Gilroy celebrates his two goal game on Monday night. (Photo: NHL.com)

- By now you’re read up on Matt Gilroy’s two goal game for the New York Rangers against the New York Islanders on Monday night. NHL.com has a well-written write-up of the 7-2 Rangers win. Gilroy had been very quiet this season, having only played 22 games and spending a tad too much time as a healthy scratch.

Time in the press box seemingly has motivated Gilroy, who is making the most of his recent ice time. Says Kukla’s Korner’s Patrick Hoffman:

“In the last week or so, there has been a noticeable difference in New York Rangers’ defenseman Matt Gilroy’s game.

Gilroy has appeared to be more confident, poised, willing to jump into the play, make smart plays in the defensive zone and more importantly, a steady presence on the club’s blue line.”

As much as we would all love to see Gilroy repeat his two-goal game, the odds are against him. Reported the Elias Sports Bureau in its daily ESPN.com “Elias Says” piece:

“It was the first multiple-goal game of the season by a Rangers D-man, and if recent history is any indication it could be the last. The Rangers had exactly one multi-goal game by a defenseman in each of the past three seasons: by Michal Rozsival in both 2007-08 and 2008-09, and Daniel Girardi in 2009-10.”

- One of Gilroy’s 2009 teammates, Chris Higgins, started the season with Ritten of the Italian Series A pro hockey league, but is no longer on the active roster. He last played on December 11th in a 6-2 loss against Val Pusteria, and had two shots and no points on the night. On December 7th, Higgins had his own 2 goal game in a 6-5 win over Asiago (yes, like the cheese.)

Why Higgins is off the roster is a tad unclear. From my bad translation of German, here’s what Ritten’s website had to say about Higgins’ departure:

“Where’s Chris Higgins will end the season is still unclear. This player clearly has a great technique and great talent: though in the eyes of Rittner he is not yet mature enough to play in the Italian hockey league.”

Ritten only has 13 wins on the season, and they seemed to take their December 11th loss hard. Higgins finished his time in Ritten with 20 points (9 goals, 11 assists.)

- The Netherlands has a goal of fielding a men’s ice hockey team in the 2018 Winter Olympics. To achieve that goal, the Dutch Olympic Committee has created an elite hockey training center in Eindhoven, modeled after the US National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The newly opened Ice Hockey Field Lab and High Tech Center at Eindhoven Ice Arena includes several cameras and video rooms to better break down plays and technique with the Netherlands’ top youth hockey players.

The IIHF was on hand for the opening of the center, which featured remarks from Gilroy and Higgins’ fellow 2009 graduate, Jason Lawrence. The alum of the USA NTDP was chosen to talk about his experiences in an elite U-18 program.

Lawrence is still raking up the points for Eindhoven Kemphanen of the Dutch Elite League, where he has 16 goals and 20 assists in 28 games played. He had a goal and an assist Tuesday night against Herentals HYC.

Kevin Roeder won the ECHL Kelly Cup this weekend with the Cincinnati Cyclones. (Photo: Shawn Raecke \ Idaho Statesman)

- Former Miami defenseman Kevin Roeder would be getting absolutely sick by journalists reminding him that Colby Cohen’s winning shot in the 2009 National Championship game deflected off him, but he’s too busy winning the ECHL Kelly Cup with the Cincinnati Cyclones.

- Frozen Four participant Wisconsin announced their 2010-11 schedule on Thursday, including confirmation that they will face BU in the opening round of the Icebreaker Tournament on October 8th. This year’s Icebreaker takes place in St. Louis, MO at the Scottrade Center, and also includes Notre Dame and Holy Cross. BU won the Icebreaker in October 2008, when it was hosted at Agganis Arena; Wisconsin last participated in the Icebreaker in 2002.

- In other neutral game site news, Union will play Jerry D’Amigo and the RPI Engineers in Lake Placid on October 30th. Union will also be a part of the Dodge Holiday Classic, along with Ferris State, Bemidji State and Minnesota, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

- Denver joined Wisconsin and Union in releasing their schedule this week, and have already boasted/complained about how tough it is. Yes, if you lost as many players to the pros and were bounced in the first round of the NCAA Regionals after jockeying for the number 1 ranking all season, you would be complaining about everything possible as well.

