With BU in Fairbanks, Alaska this weekend, two things occurred to me this week.
1)
The first time the Terriers went to Alaska (UAA), those were Ricky DiPietro’s first games. Those of us that went got through the shock of seeing him so far from the crease for two games - after we couldn’t find a big bungee cord to tether him with. By the time we came back to Boston, those that *hadn’t* gone were freaking out, but those who had seen him already knew what we had.
He’s still - and will remain - the only player ever to lose his eligibility because of that weird rule the NCAA briefly had that - for only the year between your 18th and 19th birthdays - if you declared for the NHL draft, you were done.
2)
The next time BU went to UAA, Nick Bonino did not play in the first game but started the second and got an assist 0:17 seconds into his first shift of his first game.
The following year, he scored a goal in his last shift of regulation in the *last* game of the year… with 0:17 remaining.
Perhaps you remember that one. It was in DC, and the response of the BU bench makes the highlight reel every spring around the march to the Frozen four. (That bench eruption is from the tying goal, not the game-winner. After game winners, everyone everywhere storms the ice.)
Good bookends.
So…
What freshman from *this* trip to Alaska will we be talking about in the years to come?
High bar has been set…
1)
The first time the Terriers went to Alaska (UAA), those were Ricky DiPietro’s first games. Those of us that went got through the shock of seeing him so far from the crease for two games - after we couldn’t find a big bungee cord to tether him with. By the time we came back to Boston, those that *hadn’t* gone were freaking out, but those who had seen him already knew what we had.
He’s still - and will remain - the only player ever to lose his eligibility because of that weird rule the NCAA briefly had that - for only the year between your 18th and 19th birthdays - if you declared for the NHL draft, you were done.
2)
The next time BU went to UAA, Nick Bonino did not play in the first game but started the second and got an assist 0:17 seconds into his first shift of his first game.
The following year, he scored a goal in his last shift of regulation in the *last* game of the year… with 0:17 remaining.
Perhaps you remember that one. It was in DC, and the response of the BU bench makes the highlight reel every spring around the march to the Frozen four. (That bench eruption is from the tying goal, not the game-winner. After game winners, everyone everywhere storms the ice.)
Good bookends.
So…
What freshman from *this* trip to Alaska will we be talking about in the years to come?
High bar has been set…
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