robert G. Orr. That they represent immortality is more of what it means to the people who grew up dreaming about college hockey and the fact that rivalries run deeper than a championship series. Winning one of those crowns means to watch a school - a deep, personal choice - ascend to the heavens, and that one square means everything to the 11 teams hoping to cement their legacy as a postseason champion.
For six months, Hockey East teams dreamed about winning the championship and hoisting their name to the space between Cam Neely, Raymond Bourque, Larry Bird and Robert Parish. They hoped to add their names to the legacies within their own schools, or they wished to create an unprecedented memory for their local student base. They longed for the last Saturday night of the college hockey postseason, and each practice and game led them closer to that moment.
Nine of those teams failed in their quest, and on Saturday night, the two biggest names and brightest stars in Hockey East, the ancient rivals who locked horns for decades, play for the right to crown a conference champion for just the third time in league history. For the fourth time this season, No. 1 Boston College faces No. 2 Boston University, but the stakes couldn't be higher.
"You want to win every trophy you can," said head coach Greg Brown ahead of his team's matchup with fifth-seeded UMass on Friday. "The Hockey East championship is a big one, and we're excited to be one of the four teams left. We have to take advantage of the opportunity and at least do everything we can to try and win that trophy."
Winning Hockey East is a formidable task for any given team in any given year, but this season offered an inevitable collision course for the two teams that occupy a six-mile stretch of Commonwealth Avenue. The Green Line rivals, as they've come to be known, played an epic three-game series around the Beanpot that began when BC displaced BU as the No. 1 team in the nation after a home-and-home that accounted for six points' worth of regular season conference games. Less than a week later, the Terriers gained a measure of revenge by denying the Eagles a spot in the Beanpot championship game.
It wasn't enough to regain a No. 1 overall ranking for a BU team that eventually lost the Beanpot championship to Northeastern, but glimpsing those two teams on the TD Garden ice left a vast array of wonders about the postseason. Nine other teams entered the postseason hoping it wouldn't happen, but even finding value or a pathway for an upset over BC and BU still felt tinged with the feeling that even games through Friday night's semifinals were tinged with a sense of foreboding and inevitability.
The emotion of Friday's semifinal crept onto Causeway Street shortly after BC rallied from spotting a 1-0 lead to a Minutemen team that previously dispatched Providence. There was, at times, a sense of shock given the worries surrounding UMass' desperation need to beat BC to advance to guarantee a berth in the national tournament, but the eight-goal rally by the Eagles instead left the Amherst-based travelers with the same feeling as the local side's home-and-home sweep before the end of the season.
The beatdown immediately offered a cessation of worry, and Maine turning TD Garden into Alfond Arena South only left a subplot and side note to Boston University's 2-0 lead and 4-1 victory. Like UMass, those that granted the Black Bears a bit of hope after their respective win over New Hampshire last weekend found themselves disappointed by a lack of drama, even if they all understood that the hockey gods knew what would happen.
"It's just kind of a new season," Eamon Powell said ahead of the weekend. "Obviously, it's great [that] we had a very successful regular season, but the postseason seems like a whole other level. It seems like everyone's a little bit faster. It's a little bit more physical, so I think we're just kind of gearing up for that. These games at the Garden should be no different."
Nobody on the BC roster remembers when the Eagles last played for the Hockey East championship in 2019, but fewer people aside from Brown are able to recall the Eagles' last final round appearance against Boston University. It's incredibly rare that the teams clash in the playoffs, let alone at the Garden, but the 2006 overtime winner by Brandon Yip completed a two-goal comeback that started after BC's Mike Brennan scored early in the first period. It was 20 years, almost to the day, after BU defeated BC with a 9-4 decision at the Providence Civic Center in the second-ever Hockey East championship.
Neither team played for a championship against one another ahead of Hockey East's split from the ECAC, but their additional meeting as the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation is one of those captivating moments that still requires a bit of organic development. Their rivalry dates back to the earliest days of college hockey, but this year marked the first head-to-head matchup as the top two teams in the nation. That they've rallied and remained in that spot is a testament to the coaching staffs and players who built indestructible teams, and unlike the previous three games, Saturday is going to crown a winner and champion at the other's expense.
Nine teams failed to unseat Boston College and Boston University from this moment. For the rest of eternity, No. 1 and No. 2 enter TD Garden for the opportunity to raise a banner at the other's expense. The inevitable clash feels like the start of a closing chapter for these teams. They may meet again in Minnesota as part of the national championship, but the local feeling of it all makes the last Hockey East game of the season one to savor.Â
The Green Line Rivalry reaches its zenith on Saturday night. It's unprecedented, even if it feels unavoidable.
Â
The area between the two teams' championships feels a bit like a no man's land around the giant video board, but either side of of the arena offers a glimpse into the local history salted into the grassroots of Boston's overall sporting climate with flags proclaiming the hockey champions of both the Beanpot and the Hockey East postseason.