- No, BU fans, you’re not seeing crazy things on future University of Minnesota-Duluth rosters. Their Adam Krause plays offense and adds a “e” at the end of Kraus. Krause will play for the USHL’s Chicago Steel next season, before reporting to Duluth in 2011.

Your typical Chuck-a-Puck. But if a Chuck-a-Puck takes place and no one chucks a puck... (Photo: Flickr user Travis S.)

After weeks of missing live hockey because of my upcoming wedding, I am finally in the midst of a multi-game weekend. Thank goodness, because this multi-game weekend allowed me to see two of the oddest intermission events I’ve witnessed in years of attending hockey games.

Friday night, the Boston University men’s ice hockey team hosted Northeastern University in their last regular season home game. BU beat Northeastern 4-2, which would go miles towards improving their status for the Hockey East playoffs. It was a double mites team game, with both intermissions host to a youth hockey team scrimmage. The teams usually have around five minutes to show their stuff, with the announcer and music timing their scrimmage, before the waiting Zambonis rev their engines and warn them off.

During the second intermission, I was chatting with a friend and not paying attention to the mites. Around me, I vaguely heard the announcement thanking the mites for their time and congratulating them on a scrimmage well done. Briefly after, my fiance nudged me.

“They won’t leave the ice.”

Sure enough, the entire team of mites were still down on one end of the ice, skating as if this was their home rink. The Zamboni was in limbo, resting on the lip of the rink, nearly seesaw-like. The opposite side ice door was open, with the security guard awaiting the mites coming off the ice. And the mites were still playing. On the ice, Rhett the mascot looked mighty perplexed.

It took the announcer getting back on the microphone. “Can our mites team please make their way to the exit?”

The kids still skated around the goal, oblivious. The maintenance man off to drag off the net stood, stagger stepped and with a drill in his hand a few feet away.

Finally, the coach realized that yes, his team actually might have to leave the ice. He zipped the mites off the ice, the Zamboni impatiently inching out during the mad dash.

Saturday, while at the Women’s Hockey East Semifinal game between Boston University and the University of New Hampshire in Providence, the announcer kept announcing a Chuck-a-Puck contest being held during the second intermission. A few of us played around with the idea of actually taking part in it for sheer novelty purposes, but vetoed against it. We’d never win – we’re in our late twenties. Our aim is shot.

The second intermission begins, the BU women up 1-0 (they would eventually win 4-0). The announcer proudly announces that it is time for the Chuck-a-Puck competition. “Get your pucks ready….and fire!”

Nothing is thrown on the ice.

“Time for the Chuck-a-Puck!” he exclaims again, trying to will us all to throw something, anything, on the ice.

A little girl next to the glass starts throwing pucks. With aim unbefitting of her age, she throws her three pucks right near center ice. Two more join from the other side of the rink, not getting anywhere near center.

The announcer eggs us all on, “Last chance to chuck those pucks. Five! Four…”

He pauses, realizing that those five pucks on the ice are all there will be. A rink employee begins to stroll onto the ice to pick all five pucks up.

“Threetwoone,” the announcer rushes through, purely to make things official.

My fiance turns to our group of fans. “Why didn’t I enter Chuck-a-Puck again?”

But tonight, they had finally changed them to this year’s captains. Or at least, who we had thought this year’s captains would be:

My screen capture of the official Beanpot website at 11:05pm, Sunday evening.

Did Brian Strait suddenly return from Wilkes-Barre Scranton to BU? Wow, he must have forgave all of those awful things Coach Parker said about him in that USCHO piece from the summer.

Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer.

This weekend, Agganis Arena kept running promotions for an event next weekend with Cesar Millan, the “Dog Whisperer.” (Aka, a dog behavior expert that dog owners turn to once they realize that raising a dog may, in fact, take actual work.)

My immediate thought during the first ad Friday night was, “Gosh, Jack Parker could use a Dog Whisperer. He’s got a whole roster of Terriers that keep giving him trouble.”

What would happen if during his Agganis visit next weekend, Millan spent some time analyzing the problems of this year’s Terrier team? I think it might go something like this:

Parker: I can’t believe I’m turning to you.

Millan: Oprah does.

Parker: Fine. I guess I’m desperate. As I mentioned in my post-game comments after Friday’s tie to Vermont, “my team does not know how to get ready for a hockey game.” They then went on to emphasize that point with a 4-1 loss against BC on Saturday. What changed between my 2009 national champions and this team?

