Looking Out
Members of maybe "the best team ever" bask in the revelry
Click above to see the players, and how they saw it.
It was an epic odyssey. Now the heroes are home.
No, this is not a quote from Homer — unless the great bard wrote about hockey. The heroic crew is the BU men’s team, who are bringing just about every available piece of championship silverware with them to a celebration parade up Comm Ave. From aboard Duck Tour vehicles, surrounded by “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” BU’s skaters hoist their trophies and marvel at the wildly enthusiastic crowd.
“Holy —-, look at all these people!” one senior calls out.
“All these people are here for us?” another player asks.
They aren’t the only ones impressed. The lead duck boat driver, who goes by the moniker Jet Black, also drove lead when the Celtics’ championship parade wound through the city last June. “I swear,” he says, “there are just about as many people here for this team as for the Celtics.”
“Wave! Show ’em the trophies!” the team’s coaches remind the players as they proceed along the avenue toward Marsh Plaza.
The fans are adoring, the love mutual. Senior cocaptain John McCarthy (CAS’09) thanks everyone for the never-say-die attitude, while hoarse-but-happy Hobey Baker Award–winner Matt Gilroy (MET’09) seconds that as best he can. “I don’t have a voice left, and I haven’t slept in a while,” he cracks.
The six seniors on the team each carry one of six championship trophies to the stage, with the Beanpot and the National held out for last. Coach Jack Parker, never one for hyperbole, nevertheless asserts that this could well be the greatest team he has ever coached — coming from one of the three winningest hockey coaches in college history, that’s saying something. But in typical Parker fashion, he harkens back to academics. “To the professors,” he calls from the podium, “I promise, they’ll be back [in class] tomorrow.”
Maybe, maybe not. Because the throng is also invited by Gilroy to meet at 973 Commonwealth to keep on celebrating. And so as red, white, and blue confetti falls (green too, as in biodegradable) and plenty of cake and ice cream dispensed, Comm Ave slowly clears, but the party doesn’t stop. It’s officially Terrier Day in the City of Boston, after all — Mayor Thomas Menino (Hon.’01) says so, and a day lasts a lot more than one hour — even if that hour is one that no one on this hockey team, or their friends, family, and fans, will ever forget.
Edward A. Brown can be reached at ebrown@bu.edu.
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