Wednesday, October 13, 2010
BU Wins Warrior Ice Breaker to Kick Off College Hockey Season
St. Louis, Missouri – Four teams from four different conferences took the ice this past weekend to kick off the 2010-11 college hockey season with the Scottrade Center playing host to Boston University, Holy Cross, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin in the annual Ice Breaker Tournament. From highlight reel goals to bone crushing hits, the weekend was full of action.
Friday night featured a doubleheader as Notre Dame led off against Holy Cross and Boston University faced off against Wisconsin in the second game. Notre Dame took the opener 6 – 3 riding the strength of a hat trick by freshman Anders Lee in his first collegiate game to put the Fighting Irish in Sunday’s championship game. Joining Lee to lead the Notre Dame was Senior forward, Ryan Guentzel who chipped in with a three point night as well.
In Friday’s nightcap BU and Wisconsin squared off with each team looking to open their season with a “W”. In front of a crowd of over 6,000, the Warrior Ice Breaker really came to life and the matchup proved to be a great one. While both squads lost a number of last years’ stars to the NHL, it was still the upperclassmen that carried the load. BU’s trio of captains, David Warsofsky, Chris Connolly and Joe Pereira combined to produce all four Terrier goals and catapult BU into the finals.
On Saturday all four teams had the day off and each enjoyed the luxury of attending the St. Louis Blues’ home opener. The Blues faced off against the Stanley Cup finalist, Philadelphia Flyers. The college teams watched from the stands and admired the 20,000 fans wearing blue, hoping that someday, they will take that next step to the National Hockey League. The Blues edged the Flyers in OT 2-1 to cap a spectacular night of hockey.
On Sunday, Wisconsin took the consolation game with a convincing win over Holy Cross that made them 1-1 to start the season. In the Championship game, BU and Notre Dame battled right down to the wire. Freshman from both sides took the stage with 15 newcomers on the ice between the two teams. BU went up 2-1 after one to grab the early lead but in the second, a highlight reel goal from Notre Dame’s Nick Larson off of an unbelievable, through the legs drop pass from TJ Tynan evened the score. It was all tied up in the 3rd when BU’s, Sean Escobedo scored his first collegiate goal with 1:07 on the clock to clinch the Ice Breaker 5 – 4.
At the press conference, Coach Jack Parker was very pleased with his team’s performance but noted “we’re a young team, and it’s a long season.” Coach Parker, who underwent heart surgery this past summer, was happy to be behind the bench to coach his team to two victories to start the season. He also noted “there were a lot of mistakes made in that game, and there was more competition out there than there was display of skill.” That speaks to the infusion of new talent across all of college hockey as well as the return of many exciting veterans.
Overall the 2010-11 Warrior Ice Breaker was a great way to kick off this year’s college hockey season and College Hockey, Inc. would like to thank BU, Holy Cross, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin for making this Warrior Ice Breaker such a tremendous success.