Boston Wins By A Leg Shot

The Eagles win the Frozen Four Ice Hockey Championship

Nathan Gerbe bent his 5'5 frame and passed the winning shot to Ben Smith by lifting his leg as if a fire hydrant were nearby and shooting the puck through his leg. And with that seemingly choreographed dance shot, the Eagles soared to NCAA ice hockey champs. I'll pause while you groan from that joke . . .

This makes the 3rd time the Eagles have landed the championship role, the first time being in '49, the second coming in at a very, very late 2001. And I'm sure if any of the original players cared to be watching, they'd be proud.

But for all his efforts, Gerbe was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Frozen Four, mopping up the competition. (okay, that was the last lame joke, I promise.) But Gerbe for his part isn't basking in the glory of his talents as he contented himself to say at the post-game podium, “It's just numbers to me. The biggest thing is this trophy right next to us. We'll do whatever it takes to get that, and tonight was a night where everyone stepped it up a notch to get a championship." Just numbers . . . and a trophy, and a championship.

If the Irish had any luck tonight, it was only the bad kind. As the puck slid at a snail's pace into the goal to close the score gap at 3-2, the referees called a time out to see if it would be allowed over suspicions that it had been actually kicked into the goal. The decision seemed to be going the same pace as the puck until the referee spread his arms out like he wanted to give them all a big bear hug only to change his mind and say that Notre Dame couldn't count the shot. And it was downhill from there said the evil bear . . .

But Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson didn't have any harsh words for Boston College or any pity parties for his own team as he just acknowledged the facts. "[Gerbe] was a tremendous player on the weekend and on the biggest stage,” he said. “He's dynamic, and God bless the small guy because he plays fearless."

He dances well, too.

But it was obvious that it was going to take a lot of teamwork as one of the players went down early on with an ankle injury, forcing the others to take up extra time for the over 40 remaining minutes. And it was teamwork that got them through. Just ask Mike Brennan:

"You have to play smart," he said. "The D corps has been together for so long now that we knew we could rely on each other. That's the biggest thing with this team. When we had a job to do, we did it . . . We were a team, and I think that's why we won this game."

But it was also up to the craftiness of assistant coach Greg Brown, who made the call to use the two-pair rotations. Though he said that some of them came off the ice “sucking wind” (which, I suppose, is a lot better than sucking ice), "They didn't get themselves into more trouble by trying to force things or make plays that weren't there,” he added. “And when they play smart, they can conserve some energy, and they did a great job of that."

And at the end of the day, trophy in hand, they weren't too tired to put on their proverbial cheerleader outfits and yell, “We are!” BC!”

And for the first time since 2001, they are BC the winner, and with it being ice hockey, probably in need of some BC powder.

- Heather Akena