Red Reign: BU Tri-Staters Reflect on Red Hot Hockey
November 27, 2009 | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 27, 2009
Playing in front of 18,200 fans at legendary Madison Square Garden is a surreal adrenalin rush for any college hockey player.
But for those players who grew up following the exploits of the New York Rangers and idolizing their stars, the experience is the fulfillment of many a childhood fantasy. The rivalry between Boston University and Cornell predates the birth of any player who will be playing in Saturday's non-conference matchup in New York City, but its renewal has already provided memories that will be shared with grandchildren some day.
Consider the amazing story of Terrier junior Joe Pereira's first sizzling taste of Red Hot Hockey during his freshman year, two seasons ago. "Growing up, I was always a Ranger fan, always wanted to play for the Rangers, always wanted to play at Madison Square Garden--just like how all the Boston kids here will want to play in the TD Garden," Pereira says.
Pereira earned a place in the starting lineup that year with his speed and high-energy play, and visions danced in his head of skating on the hallowed ice where his childhood heroes--Mike Richter, Brian Leetch, and Mike Gartner--once played.
"Then I had a tough game against Michigan," Pereira calls. "I think I was a neg-three [a minus-three in the plus/minus ratings]. So I got taken out of the lineup for six or seven games."
It looked as if Pereira would experience a Madison Square Garden hockey game as he always had--from the stands. "Then Jason Lawrence separated his shoulder one game before the Red Hot Hockey game," Pereira says. "So finally the coaches said, `This is your chance to step back into the lineup.' As a freshman, it's hard to get a second chance, so you want to take advantage of it. It was my mom's and my brother's birthday on the same day."
The planets seemed to be aligning for the West Haven, Connecticut, native. "Coach told me I was going to be his good-luck charm. Everything just came together." BU staff members remember that Pereira sat alone on the bus from Boston to New York City, talking to himself much of the way in an attempt to pump himself up for a breakout game. "I like to sit by myself and talk, get my confidence going for the game," Pereira admits. "I'm not one of those guys who can play soccer or run around before a game."
Suitably fired up, Pereira went out on the ice. "When I got out there, I had goose bumps. It was crazy--a great experience."
It was about to get much better. Pereira scored his first collegiate goal--and the first goal of the game--in front of over 18,000 people, including 30 or 40 friends and family members. "If you ask Brandon Yip, he said he helped me get the goal," Pereira says, chuckling frequently as he tells the story. "Yip came off the ice because he hurt his shoulder or something--got banged up a bit, so he happened to come off the ice early. Nick Bonino had the puck around the net, and I just flew off the bench and was full speed going right toward the net. Nick fed me the puck right in the slot.
"I don't even know what happened. To be honest with you, I just closed my eyes and shot the puck as hard as I could, and then I heard everybody going nuts. It was crazy. I remember the first person who came to me was Matty Gilroy. And he goes `What did you just do?' I said, `I don't even know.' It was just `Wow, did this really happen?'"
Eighteen seconds later, Pereira proceeded to notch his first collegiate assist. Linemate Luke Popko remembers that one well. Popko grew up in Skillman, New Jersey. Although he was a fan of the Devils growing up, he also had a few dozen friends and family members at the fabled rink that day. Popko is a great penalty killer and face-off specialist, averaging just one goal every 10 games or so over his collegiate career thus far. Getting one at Madison Square Garden was a special memory.
"Joey scored his first goal going out there early, and then Zach Cohen and I were on his line," Popko remembers. "So we get out there, and then I got a goal. Joey was all fired up and going crazy. It was fun scoring there in front of all the friends and family. Goals are few and far between for me, and especially in front of a big crowd with friends and family, it was something extra."
If Popko was a minority when rooting against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, perhaps that ultimately prepared him to play in front of a Red Hot Hockey crowd that was dominated by a large and vocal contingent of Big Red fans.
"Especially growing up around the arena, it's special to play in it--especially when it was one of the Original Six NHL teams," Popko says. "It's a different experience. It was packed two years ago, and I wasn't expecting them to sell it out. It was crazy with the bands going. Cornell's band was real loud. With fans and bands from both schools, I was surprised at how loud it got. It was awesome."
