Reason #5
Reason #4
Reason #3
Reason #2
Today is the first day of October which only means one thing - college hockey season is here. Yesterday the women's ice hockey team played their first exhibition game vs McGill and from what I hear killed it. This weekend they go at it again vs Newton University and then the men's ice hockey team takes the ice for the first time.
After a rough year last year and an a-typical offseason, some Terrier fans needed to be reminded why the start of the men's ice hockey season was a good thing. Over the summer I started giving people my reasons to be excited for the season in hopes to show them. But it all comes down to this post - the number one reason.
This is Boston University Men's Ice Hockey.
You can knock this program down all you want. You can say the kids aren't the same, the coaches aren't the same, the rink isn't the same. You can stop buying tickets, stop supporting, stop watching. But this program will always remain one of the absolute best in college hockey. One thing you can't deny is BU hockey's storied history.
We have five NCAA Tournament Championships. That's five times we have been able to call ourselves the best. Even if you take those away, it's still obvious just how dominant this program is. 29 Beanpot wins, 21 Frozen Four appearances, 12 conference tournament championships, two Hobey Baker Winners. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
We have state of the art facilites. The team is well equipped to work hard and play hard. Agganis Arena is a beautiful place to play and yes, a comfortable place to watch. Everyone knows about us and everyone fears us.
But it's what's underneath that's even more important.
This is Boston's team. Boston's only team. BC doesn't count, Northeastern doesn't count, Harvard doesn't count. We play in the city and we represent the city. In the end, we're a Boston team through and through with a coach that swears too much and a team that jokes around a lot. We work hard and we play hard. We make mistakes, yes, but we also make history.
The biggest part of this is the connection between the team and the fans, this sport and the fans. Boston University men's ice hockey means something different to everyone who watches them. To some it's just a team to cover, another team in the college hockey world. To others, it's everything from something to do on a Friday night to something that breaks your heart or gives you joy day in or day out. And sometimes we can all forget that.
In Massachusetts, in Boston, at BU, hockey isn't just a sport. It's what brings us together and what defines us. It's not just about who wins or loses but about the pure joy you get out of watching some guys skate around a rink. The Dog Pound, alumni, families - we all watch this sport to come together and to be apart of something bigger than us.
And yeah, there is a difference between the fans and the players. They put on the jersey because they have to. They may want to do it more than anything they've ever wanted in their life, or it may be just a backup option. But each and every one of us puts that jersey on because we want to, because we need to. We chose to wear it because we want to make a mark on this program just as much as the players do.
This program gave us people to look up to, whether it was Jack O'Callahan or Mike Eruzione, Chris Drury or Travis Roy, Kieran Millan or Matt Gilroy. Those people exist and are as much of BU hockey as the guy who wore the number 10 last year. And face it, in idolizing these people, we get to learn more about ourselves. Some of us find a role model on the ice, some of us off of it. For some of us, thinking of these people makes us think of the way we felt when we first skated on a patch of ice. For others of us, it reminds us why Boston University is the best institution we'll ever attend. And I don't know about you - but nobody messes with the places I love.
So if you're as fed up as I am by Googling "Boston University hockey" and getting nothing but degrading articles, you should be as excited for this season as I am. Excited to get back at it and once again prove to everyone why BU is one of the best. Working hard and exceeding expectations is just what this school and this team do. And if anyone wants to be a hater, let them. It just serves as more motivation to defend ourselves as Terriers. And by defending ourselves as Terriers, we can help prove why this program is as storied as is it.
Get your jersey ready. Canada comes to town in less than a week and showing Canadians we can beat them at their own game (literally) seems like a good way to kick off yet another season of BU men's ice hockey domination.
6 days.
