York Talks BC's National Title Hopes
BOSTON (CBS) - The Boston College Eagles look to make it two straight National Championships when they being their run in the NCAA Hockey Tournament next weekend.
For the Eagle's, the only talk this season has been of a repeat.
"There's been no 'We won one last year, let's kind of take a year off.' It's always been right from October, 'Hey let's go win another one,'" head coach Jerry York said on WBZ-TV's Sports Final Sunday night.
BC Hockey Coach Jerry York Joins Dan Roche On Sports Final OT
The Eagles beat Merrimack 5-3 Saturday night to capture the Hockey East title, and are now heading to the NCAA Tournament ranked third overall. They were named a one-seed in the West Region, and will take on Colorado Friday night at 9:00 p.m. BC was led by Junior forward Cam Atkinson, who scored his team leading 30th goal of the season against Merrimack. Atkinson is a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to college hockey's best player.
Read: BC Wins Hockey East
The Eagles finished the season 30-7-1 and have won eight straight heading into the tournament. It will be their 30th NCAA Tournament appearance and 12th under York.
Read: BC, 3 Others Reveive Top Seeds In NCAA Tournament
Early in the season the Eagles got a visit from Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, a visit York said left a big impression on his team.
"Like he said, 'I might not know a lot about hockey guys, but I know a little bit about winning and forming teams,'" York recalled. "Then he went on talking about those characteristics, how you get a team focused. I remember Joe Whitney, our captain, asked, 'Coach, we won a championship last year, how do we go about winning it this year?' and he said, 'Hey, one day at a time. Just try to be better tomorrow than you were today. Next week you'll be better than you were this week. Just focus short term.' Outstanding thoughts he had."