Millan: If you watch my television show, you’ll know I am all about owners quitting babying their dogs. If you baby your pets, they’ll walk all over you and develop behavior problems that you’ll end up paying me thousands to fix. I see you with somewhat of the same problem – this team is walking all over you.

As hard nosed as you are, you lost a huge part of your bite when a coach’s dream of a captain, Matt Gilroy, graduated. His age and superhuman-esque determination gave you an extra coach in the locker room. And let’s not forget about John McCarthy, a quiet, but impactful leader, especially among his classmates. Then you had that whole senior class – essentially, you had five or six captains.

According to many accounts (including a close reading of Burn the Boats), Gilroy and McCarthy did a lot of your coaching for you last season. They called out guys when they got lazy. They set the tone at practices. They instilled the goal-setting mindset of the team as a whole. You also allowed them much more reign than other captains had. And with this age group, acceptance by peers can be much more powerful than by authority figures, giving your captains that much more clout.

BU coach Jack Parker (Photo: College Hockey News)

Parker: But Shattenkirk has a lot of captaincy experience. He was captain of the USA Under-18 Team and the World Junior Team.

Millan: But there is only one of him, he’s a junior, and he thought he’d be assisting a captain Brian Strait this season. No doubt Shattenkirk is a good player and leader, but he now leads alone a team made up of a bunch of individuals who have been spoiled by a national championship.

Parker: A bunch of individuals?

Millan: Two glaring examples: On the ice, Colby Cohen always must take the slapshot instead of passing it to a more open or closer to the net teammate. It is as if he honestly believes his overtime winner in the national championship game will happen every time he shoots the puck. It won’t. It was a fluke play that bounced off a Miami player’s leg.

Then you have Vinny Saponari, who has decided that he wants to be the Southern Alex Ovechkin. His puck handling could win him points for presentation, but this isn’t figure skating – it’s hockey, and if he would stop his focus on being fancy, he could be a national leader in goal scoring.

Parker: Two out of twenty-six. Fine, I’ll figure out what to do with them, but something else has to be ailing us.

Millan: Speed. The North Dakota-like speed that signaled that this was a different team than usual during the October 2008 Icebreaker has vanished somewhat. Every team is now catching up in terms of speed, and while there have been games where you come out of the gate all speedy, you lose it much too quickly.

Secondly, the team needs to work on breakaways and rebounds. They are tending behind on both. They are not taking advantage of opportunities because they’re either focused on making the fancy play or thinking too much about what to do with the puck. There’s only one thing to do with the puck – get it somewhere where it can end up in the net. Is that a closer or open teammate? Is that the net? This thinking needs to be snappier.

Parker: What about my goalies?

Millan: Last year was like adopting a dog and having me with you for a year training it, then taking me away and expecting everything to be normal. You had two freshmen goaltenders in front of some of the most outstanding defensive players the program has ever had. You also had forwards who understood their defensive roles. This year, you still have massive, pounding defensemen, but you also have three of them thinking they are also forwards. Plus, your forwards are no longer defensively minded. No one is there to help the goalies, so you now see what they are really made of.

Am I saying either Rollheiser or Millan (who must be a distant cousin of mine or something) are bad? No, but they need to adjust to the lack of help they have in front of them. Their own teammates are screening them. Defensemen seem to be maintaining some set distance from the net – did the two goalies put out a restraining order on the team or something?

Parker: The boys and I have a break coming up. What can I possibly do to turn this season around? I mean, I’m beginning to think I should have hung it up after last year.

Millan: First off, bench kids. Bench kids with names. Bench seniors. Bench juniors. You were never afraid of benching “stars” in the past – why are you now? Bonino wasn’t prolific until you benched him last November. Tough love – you’re not their mother. But you do demand great things from them, and you can’t do that if you are afraid of hurting their feelings or thinking they can fix themselves. Bench unproductive players. Bench selfish players. Tell them that they don’t play until they take the game and the team seriously.

We also know you’re stuck on this, “Let’s not mention the National Championship bit,” to the team, with the team not allowed to be announced as the defending national champions and all. But hockey players crave motivation, and maybe putting the title out there – hey, we’re defending national champions, but we aren’t going to be able to defend until we have non-selfish, consistent effort – could be just the motivation that will click.

