For so long, all we have had to talk about here are bad things that have happened in Boston College sports in the last few years. Aside from the occasional hockey championship, it’s been football this and losing that, rebuilding here and Spaz there.

This is the time when we finally get to discuss and highlight some of the best things that have happened this past year, and there were plenty. Things seem to finally be heading in the right direction, so this list may be harder to choose one year from now, but there is more than enough to celebrate from this year.

#5
March 16, 2013: Women’s hockey makes third-straight Frozen Four

Making the Frozen Four is a big deal, whether it’s in men’s hockey or women’s hockey. Getting to three in a row is a sign that your program is in the national elite.

Boston College women’s hockey did that in March when they beat Harvard in the national quarterfinals. The Eagles had another great season, rising as high as #2 in the national polls and earning one of the top four seeds in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

Unfortunately, BC’s season ended against Minnesota in the national semifinals, but just getting to the Frozen Four was another big accomplishment for this talented team and program on the rise.

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The President’s Trophy winners are in a bit of trouble now as one team with an ex-Boston College Eagle made a statement on their home ice.

The Detroit Red Wings scored a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals, with Detroit now taking a 2-1 series lead.

Patrick Eaves finally got into the points column once again for the Wings as he assisted on Drew Miller’s first playoff goal in the second period, which ended up being the game-winner. He made the most of his 8:20 on the ice by getting the assist, taking two shots on goal, blocking a shot, and winning his only faceoff.

As expected, Jimmy Hayes and Ben Smith did not play for Chicago and likely won’t appear in the postseason for as long as the Blackhawks are around this time.

Tomorrow, Chris Kreider, Brian Boyle, and the New York Rangers will face the Boston Bruins in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden. Rob Scuderi and his Los Angeles Kings will face the San Jose Sharks in Game 4.

Finally, in the AHL Calder Cup playoffs, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have mounted an improbable series comeback against the Providence Bruins. Down 0-3 in the series, with an overtime Game 6 win, the Penguins have forced Game 7. Brian Dumoulin scored (power play goal) on his only shot on-goal. Every ex-Eagle on either side of the ice had at least one shot in the game.

Speaking of, shots in that game were 48-17 in favor of Providence, and 33-5 in favor of the Bruins between the second and third periods.

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Although there is a sense that the tide is turning in Boston College sports these days, there were still more than a few sour moments from which to choose during the 2012-13 school year.

Even some Eagles sports one would not expect to have lousy events did, but you know what they say: take the good with the bad and all that.

Dishonorable Mention
December 4, 2012: Boston College basketball loses fifth-straight game to Harvard

Being embarrassed by the Harvard Crimson on our own home court is becoming old hat around here. It is so common, in fact, that it only gets a dishonorable mention.

In early December, the Eagles lost by 16 points to the Crimson at Conte Forum, making it five losses in a row to the Ivy school from Cambridge.

One thing we know for certain is that BC will not lose another home game to Harvard in 2013-14: the game will be on the road next time.

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Sunday was not funday for the ex-Eagles in the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup playoffs.

The afternoon saw the Boston Bruins take a 2-0 series lead on the New York Rangers with a big 5-2 win. Chris Kreider saw about eight minutes of limited ice time and only took one shot on goal, while also being on the ice for Torey Krug’s opening goal of the game for Boston. Brian Boyle won 11 of his 21 faceoffs and also took a shot on goal while blocking two shots. A favorite of his coach, he appeared on the ice for about seventeen and a half minutes.

That series will swing to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night for Game 3 as Kreider, Boyle, and the Rangers will be in what amounts to a pretty-much-must-win.

The real playoff drama on Sunday was north of the border in Kanata, a few kilometers from downtown Ottawa. There, the Ottawa Senators defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1, in double overtime.

Being such a long game, Brooks Orpik played in 37 shifts, amounting to just under 36 minutes of ice time in what must have been a grueling effort. He took a beating as well: Orpik blocked six shots and laid four hits in the contest.