Plenty of championship glory is baked into both of those local hockey exhibits, but the stories feel more like a neighborhood tale than the grand spectacle of the Larry O'Brien Trophy or the Stanley Cup once hoisted by Milton C. Schmidt, and Robert G. Orr. That they represent immortality is more of what it means to the people who grew up dreaming about college hockey and the fact that rivalries run deeper than a championship series. Winning one of those crowns means to watch a school - a deep, personal choice - ascend to the heavens, and that one square means everything to the 11 teams hoping to cement their legacy as a postseason champion.
For six months, Hockey East teams dreamed about winning the championship and hoisting their name to the space between Cam Neely, Raymond Bourque, Larry Bird and Robert Parish. They hoped to add their names to the legacies within their own schools, or they wished to create an unprecedented memory for their local student base. They longed for the last Saturday night of the college hockey postseason, and each practice and game led them closer to that moment.
Nine of those teams failed in their quest, and on Saturday night, the two biggest names and brightest stars in Hockey East, the ancient rivals who locked horns for decades, play for the right to crown a conference champion for just the third time in league history. For the fourth time this season, No. 1 Boston College faces No. 2 Boston University, but the stakes couldn't be higher.
"You want to win every trophy you can," said head coach Greg Brown ahead of his team's matchup with fifth-seeded UMass on Friday. "The Hockey East championship is a big one, and we're excited to be one of the four teams left. We have to take advantage of the opportunity and at least do everything we can to try and win that trophy."
Winning Hockey East is a formidable task for any given team in any given year, but this season offered an inevitable collision course for the two teams that occupy a six-mile stretch of Commonwealth Avenue. The Green Line rivals, as they've come to be known, played an epic three-game series around the Beanpot that began when BC displaced BU as the No. 1 team in the nation after a home-and-home that accounted for six points' worth of regular season conference games. Less than a week later, the Terriers gained a measure of revenge by denying the Eagles a spot in the Beanpot championship game.
It wasn't enough to regain a No. 1 overall ranking for a BU team that eventually lost the Beanpot championship to Northeastern, but glimpsing those two teams on the TD Garden ice left a vast array of wonders about the postseason. Nine other teams entered the postseason hoping it wouldn't happen, but even finding value or a pathway for an upset over BC and BU still felt tinged with the feeling that even games through Friday night's semifinals were tinged with a sense of foreboding and inevitability.
The emotion of Friday's semifinal crept onto Causeway Street shortly after BC rallied from spotting a 1-0 lead to a Minutemen team that previously dispatched Providence. There was, at times, a sense of shock given the worries surrounding UMass' desperation need to beat BC to advance to guarantee a berth in the national tournament, but the eight-goal rally by the Eagles instead left the Amherst-based travelers with the same feeling as the local side's home-and-home sweep before the end of the season.
The beatdown immediately offered a cessation of worry, and Maine turning TD Garden into Alfond Arena South only left a subplot and side note to Boston University's 2-0 lead and 4-1 victory. Like UMass, those that granted the Black Bears a bit of hope after their respective win over New Hampshire last weekend found themselves disappointed by a lack of drama, even if they all understood that the hockey gods knew what would happen.
"It's just kind of a new season," Eamon Powell said ahead of the weekend. "Obviously, it's great [that] we had a very successful regular season, but the postseason seems like a whole other level. It seems like everyone's a little bit faster. It's a little bit more physical, so I think we're just kind of gearing up for that. These games at the Garden should be no different."
Nobody on the BC roster remembers when the Eagles last played for the Hockey East championship in 2019, but fewer people aside from Brown are able to recall the Eagles' last final round appearance against Boston University. It's incredibly rare that the teams clash in the playoffs, let alone at the Garden, but the 2006 overtime winner by Brandon Yip completed a two-goal comeback that started after BC's Mike Brennan scored early in the first period. It was 20 years, almost to the day, after BU defeated BC with a 9-4 decision at the Providence Civic Center in the second-ever Hockey East championship.
Neither team played for a championship against one another ahead of Hockey East's split from the ECAC, but their additional meeting as the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation is one of those captivating moments that still requires a bit of organic development. Their rivalry dates back to the earliest days of college hockey, but this year marked the first head-to-head matchup as the top two teams in the nation. That they've rallied and remained in that spot is a testament to the coaching staffs and players who built indestructible teams, and unlike the previous three games, Saturday is going to crown a winner and champion at the other's expense.
Nine teams failed to unseat Boston College and Boston University from this moment. For the rest of eternity, No. 1 and No. 2 enter TD Garden for the opportunity to raise a banner at the other's expense. The inevitable clash feels like the start of a closing chapter for these teams. They may meet again in Minnesota as part of the national championship, but the local feeling of it all makes the last Hockey East game of the season one to savor.Â
The Green Line Rivalry reaches its zenith on Saturday night. It's unprecedented, even if it feels unavoidable.
Â
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