Break out every single passing drill ever known to man. A team that can pass to each other can score. This team is dropping passes right and left.

And tell the team that if they can’t make fancy plays until they make some All-Stars skills competition in their pro careers. But if they can’t score on rebounds and breakaways, there will be no All-Star skills competitions.

Order Gilroy make a video where he threatens to make them run the Charles hungover at 4:30am if they don’t win a game. Or tell Shattenkirk to get amazingly angry, and let Gryba get mean with him, and then get Gryba involve his other seniors. If the balance of the team won’t listen to you, they should be listening to their angry, older peers.

Parker: Well, as much as I can’t believe I am accepting your opinion on this, some of it seems pretty legit. By the way, I hear you’re gonna have dogs in my arena. You leave my arena clean next week, you hear me? So help me if there is dog anything stuck to my ice…

Millan: Tsst. Tsst. Down.

Parker would be proud: Roche and Lawrence have at it Saturday night. (Photo: Flickr user amanda_hertel)

When former Boston University Terrier Jason Lawrence was traded from the Charlotte Checkers to the Gwinnett Gladiators on Thanksgiving Day, it wasn’t a huge surprise. Lawrence was not getting ice time, due to Charlotte being stock full roster wise. Their AHL affiliates were not calling up players as much as before, a problem not unique to Charlotte, but plaguing many ECHL teams this young season.

In Charlotte, Lawrence had been reunited with former BU teammates Kevin Schaeffer (often on loan to Lake Erie, aka BU AHL West) and Kenny Roche, both class of 2007. Roche and Lawrence had even spent some time on the same line during their short time together with the Checkers.

During his first game with Gwinnett, Lawrence faced Charlotte, his new old team, and scored a nice slapper goal, despite his last name being misspelled on his jersey. Saturday night, the two teams faced each other again, with Roche kicking off the evening’s scoring.

Then things became heated between the two teams. The Gladiators and Checkers combined for 47 penalty minutes, made up of multiple slashing, roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct and fighting penalities. (Maybe it was pent up anger at having to play hockey on Thanksgiving night in that hockey hotbed known as Georgia.)

At the midpoint of the second period, however, was the largest fight of the evening. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the fight that will join the John Curry Goalie Fight in the BU Alumni Minor League Hockey Fight Hall of Fame: the Jason Lawrence – Kenny Roche smackdown, courtsey of GladiatorsForum.org. (I literally tried for an hour to convert it to a better file type, but I do not have Quicktime Pro. You will need a DivX plug-in on your browser to view the video.) The fight was broken up by the refs the second a helmetless Lawrence was pinned to the ice by Roche. Both players made themselves comfy in the penalty box, earning five minute fighting majors for the fight.

The local Gwinnett newspaper commented in its game notes the next day that Roche and Lawrence were teammates in Charlotte, but neglected to mention that the two were college teammates as well.

Oh, former teammate fights, you always are special occasions.

Given that both BC and BU have combined to win the last two NCAA Division I Championships, their tradition-laced rivalry has started to receive additional national attention. Sure to add to this national spotlight will be the November release of The Battle of Comm Ave, a documentary on the rivalry by Utah-based Rival Films. The film will premiere on NESN, with an DVD release following. Rival Films’ Matt Fults agreed to answer some questions about the film, the company’s use of social media, and about his own favorite sports documentaries.

Kat: You are a film studio based out of Utah – given your geography, what made your company want to produce a film about the Boston College – Boston University rivalry?
Matt: Utah is our base camp. A majority of our work is done elsewhere. We’ve filmed in Austria, Switzerland, Chile, Germany, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, Michigan, California … the list goes on. So what we look for are compelling stories. I’m a big hockey fan, and while the BU-BC rivalry is well known in Massachusetts, it’s not as well known in the rest of the country. Plus my mom is from Reading, MA. That’s a plus.

Kat: I know you don’t want to give away a lot about the film yet, but is there any one part that you can mention that will excite fans of these teams (for example, any new information, a story no one has heard before, etc)?

Matt: I think there’s a couple of good stories that maybe haven’t been told. One involves former BU captain Jack O’Callahan, coach Parker and a coin. There aren’t a lot of secrets when it comes to these schools. What you’re going to see is the origins of the rivalry, how it became so intense, what drives it today, and finally just some terrific anecdotes and stories from players, coaches and others.

