Owen Kitzan – Sports Editor

While many went home or took time to catch up on school work over the march break, the BU Club Hockey team had the opportunity to play in the national tournament. The tournament took place from Mar. 6 through 17 in Jacksonville, Florida. Bishop’s entered as one of only two Canadian teams, with a ranking of first amongst the 12 teams invited to the tournament.

Image courtesy of BU Club Hockey Team

To get to Jacksonville the team opted for lengthy travel by bus as opposed to flying due to budgeting purposes. The trip is over twenty straight hours of driving from Sherbrooke, not accounting for necessary breaks for the driver and players at various points throughout the nearly continuous drive. I had the chance to ask graduating players, assistant captain Jack McGowan and goaltender Jack McFarland about their experience on such a long bus ride and how it compared to flying the year prior. The consensus from the two was that while obviously being on a bus is a much longer trip down than the flight, the time spent amongst teammates in such a close space created a set of memories that wouldn’t be possible on a plane. 

After the drive, the team had one rest/practice day, an opportunity for players to stretch out any stiffness from the time spent on the bus, as well as get a feel for the ice before the tournament got under way. Many players also took this day as an opportunity to get some school work done before much of their time would be spent in a rink.

As the first ranked team, Bishop’s took on the lowest ranked team, which happened to be the Elon University Hockey Club, a team based out of North Carolina. BU gave rookie goaltender Nicolas Hallé-Tanco the start in net to kick things off. Game one showed why Bishop’s was ranked so highly, as they steamrolled Elon 9-2. Jack Knox potted a hat-trick along with an assist to cap off an impressive four-point game.

Game two determined whether the team would need to play two or three games to reach the finals. The team’s matchup was number eight ranked Suny Cortland, a team located in the state of New York. Second year netminder Antimmes Leudières got the chance to play, having also played in multiple games the year prior in Jacksonville. Through the first two periods Bishop’s lacked some discipline which led to them being shorthanded for large periods. A late comeback in the third period, marked by an early whistle on a potential Marc Lagacé goal, as well as a controversial last-second play by a Suny Cortland defenseman to grab Liam Harpin’s stick with his hands to negate a last-second tying goal for BU. The team would fall 4-3 and require an extra game if they wanted to punch a bid to the finals.

Looking to bounce back from the day prior, the team took on a familiar opponent, number ten ranked Paul Smiths College, a small university in New York. Jack McFarland was locked in for Bishop’s in this affair, as he would post the only shutout for the team in this year’s Nationals run with a 6-0 victory. Jordan Waite notched two goals in this one to help lead the way in scoring along with the excellent job in net.

Their quarter-final matchup took place against the only other Canadian team in the tournament, number seven ranked St. Redeemer University from Ancaster Ontario. The boys showed who was the better team to represent the flag going forward despite an early 7 a.m. start, as they put up a massive 9-2 victory. Nicolas Hallé-Tanco once again secured the win in the crease, while Liam Harpin and Jordan Waite led with three points each.

That victory slotted them in for a second game of the day not much later in the afternoon against Suny Brockport, another New York based school. Antimmes Leudières backed up the team once again for the semi-final matchup in what became a heated affair. In the second period, for the second straight year, the Brockport goalie would receive a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for spearing a Bishop’s player. The team used that momentum to propel them to a 5-2 lead late in the third period when Brockport decided to get chippy once again. They would post six more major penalties leading to ejections on their roster in the final three minutes of play before deciding to berate and attack some Bishop’s fans. With that the refs decided the game was over with where it was and let the clock run out to send BU to the finals.

Another familiar foe awaited them in the finals as the second ranked Anna Maria Bobcats stood across them one final time this season. Bishop’s looked to rookie netminder Nicolas Hallé-Tanco to lead the way in net, having already won two games for them in the tournament. Bishop’s jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second period off a first period powerplay goal by Fred Grenon, and a quick strike on the forecheck from Vincent Dionne to begin the second. 

Nearing the end of the period during a Bishop’s powerplay, an incident occurred that would ultimately shape the final outcome of the game. Another spearing play, this time by an Anna Maria defenseman, would go uncalled despite being noticed by an on-ice official. That same Anna Maria player would then proceed to score a goal a few seconds later off another controversial call made by referees. They ruled the player involved in the spearing be assessed a five-minute penalty and game misconduct, but allowed the goal he had scored post penalty to stand, with the explanation being that they hadn’t called it during live play. The video review process to determine this was a lengthy procedure and took the wind out of Bishop’s sails, as well as causing their players to begin to become tired as adrenaline began to wear off from inactivity. With the goal being allowed to stand, the team took to the powerplay once again, where an unfortunate turn of events led to the Bobcats tying the game up late in the second period. 

The third period resumed with the score tied at two apiece and BU looking to capitalize on their remaining powerplay. Sadly the boys simply ran out of gas, with the extra game played including back to back games the day prior showing its effects in the final frame. Sadly Anna Maria would go on to pot three more goals including an empty-netter late to put an end to Bishop’s magical run with a score of 5-2.

While this brought an unfortunate end to the BU Club Hockey team’s season, the team still managed to achieve new highs this year. The team would like to thank all of the fans, students, alumni and faculty who made this season possible for them. Until next year BU Club Hockey fans!