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Back to Class: A WCHA referee shut down an airport with a “bomb joke”

By Joe YerdonOct 15, 2012, 7:30 AM EDT
2 Comments

 We’re taking you “Back To Class” for our roundup of the weekend’s action in college hockey. Look for more college hockey on NBCSN on November 16 as Cornell takes on Harvard. 

One of the big trips in college hockey is when teams and officials have to fly the friendly skies for a weekend set in Alaska. For WCHA referee Peter Friesma, he found out that making a joke about a bomb being in a bag while “perhaps an effort to be funny or flirtatious” isn’t cool to do while in an airport as the Anchorage Daily News reports.

“But my friend’s bag has a bomb in it,” the agent remembers him saying, according to a charging document. He recounted it to authorities slightly differently, more to the effect of “what if my friend’s bag has a bomb in it?”

File that away under “failed pick-up lines that could land you in jail for a long time.” At the very least he’ll have an even better story to try and flirt when on the road.

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Upsets of the week: It started on Thursday night with RIT coming back from a 4-2 deficit against No. 3 Michigan to shock the Wolverines 5-4 in overtime. On Friday, it was Rensselaer beating No. 11 Ferris State 3-1, last year’s national championship runner-up, and then tying them 2-2 on Saturday. Finally, Hockey East saw Northeastern upset No. 1 Boston College on Saturday night 3-1.

Welcome to the big leagues: Penn State’s Division I campaign got off to a tough start on Friday losing 3-2 in overtime to lowly American International but things changed for the better on Saturday. The Nittany Lions earned the programs first win with a 4-3 overtime victory in front of a sold out crowd. Coach Guy Gadowsky, the former head man at Princeton, is going to do big things there.

Disappointment of the week: St. Cloud State getting swept on the road by New Hampshire isn’t becoming of a team that has hopes of winning the WCHA and making noise in the tournament. UNH isn’t a bad team and having the home ice advantage helps, but St. Cloud is better than that.

Back to Class: Boston College was just too good

By Joe YerdonApr 9, 2012, 7:49 AM EDT
6 Comments

We’re taking you “Back To Class” for our roundup of the final weekend of action in college hockey this season. Look for more college hockey action next season on NBCSN. 

If you’re the type to fill out brackets for the NCAA men’s hockey tournament and you picked Boston College to go all the way, you were a very smart person. Sure, picking chalk doesn’t do much for thrills and excitement, but when it comes to the tournament, there’s no coach better at finishing the job than Jerry York.

York won his fifth national championship, fourth time with Boston College, on Saturday as BC handily disposed of a very game Ferris State squad 4-1. Yes, Ferris State was within a goal of tying things up as late as four minutes left in the game, but the Eagles did what they always seem to do under York’s leadership: They finished the job and skated away with the glory.

Shining through all of it was Calgary Flames prospect Johnny Gaudreau whose late third period goal was the highlight-reel icing on the cake for BC. Gaudreau along with goalie Parker Milner (pictured) stole the show and gave York yet another jewel in his crown as college hockey’s best coach.

source: Getty ImagesWhat’s amazing is that York’s teams have been a fixture in the tournament since he got to Chestnut Hill in 1994 and he’s only been named national coach of the year once in his career. I think he’ll take the four titles at BC over personal accolades just fine, but watching the teams he assembles continue to get it done in big spots is incredible.

It makes life a little easier having future NHLers like defenseman Brian Dumoulin (Carolina prospect and future NHL stud) and forward Chris Kreider (Rangers) and Bill Arnold (Calgary), but ultimately it’s what York does to bring it all together.

Sure Ferris State, Minnesota, and Union College all came into the Frozen Four on even ground with equal chances to take home the title, but with York leading the Eagles everyone else was starting at a disadvantage thanks to his success and experience at this level.

The lesson from this tournament, as always, is that when Boston College comes in on fire (BC closed the season on a 19-game winning streak) it’s going to take an extraordinary effort to knock them off. While the other three Frozen Four teams had great runs into the national semifinals, BC’s destiny wasn’t going to be interrupted by anyone.