Kat: Do you see The Battle of Comm Ave spurring national interest in this storied rivalry, given that college hockey seems to be growing in popularity right now?

Matt: I hope so. One of the reasons we decided to do this was the belief that college hockey is undersold and undertold. It’s a great sport with strong traditions and true powerhouse programs.

Kat: Rival Films is quite active on Twitter and Facebook.  How are you using social media to promote this film and engage with the fanbases of the respective schools?

Matt: Being active doesn’t mean we’re successful. Our Twitter following isn’t impressive! Social media as a tool is new to us – literally within the last couple of weeks. Given the subject matter and the audience, it seems like a worthwhile endeavor. Our hope is to build an early buzz that will translate into greater interest when Fall rolls around, and ultimately the start of college hockey season. We are going to use Facebook and Twitter for contest giveaways and more importantly to announce a DVD presale. Sometime in October you’ll be able to find a link that will enable you to preorder the DVD at half price. So if you’re not following us on Twitter @RivalFilms or not a Fan on Facebook, that’s one less Christmas present for your brother.

Kat: Since you are in the business of creating sports films, what qualities do you think make a great sports documentary? What are some of your personal favorites?

Matt: You mean other than my own? Just kidding. To me, it’s all about storytelling. The quality of the story – and its storytellers – make or break any movie. In the end, the subjects of your film need to be the best storytellers. Narration is there to fill in the gaps. If your subjects aren’t compelling, you better hope the underlying story is or you’re done. One of my favorites is “Step into Liquid” by Dana Brown. On the surface, it’s a surfing movie. But it’s more than that. It examines a culture and a lifestyle. Visually, it’s gorgeous. I’m also a Bud Greenspan fan. He’s a master storyteller.

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Keep up-to-date with The Battle of Comm Ave by following the company on Twitter (@RivalFilms), becoming a fan of the film on Facebook, or checking the company’s website.

So are they playing a college hockey game here or not? (Picture by yours truly. Yes, I can take good photos once and a while.)

Remember when I noted that Denver’s men’s ice hockey schedule release may have squashed rumors of a college game being a part of Fenway Park’s all-but-confirmed Winter Classic festivities? Well, the Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont may have revived those rumors by claiming that a source close to the organizers are looking to have the ice system down for three weeks of use, and are looking to schedule a college tournament within that time.

Dupont went on to mention that any official announcement about all of the Winter Classic would most likely take place near the beginning of July.

These new details would seemingly make a Boston College-Boston University game a possibility, because of the length of time the ice will be available. BC could still keep their commitments to the Denver Cup on New Year’s Day, while still having time to fit in an outdoor game against BU.

I’ll keep my eyes out for any additional clues.

********

Belated congratulations to the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury definitely proved his worth as a goalie on Friday evening (he actually made an acrobatic save in those final seconds – who knew?)

On the Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch, John Curry did dress for Game 7, but his name does not get engraved on the Cup, and thus he was not allowed to carry it because of superstition. Until your name is on the Cup, you are not allowed to touch it as a hockey player. He was still spotted on the NBC broadcast wearing the nifty locker room hat though.

Speaking of locker-room hats, Puck Daddy posted a great feature on the conceptualization and production of NHL championship fan wear on Saturday. Those of you as obsessed with fan wear as I will geek out over the detail.

And a special congrats to the Pens fans at Puck Huffers (NSFW), who titled their championship post, “Our Curry in Heaven,” and part of their dedication to disappointed and bitter Detroit fans read:

It’s time for you to put your hands towards the sky and pray for redemption. It worked for us.
Then again, John Curry is God.

It’s clear I’ve been outdone. I think they might need to take over the “Everyone’s Favorite Goalie” posts.

I dragged my then-roommate to the game, an exhibition against the USA Under-18 Team. My roommate was perplexed. “We’re not even going to see them play against another college?” I hadn’t been able to get tickets at the first game ever at Agganis – a sell out the week before – and this was the only game I knew for certain I could attend, so I told her that I had to take whatever I could get.  I just wanted to get to a game.

So we settled into the sparkling new confines of the Agganis Arena, our seats right behind the BU zone and then-backup goalie Karson Gillespie, and set to watch what we both figured would be a blow out of these 17 and 18 year olds against this reportedly dominant college team.

