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As difficult as it is to admit this in print, I cannot tell a lie. A part of me was hoping that – gulp – Boston College would bring home the national championship in the Frozen Four finals last weekend.
You’re probably thinking, what do you mean “bring home?” Home is Orono, not Chestnut Hill, and those dastardly, despicable Eagles would’ve only brought the title to Orono to rub it in our face and gloat.
Alas, the home I refer to is a second home, of sorts, and a much bigger one: Hockey East.
There’s only one thing in this world that makes me more sick and tired than the popped-collar society at BC, and that just happens to be the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
I’ve had it up to here with the mighty WCHA, home of Minnesota, North Dakota, Denver, Colorado College and your national champion Wisconsin Badgers. As a matter of fact, and as every college hockey fan west of the Mississippi will be sure to remind you 100 times over the course of a conversation, the WCHA has claimed the last five men’s hockey national titles and every single women’s national title ever.
The West even allows the American Hockey Coaches Association to split its All-America teams into East and West to let our inferior players garner some honors, too.
Western players are better, Western teams are better, Western fans are better, Western games are more fun to attend and the baked potatoes and hot dogs taste better out West.
Gag me.
The WCHA’s superiority complex is sickening and I wanted it ended, even if it did mean Boston College got a few bragging rights.
So they’ve gotten a few bounces in national championship games, big deal. UMaine and BC could easily have two or three titles each in the last eight years, which is what we’ll work with here since that’s the Black Bears’ current consecutive tournaments reached streak. By the way, no team in the WCHA can lay claim to eight straight tourney berths.
Since 1999, Hockey East’s crowning moment with three teams in the Frozen Four, the conference has hogged 13 of the 32 berths in the Big Show, compared to 12 for the WCHA.
How do you measure success? With that many Frozen Four competitors, you’d think Hockey East could bring home some hardware, right? Just like UMaine, the entire conference has been hamstrung with bad puck luck in the penultimate game. When Frozen Fours become routine, lack of championship rings start to make it look like you’re not succeeding. But placing that many teams in the Finals, year in and year out, is still remarkable.
It doesn’t matter, though. What matters is hardware. Just ask the Atlanta Braves. Getting to the show means nothing if you’re not the star. Hockey East is the bridesmaid, and the WCHA always ends up with the golden ring off the little boy’s pillow. If you’ve ever seen a bad romantic comedy, you know the girl who’s a bridesmaid at every wedding is only one thing – miserable.
Misery I wanted to escape last weekend, when everyone on the planet thought North Dakota would challenge Wisconsin in the title game. I wanted UMaine and BC to stick it to the West. The Hockey Gods had other plans for the Black Bears, but a big part of me took pleasure in watching BC build a 6-3 lead on the mighty Sioux. Another, smaller part of me would’ve been thrilled to see 18,000 Badgers fans go home in despair, and 50 pro-WCHA media pundits wonder how the East managed a championship. I figure misery loves company.
That’s why I’m making a radical proposal: From now on, let’s root for one another. From now on, I hope every other Hockey East team, from hated UNH all the way down to Merrimack, goes undefeated in their non-conference schedules. No more cheering in the Alfond when UNH trails Michigan after two.
Next year, as only college hockey can provide, we’ll have rematches of the Frozen Four as UMaine visits North Dakota and Wisconsin hosts BC. We know the Black Bears and their fans will have revenge in their minds after the Alfond sweep two years ago. But let’s not stop there. Let’s make it a clean sweep for the East. Let’s say something we’ve never said before: Go Eagles.