"The atmosphere there was so great," Terrier captain Kevin Shattenkirks says. "When you play in the TD Garden in the Beanpot, you have a mixture of four groups of fans. When we played in Red Hot Hockey, we were supposedly the home team, but I think that there were about 12,000 Cornell fans there. It was a real college setting in a pro rink, so it was a special atmosphere."
Like Pereira, Shattenkirk grew up as a diehard Ranger fan. "Absolutely, yeah," Shattenkirk says. "I just remember the first time I went to a game. I was probably about four or five, and that's when I really fell in love with Bryan Leetch. He was kind of my role model growing up and someone I tried to pattern my game after. I didn't make it to a lot of the games over the years, but I would watch them all the time on the MSG Network, listening to John Davidson and Sam Rosen call the games. So I definitely have a lot of memories with the Rangers."
As a kid growing up in New Rochelle, New York, Shattenkirk also fulfilled a lifelong goal two years ago when playing at his favorite NHL team's rink in Red Hot Hockey. Still, the reality turned out to exceed the fantasy. In fact, that 6-3 win over Cornell proved to be the highlight of an otherwise disappointing season for the 2007-08 Terriers as well as a great life experience for the players.
"It was obviously one of my dreams growing up to play in Madison Square Garden," says the junior defenseman, a draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche. "The first time I stepped on the ice, I don't think any of us knew how many people were really there. I remember going out from the vantage point of being on the ice and taking a peek around. It was something that I'll never forget. The whole game was kind of a blur. It was such a rush to play in that game."
This year, defenseman Sean Escobedo will have a similar experience to Shattenkirk, as the freshman will be playing a collegiate game at Madison Square Garden for the first time. Escobedo will be closer to home than any other Terriers on Saturday night, as he is from the Bayside neighborhood in Queens--just about a 40-minute trip away from the home of the Rangers via public transportation.
Escobedo would have missed this opportunity to play at his favorite rink if not for early departure of Terrier junior Brian Strait after last season. Had Strait stayed on for his senior year, Escobedo would still be playing juniors and awaiting a September 2010 start date at BU. Instead, he is getting jacked up to play in front of about 30 friends and family members on Saturday.
Escobedo also grew up obsessed with the Rangers. "Definitely went to my first Rangers game with my dad and my older brother," says Escobedo. "The whole family are big Ranger fans. The guys I idolized growing up were Bryan Leetch, Adam Graves, and Mike Richter--the guys from the '94 team who brought the Cup back to the City. I was four years old for the parade. I've got the hat still at home. It was pretty cool."
One difference between Escobedo and his older teammates, though, is that he already had the opportunity of playing at Madison Square Garden years before he became a Terrier. "I played youth hockey when I was there as a little kid," says Escobedo. "I played a full game there before a Rangers game when I was nine and then also went out and played during intermission. It was pretty fun. Obviously as a little kid you're just excited to play. Now being older and realizing the whole situation, it's going to be crazy.
"The stakes are higher. It's going to be an intense game. It's pretty surreal; it's going to be an unbelievable feeling."
With the Terriers struggling below .500 due to injuries and inconsistency, this year's Red Hot Hockey game also represents an unbelievable opportunity to obtain a non-conference win against a nationally ranked opponent in Cornell. It also is the first opportunity for this year's team to show that they can match what last year's Terriers always seemed to do when playing on the biggest stages. "It's big," acknowledges Popko. "Not only because of how they stand nationally but Coach always gets real excited because it was a huge rivalry back when he was playing and into the `70s. He gets real excited about it, and it carries over to us, too."
In the young but hopefully continuing tradition of Red Hot Hockey, we'll have to see if other improbable heroes arise on Saturday night. Cornell has a strong team but not a single player who grew up in Ranger country---or anywhere in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut, for that matter. Perhaps BU's tri-state players will continue to be a good-luck charm as the Terriers attempt to prolong their red reign.
Scott Weighart is a Senior Writer for US College Hockey Online and author of Burn The Boats: A Seven-Championship Season For Boston University Hockey. The book can be purchased at Agganis Arena, the BU Bookstore, and online at www.buhockeybook.com. A portion of each sale goes directly to the BU hockey program.