On Monday, the Detroit Red Wings and Patrick Eaves will host the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 of their series.

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Why yes, there was Boston College-related AHL action as well.

In Saturday’s first game, the Detroit Red Wings got revenge in a big way for their Game 1 defeat with a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Patrick Eaves’ team has now tied the series as it heads back to Detroit.

Eaves was mostly a non-factor for the Wings in Game 2, playing only about eight and a half minutes and amassing no points.

The late game on Saturday night went to overtime and was played into Sunday morning (Eastern time, anyway). In it, the San Jose Sharks climbed back into their series with a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Rob Scuderi had a tremendous game on defense for the defending champion Kings, blocking six shots and stealing the puck twice.

Meanwhile, in the AHL Playoffs, the Eagle-heavy Calder Cup series between the Penguins and Bruins resumed. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Penguins’ AHL team, staved off elimination in Game 5 with a 4-0 win.

Tommy Cross’s contribution to the Providence Bruins was one minor penalty, but on the other side, Brian Dumoulin had a huge game. The former Eagle defenseman had three points, a goal and two assists, in helping lead his team to victory. Brian Gibbons assisted on the Dumoulin goal.

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Things are going quite well for the top team in the Eastern Conference, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs.

Prior to the game, ESPN.com did a feature on Boston College’s own Brooks Orpik, a defenseman for the Penguins. Scott Burnside’s piece, “Orpik Sets Tone for Pens in Many Ways,” talks of the ex-Eagle as a steadying force on Pittsburgh’s blue line, as well as a role model for other defensemen in their organization. There are a few more former Eagles sitting in Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate, including recent Boston College champion and fellow defenseman Brian Dumoulin. Both had the benefit of being coached by Jerry York, so it’s no wonder why both are doing well.

As for the game on Friday night, Pittsburgh came through for a 4-3 win to double their series lead over the Ottawa Senators. Orpik was without any points in his 22 minutes on the ice in Game 2, but he blocked three shots, hit two Senators, and even took a boarding penalty for good measure.

On Saturday, the Chicago Blackhawks face the Detroit Red Wings — both teams with Eagles on the team or in the organization — in Game 2 of their series. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks will play Game 3; Rob Scuderi has had a good series so far for the defending champs.

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Compared to nearly every other varsity sport fielded by Boston College in 2012-13, hockey was heavenly. On the men’s side, even though they did not have a season that lived up to their usual standards, they were still a respected team. Meanwhile, the women’s hockey team continues to establish itself as one of the elite programs in NCAA Division I.

Yet, the question remains: With all of the good the Eagles are doing, when will they finally break through and win the whole thing?

Pre-season

The Boston College Eagles women’s hockey team ended the 2011-12 season in Duluth, Minnesota, and not by random chance: that happens to have been the location of the Frozen Four that year. While in the frosty tundras of northern Minnesota, the Eagles lost to Wisconsin in the national semifinal. It was their second-straight trip to the Frozen Four, and their second-straight loss to Wisconsin in said game.

With a roster full of talent, Boston College saw no reason why it couldn’t clean up in its own conference and get back to the Frozen Four. Such a feat isn’t easy, but expectations remained high for the ladies entering the Fall of 2012 when the puck first dropped.

Regular Season and Playoffs

In a somewhat surprising turn of events, the Eagles’ season started with a thud. BC had two Hockey East games right off the bat, and they lost both of them: one was to the Boston University Terriers and the other was to the New Hampshire Wildcats. For good measure, BC lost an exhibition game to the Canadian Women’s Hockey League outfit in Boston in between. The Eagles beat UNH for their first win the night after losing to the Wildcats, and then split a doubleheader with Minnesota-Duluth at Conte Forum. The #5 team in the nation at the time, BC got off to a slightly rocky 1-3 start.

