Terriers To Meet St. Cloud NCAA East Regional
March 19, 2000 | Men's Ice Hockey
The Terrier hockey team (24-9-7), seeded 3rd in the East, will take on 6th-seeded St. Cloud (23-13-3) in the first game of the NCAA East Regional next Saturday afternoon (March 25th) at noon at the Pepsi Arena.
The announcement was made by the NCAA Division 1 Ice Hockey committee on Sunday (March 19th) which released the 12-team field that will be vying for the 2000 national championship beginning next Friday night.
The winner of the B.U.-St. Cloud game will play 2nd-seeded St. Lawrence (26-7-2) on Sunday (March 26th) at noon.
In the other half of the East bracket, number-five Michigan (26-9-4) will take on number-four Colgate (24-8-2) at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. The winner of that game will tangle with the East's top seed, Maine (26-7-5) at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The West Regional will be played in Minneapolis beginning on Friday night (March 24th).
In the opening game, number-six Niagara (29-7-4) will play number-three New Hampshire (23-8-6) at 6:00 p.m. That game will be followed by number-five Michigan State (27-10-4) against number-four Boston College (26-11-1) at 9:30 p.m.
Then, on Saturday (March 25th), the Niagara-New Hampshire winner will play number-two North Dakota (28-8-5) at 6:00 p.m., while the Michigan StateBC winner will tangles with number-one Wisconsin (31-8-1) at 9:30 p.m.
"I really thought we were heading west," head coach Jack Parker said in referring to his team's venue next weekend.
Since the NCAA moved to the Regional setup in 1992, the Terriers have played in the tournament eight times, and all eight have been in the East.
They were in Providence in 1992; in Worcester in 1993, 1995, and 1997; and in Albany in 1994, 1996, 1997 and now in 2000.
"I am really glad we are playing close to home," the coach went on. "I think the committee wanted to maintain the integrity of all the leagues and not have a team play another team from its conference until the Frozen Four."
The Frozen Four is scheduled for April 6th and 8th in Providence, and the way the brackets are set up, it could be an all Hockey East finals.
"I am really surprised at our bracket," said assistant captain Chris Heron (Mississauga, ONT). "I really thought we were going out west."
This will mark the first time the Terriers have ever played St. Cloud, and a new opponent brought unanimous response from Heron, captain Tommi Degerman (Helsinki, FIN), assistant captain Carl Corazzini, and head coach Parker.
"Sometimes it is better not to know anything about your opponent," said Heron. "In that way, you can just go out and play your own style of game."
"St. Cloud is going to be a tough opponent," said Corazzini. "I think it's a good thing not to know anything about them so we can go out and stick to our normal game plan."
"You just worry about yourself when you don't know anything about your opponent," said Degerman.
"At this time of the year, it's nice to see new faces," said Parker. "St. Cloud is from a great conference, and they had a terrific year. This should help get us jacked up to play."
Parker feels his team should have another incentive to be ready to play on Saturday.
"It gives us a chance to get the bad taste of how we played on Friday night out of our mouth," said the coach.
"We played so badly on Friday night," said Degerman. "We just didn't come to play, and we didn't work hard."
The two were referring to the Terriers' 4-2 loss to Maine on Friday night (March 17th) in the semifinals of the Hockey East tournament. The Black Bears went on to skate past Boston College, 2-1, on Saturday night in the title game.
"Being in the NCAAs gives us a new life," said Degerman. "We now have bigger goals to shoot for."
Boston University NCAA Tournament Notes
- This is a record 25th appearance in the NCAA's for the Terriers. No school has been to the dance that many times. Minnesota is second with 24. Next, in order, is Michigan with 23, Boston College with 21, and Michigan State with 20.
- This is the 17th time Jack Parker is taking a team to the NCAA's. Michigan State's Ron Mason is making his 20th appearance, but the first three were with Bowling Green.
- This is the 10th time in the last 11 years the Terriers have been invited to the NCAA Tournament.
- This is the 50th anniversary of the Terriers' first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. In 1949-60, the Terriers joined Michigan, Colorado College, and Boston College in Colorado Springs for the third-ever NCAA tournament. The Terriers skated past Michigan, 4-3, in the first game, but lost to Colorado College, 13-4, in the title game.
- Tommi Degerman is the Terriers' leading scorer in the NCAA's The senior right wing has 3 goals in 3 games. None was more significant than the game-winner he scored against Michigan in the 1997 semifinals. Playing against the nation's number-one ranked Wolverines, and the then-defending national champions, B.U. skated to a 3-2 win. Unfortunately, in the title game, they lost to North Dakota, 6-4.
- Terrier coach Jack Parker holds the record for most wins in NCAA tournament play. The veteran coach has 23 victories. His overall record in the tournament is 23-18-0 for a .561 winning percentage.
