Terriers Freeze Out Eagles
Fenway Park is packed, with not a bat in sight
Move your cursor over the image above for a 360 degree view of Fenway Park on a hockey Friday night. See images from the game below.
In a game already being called a classic, Boston University, skating in the shadow of Fenway Park’s Green Monster, needed all of an early 3-0 lead to beat archrival Boston College, 3-2, Friday night. Played in front of 38,472 fans, reportedly the largest crowd ever to witness a college hockey game in the eastern United States, it was the first outdoor game the Terriers have skated in more than 50 years.
The ambiance of Fenway, and the novelty of seeing hockey sticks rather than baseball bats in action inside the historic park, created a dynamic setting. The game lived up.
David Warsofsky (CGS’10), fresh from winning a gold medal with Team USA at the World Junior Championships in Canada, opened the scoring for the Terriers in the first period, celebrating in a Fenway-appropriate way: wheeling away from the blue line, he swung his stick like Dustin Pedroia taking a cut at a fastball. The crowd roared.
Terrier fans had more to cheer about in the second period, when goals by Joe Pereira (CAS’11) and freshman Wade Megan opened up a 3-0 lead. But the Eagles clawed back in the third, closing to within one and then pulling their goalie with less than a minute to play. The Terriers, who benefited from that strategy in dramatic fashion to win the NCAA championship last season, staved off the final rushes to emerge victorious.
After a rugged first half of the season, winning only 4 and tying 3 of their first 16 games, the Terriers have come out swinging, beating the University of Massachusetts on January 2 and now Boston College. The Eagles, ranked in the top 10 nationally, dropped to 10-6-2. The Terriers next play on Friday, January 15, against the Providence College Friars, in Providence.
Although billed as a one-time event, hockey at Fenway, usually dormant come winter, has proven so popular that there is clamor for more, some even calling for moving the Beanpot, the annual classic pitting BU, BC, Northeastern, and Harvard (won by BU 29 of 57 times), now played at the TD Garden. Few expect that to happen — great as the Fenway setting is, hockey sightlines are far from optimal.
But a return outdoor engagement? Likely.
Edward A. Brown can be reached at ebrown@bu.edu. Seth Rolbein can be reached at srolbein@bu.edu. Vernon Doucette can be reached at vdoucett@bu.edu.
Comments & Discussion
Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.