Boston College’s loss to the Bulldogs was their last in a long, long while. From that day on, the Eagles went on an eighteen-game unbeaten streak, a stretch which ended with thirteen wins in a row. It came to an end on January 19, almost three months later, at Mercyhurst in Erie, PA. Over that period, the Boston College ladies shot all the way up to #2 in the national polls. They also established themselves as a dominant offensive team, and by the year’s end, the Eagles would have the most goals scored in Hockey East and the second-highest goals per game in the nation behind the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Much of this was thanks to the outstanding play of women such as Alex Carpenter, Haley Skarupa, and Melissa Bizzari.

Following their Mercyhurst loss, the Eagles got right back up off the mat and proceeded to win their next four games in a row, eventually falling to Northeastern in the women’s Beanpot championship game. They had defeated Harvard in the first round on February 5, but fell to the Huskies on February 12; it was their 15th loss in 19 games against Northeastern in that competition.

Their sights were set higher than the Beanpot, however. After the title game defeat, Boston College showed even more resiliency and strung together another unbeaten streak, this one lasting six games and carrying into the Hockey East Tournament. As it turns out, that opening day loss to Boston University made all the difference, as the Eagles lost the conference regular-season crown by one point.

BC won its quarterfinal game of the 2013 Hockey East Tournament against Maine with a Haley Skarupa overtime goal, but in the semifinals, the Eagles fell once more to the Northeastern Huskies. Northeastern, in turn, lost the title game to those same pesky BU Terriers.

Despite their loss in the Hockey East Tournament, with a national ranking as high as theirs, their spot as an at-large bid in the eight-team field was assured. Boston College’s women were the fourth-overall seed in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, and hosted a home game against Harvard for the right to advance to the 2013 Frozen Four. The Eagles won it, 3-1, and punched their ticket to Minneapolis for their third-straight appearance in the women’s hockey national semifinals.

The bad news for BC is that their first-round draw was Minnesota, the undefeated #1 team in the nation, playing in its own hometown in front of its fans, and angling for history. And, for the third-straight year, the BC Eagles advanced only as far as the Frozen Four semifinal game with a 3-2 overtime loss. To their credit, the Eagles gave the best team in the nation everything they could handle and then some, but once again, a championship was not to be. The Gophers then went on to take down Boston University for the national title and the first-ever perfect season at 41-0-0.

Post-season and beyond

After the year ended, Alex Carpenter was rewarded for her 70-point season by being named a second-team All-American and New England’s Most Valuable Player in women’s college hockey. Both honors were deserved, as she was at the forefront of a very potent Eagle offensive attack. The fact still remains that she was just one of a number of good players on that end of the ice, with veteran goalie Corinne Boyles very respectably leading the way on the defensive end.

Katie King Crowley, head coach of the Eagles, was also named the women’s hockey Coach of the Year in New England and Hockey East Coach of the Year.

It doesn’t matter that this season didn’t end in a championship: clearly, nobody was beating Minnesota, anyway, and the Eagles still accomplished a great deal of good. 2012-13 was, by the numbers, their best season in program history and they have now established themselves as a consistently elite program with three-straight trips to the Frozen Four. Boyles may be graduating soon, but the offensive talent on this BC team is still young and elite. Expectations for 2013-14 will be just as high as they are now, and with good reason.

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The Stanley Cup playoffs are getting good, and both games played on Thursday night involved ex-Boston College Eagles.

In the school’s hometown, the Boston Bruins outlasted the New York Rangers in a 3-2 overtime victory, with the Bruins taking a 1-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The local fans are probably quite pleased with the result this morning, though the former Eagles on the Rangers most likely do not share the enthusiasm. Chris Kreider did play in Game 1 as Ryane Clowe would appear to be out indefinitely; again, his defensive play (which was the primary concern of his Rangers coaches relative to his development) looked improved, with Kreider blocking two shots and totaling three hits in eleven and a half minutes.

Kreider’s teammate, Brian Boyle, played thirty shifts at center and won a majority of his faceoffs. Boyle’s defensive numbers were even better with the larger amount of ice time, blocking three shots and leveling five hits. He was also +1 for the game.

