Friday night wont be Matt Grzelcyks first game against rival Boston College as a member of the Boston University Terriers hockey team.
But it will be the most important one, of course.
The freshman defenseman from Charlestown, Mass. potted a goal in his first meeting against the Eagles, a 4-2 loss for BU, two weeks ago at Agganis Arena. In fact, Boston College has only one loss on the season to Northeastern all the way back in the middle of October, but has otherwise dominated their competition for two months.
The Terriers will once again host the arch-rival Eagles at Agganis on Friday night in a game broadcast on NBCSN, and will try to knock the BC birds off their pedestal.
But this time theyll be looking to postpone BC head coach Jerry Yorks brush with history as well.
York needs just one more win to pull into a tie with longtime Michigan State head coach Ron Mason as the most successful hockey coach in collegiate history with 924 career victories. It would also be pretty sweet for the legendary Eagles coach to pull it off against his good friend, Terriers head coach Jack Parker.
Parker is no slouch with his 883 career victoriesthe second-most among active college hockey coaches behind Yorkbut it will be the dean of Boston College hockey holding sole possession of the collegiate record if he can capture both ends of the home-and-home weekend series against Boston University.
So theres a lot on the line for an 18-year-old kid like Grzelcyk, who has lived a charmed life over the last two years while skating with the US National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. before getting drafted by the Bruins in the third round last summer. Now he finds himself ready to suit up for a hotly contested weekend series between household hockey names like York and Parker that he grew up holding in special puck reverence.
Thats pretty heady stuff for a Townie kid that grew up in the shadows of TD Garden, but never made it to Beanpot games despite his fathers standing as a longtime member of the Garden bull gang. Whether or not hed seen the BUBC rivalry with his own eyes as an impressionable youth, Grzelcyk knew it was something he wanted to be a part of.
Thats why you come to a school like Boston University, said Grzelcyk. You get to be part of that BCBU rivalry, you get to play in the Beanpot and you get a chance to play on one of the biggest stages in college hockey. Its the kind of thing you dream about as a kid growing up in Boston.
Grzelcyk will no doubt factor into the big BUBC weekend after putting up 10 points (1 goal, 9 assists) in the first 11 games of his college hockey career. Thats not too shabby for a frosh blueliner, but there will be stars for the teams at both ends of the ice. Forwards Cason Hohmann and Wade Regan are both point-per-game players for the Terriers while freshman goaltender Matt OConnor is 5-2 with an impressive 1.90 goals against average and a .939 save percentage.
Meanwhile sophomore Calgary Flames draft pick Johnny Gaudreau has electrified the Heights with 19 points (9 goals, 10 assists) in 11 games, and trails only UNHs Kevin Goumas for the Hockey East scoring lead. Gaudreau is joined on the Eagles offensive attack by Pat Mullane, Steven Whitney and Bill Arnold for the first-ranked and explosive Eagles unit. Senior BC goaltender Parker Milner was an invitee to the Bruins prospect development camp this summer at Ristuccia Arena, and is 10-1 with a .926 save percentage and a 2.06 goals against average for the Eagles.
So while the focus will certainly be trained on York and his pursuit of college hockey excellence and Bruins fans might even tune in to get their first extended look at Grzelcyk, this weekends two-game series is about much more than that. Its about the No. 1 ranked Eagles facing down the No. 9 Terriers in a Battle of Commonwealth Ave that hockey purists hope can simply keep going on forever.