And then, after nearly ten scoreless minutes of hockey, I saw my first goal at Agganis Arena. Scored by USA Under-18 forward Jason Lawrence, with an assist by USA Under-18 Team forward Phil Kessel.  The first ever goal I saw at Agganis Arena, right in front of me, was not even by Boston University, but by the USA Under-18 Team, and by these two itty-bitty kids who were the same age as my little sister. What the heck? My first college hockey game at my beloved graduate school, and they don’t even score the first goal against 17 year olds?

Before I got too depressed, the handy Agganis videoboard showed a graphic that pulled me out of this funk. You see, this Lawrence kid was coming to BU the next year, and he was from this place called Saugus, Massachusetts. I turned to my Beverly-born-and-bred roommate. “Saugus? Isn’t that the place with the crazy Chinese restaurant and the giant light up cactus?” I asked, my knowledge of the town totally dictated by our trips down Route 1 to get to her parents’ house for Sunday dinner.

“Yeah, that would be Saugus,” she laughed.

Excited that I actually factually knew where a town in Massachusetts was for once, had actually driven through it, and now had a reason to further remember the town, I settled in to watch the rest of the game, which BU eventually won, 4-1. The powers-that-be were kind enough to give Lawrence the third star of the game. And from then on, every time we drove up Route 1 to Beverly, I would turn to my roommate, or she to me, and we would say completely non-descriptly, “Isn’t that kid we saw score that goal from here?” The other would answer, “Yes,” and we’d continue to sing along to Kelly Clarkson (our obsession at the time) at full blast.

But more importantly, Lawrence’s goal helped me in other important matters short after. The topic of Saugus soon came up in conversation a few days later, as I was talking to the guy who would eventually become my fiance. We were not yet dating, and were talking at work one day about where we grew up. He told me that despite where he was from then, he had grown up in this town called Saugus. Had I ever heard of it?  “Yes!” I said embarrassingly proudly. “It’s the place with the Chinese restaurant, the light up cactus and the kid who is coming to play on the hockey team next year.”

“Exactly!” said my now-fiance, hopefully impressed. And the rest was history. (Okay, I am sure my fiance didn’t date me solely because I knew where Saugus was. But it probably helped, right? Truth be told, I am not sure he totally understood where Rochester was, but I didn’t hold it against him.)

So fast forward to today, Sunday, March 8, 2009. Senior Day at Agganis Arena, where Lawrence will be honored as part of the graduating class of 2009. Lawrence has always been my favorite Terrier, not only because of nostaglia, but because despite his tough years in the middle of his career, he always worked hard on the ice and genuinely tried to make a difference for the team. When it wasn’t in scoring, it was by being a leader, a quality evident in his work on the second line last year with mostly freshmen who always seemed eager for his direction. He’s always tried to improve himself – by either rehabbing earlier than expected from his bad shoulder injury last year, or by somehow becoming a speed demon on skates over this past off-season, and now being able to make spectacular scoring plays.  But maybe most importantly, I literally don’t know going to a season of hockey games at Agganis without him in the lineup for some team at some point during the season.

Which nicely leads leads into this fun fact: Lawrence is the only player in Agganis Arena history to score a point in every year the arena has been open. Five straight years. The only player who could beat or tie this record would be Vinny Saponari, who scored a goal in his visit to Agganis as a member of the USA Under-18 Team back in the 2007-08 season. So when you sit down at the game today, you can turn to your seatmate and inpart that fact, and then they’ll think that you are a super hockey geek. But that’s okay.

So thanks JLo for that fun hockey trivia we can impart on our seatmates today, for winning Beanpot games three times for us, for scoring that cool natural hat trick against UMass last week, for being extremely overly prolific against Michigan the last two years, for scoring 21 goals so far this season, for relishing your power play opportunities, for staying in the game somehow after being elbowed head first into the boards at BC in December, for not retaliating when Maine’s Simon Danis-Pepin literally sat on you during overtime at Maine on Valentine’s Day, for making Sportscenter three times, for your always enjoyable player introductions, and for the best Terrier Trivia ever recorded: your thesis on Gone With the Wind.   And thanks for scoring the first goal I ever saw in a college hockey game.

Other entries in the Countdown to Senior Night Series: Profiles on Higgins, Smolinsky; Why this class is the Sportscenter Generation.