The Rangers and Bruins will be back in action for Game 2 on Sunday afternoon.

All the way out on the west coast, in a game that was probably (hopefully) not as slow for long stretches as Rangers-Bruins, a shocking finish came about. The Los Angeles Kings came back from a 3-2 deficit with less than two minutes to go to win, 4-3, in regulation. LA scored two power play goals in 22 seconds to tie and then take the lead, shoving the San Jose Sharks back to an 0-2 deficit as the series swings north to the Bay Area.

Ex-Eagle Rob Scuderi did not gather any points in the contest, and one of his only measurable contributions on the evening was two blocked shots in about 19 minutes on the ice.

Game 3 of that series will be on Saturday night.

On Friday night, Brooks Orpik and his Pittsburgh Penguins will look to take a 2-0 series lead over the visiting Ottawa Senators.

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In a battle of teams with ex-Boston College Eagles on the rosters — not necessarily on the ice, but on the rosters — the home team struck first in the Stanley Cup playoffs’ second round.

That team was the Chicago Blackhawks, of which Ben Smith and Jimmy Hayes are typically part. Chicago won Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal over the Detroit Red Wings of Patrick Eaves, 4-1. Neither Smith nor Hayes was in the lineup for the Hawks as the President’s Trophy winners look to march through the playoffs.

Eaves did play for the Red Wings, getting just ten minutes on the ice and firing a shot on goal. His contributions were perhaps more defensive, as he threw three hits and notched a takeaway.

On Thursday, the New York Rangers will take to the ice against the Boston Bruins to begin their Eastern Conference semifinal. Brian Boyle seems certain to play, and with Ryane Clowe still an uncertainty for the Blueshirts, Chris Kreider’s odds of appearing are also relatively strong. Elsewhere in the United States, Rob Scuderi’s Los Angeles Kings will try to take a 2-0 series lead over the San Jose Sharks.

In the AHL’s Calder Cup playoffs, Tommy Cross’s Providence Bruins are on the brink of eliminating the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after a 2-1 overtime win. None of the four ex-Eagles on the Penguins recorded a point, nor did Cross, but if the Bruins polish this series off, it means a trip to the Eastern Conference final.

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Boston College Eagles men’s hockey is different from other varsity sports at this school, in many more ways than one. Perception is different as well. When a team like Boston College men’s basketball has a winning season, it’s considered a great improvement. When BC hockey has a winning season, it’s empty without a championship. The bar is just plain set higher for this group than any other major sport on campus, especially when you’re the defending national champions.

This year, Boston College was good, not great, but that’s merely relative to their norm.

Pre-season

Boston College hockey’s 2011-12 season ended in sunny Florida with a trophy, but the last time everyone was together was a few days after the national championship at O’Neill Plaza. A parade snaked its way through campus before all the players and coaches were celebrated by a large crowd of BC fans in front of O’Neill Library. It was paradise for Boston College hockey, and, having been the third title in five years, it was also somewhat expected.

The Eagles are not the sort of team that rebuilds — it reloads. Every year, BC picks up fresh new top-tier talent in much the same way that Kansas or North Carolina might in basketball or Florida State and Notre Dame do in football. Seven Eagles on the 2012-13 roster were NHL properties, with others sure to get phone calls from pro hockey organizations once their Boston College careers were over. Simply put, this team is expected to contend every year, no matter who is coming in or going out. Such was the case for the Eagles in the 2012-13 season, coming off of a championship.

Furthermore, anyone closely following this team knew that history was on the horizon: Jerry York needed only about a dozen more wins to set the all-time mark in college hockey wins. It was not a matter of if, but when for the most beloved coach at the school today.

BC was fortunate enough to ride a 19-game win streak into this year, but how could they possibly top the prior season where they rode one of college hockey’s best-ever hot streaks to a title?

It’s simple: they didn’t, but not for lack of trying.