Jack Parker Quotations

More important than anything else, it's BC and it's always great to beat them.

Give John Curry a lot of credit for being what we expect him to be. A guy who can win a game for us when we're not playing at the top of our game.

But these guys ... they were fine. They didn't play like they had butterflies. They may have had them, but it didn't show.

BC is the favorite, ... They're the only one that has a winning record against everybody else ... I do believe they're the best team in the nation, not just the best team in the league.

BC jumped their game up a notch or two. In every other game we played them, I believe we controlled a lot of the game. We didn't control any of this game. We were a step behind.

To enjoy the evening tonight, getting the championship, and getting it in the style we did down the stretch here is very nice. I really didn't think anybody was gonna catch BC. We just kept winning, which was nice, and we got some help. BC has not played poorly, they've played well. But the other teams have risen to the occasion.

We're playing well. Whether you're playing at home or on the road, if you're playing technically sound with a lot of emotion, you've got a chance to win.

He couldn't make a pass or shoot a puck. If this wasn't his senior year, if he was a junior, we probably wouldn't have played him this weekend. I didn't want to miss what could have been, at any moment, his last game.

I always tell our players I know I can't make you creative, but I also know I can take your creativity away by making you feel like you have to play like a robot. I don't want to do that. So I'm glad MacArthur made that move at the blue line.

He was a little taken aback a little bit at the beginning of the year confidence-wise and playing people in the corners and controlling people the way he can now. But he gave us a good freshman year. It wasn't like he wasn't ready to play. And he's gotten better and better as it's gone along.

He's been playing very well since then -- he wasn't getting numbers but he was playing well. I thought he wasn't moving his feet, I thought he was being too cute, too clever. And he is pretty clever, but his game is skate first because that's what you have to do in this league, and I think there's no question that he's been playing much better.

He's a senior with a lot of experience, he gives us a physical presence and he's a real good skater. And all of that was missing in his first four or five games before he came to me and told me, 'I can't play, I don't know what's going on with me, I can't play.' He was playing so poorly I would have benched him pretty soon anyway.

He gets banged up otherwise, too - he plays so hard. So he missed one practice because his ankle was bothering him, not so much his side was killing him. In general, I think he's as close to 100 percent as he's gonna be until he has his operation, and I think that's plenty good enough. He's playing very, very well.

He earned some time tonight, that's for sure. He's obviously back in the mix.

We're probably the only team that has a chance at catching BC, but it's probably not going to happen. There are still too many points to make up ... and a whole bunch of teams have a chance at home-ice: BU, Providence, UNH, Vermont and Maine - there's five teams going for the other three spots. It's a battle.

I thought he was our best player. He moved the puck well, he made some real clever passes. He also made some plays where he was getting in himself, using his own speed.

I think everybody thought that this might be a down year for them because they were playing so many younger kids, but they're getting fabulous goaltending and their upperclassmen are playing very well. They've had a terrific run.

I thought getting that first goal helped us get jacked up a bit.

I thought we played our best hockey both nights in the third period. I thought we played a better game last night than we did tonight, but we come back and wound up finding a way to win without folding once they got the tying goal again.

I thought that kind of just took the wind right out of their sails. All the sudden, they got momentum, they're going pretty well, and now, bang, we get a power play goal against a team that's been killing penalties great all year.

Most of the game we moved the puck very well. When we support the puck well and make 15-20 foot passes instead of trying to make 35-40 foot passes, we really look like a smart passing team.

We've had good years, we've been in the finals, ... It's a hard tournament to win. It's a hard tournament to get to. So we're here, let's take advantage of it.

We're gonna go on a losing streak, too, because that's the way this league is. It's difficult to be sharp for a long period of time. I understand that. I'm not thinking everybody should be perfect. But the team who will be on top at the end will be the team who perseveres and stays focused through good times.

The question is, what's gonna make this better than last year? The only thing that can make it better is to somehow win a championship in these next two tournaments.

When he came back here, he loved to look up his old friends. He made a point to do that.

We think we have a very competitive club in a very competitive league. I think our strengths will be in goal and our defense.

We're in very good shape as far as skill, experience and skating ability there.

The Tom Anderson 'Atom' has been the driving force for this record. It has been used on 75% of the songs, and that's a conservative estimate.

We were dominated. At no time were we in this game.

The second period was one of our best periods of college hockey in a long, long time. It has to be that good to hold BC to the number of shots we held them to.

It was almost surreal. They came so quick.

Both games are huge for us. We've kind of climbed out of the back seat and into the driver's seat a little bit as far as home-ice advantage is concerned in our league, and a chance to make the national tournament on our own merits. This will make a big statement for us.

No question in my mind, he saved his best year for his senior year. He's got a good chance of making All-American the way he's going.

something like 15 or 20 is not too far of a reach for those guys.

As of yesterday, I was sure he wasn't gonna play.

There's gonna be a good fight for that position. John's got the step up on everybody else, that's for sure, after what he did last year, but there's certainly no guaranteeing him the job, number one, and there's no guaranteeing that he won't be sharing it with somebody, too.

Your safety's in question no matter where you are. You just learn to avoid the alleys.

I'm not surprised. It's just a matter of time before big-city crime happens here.

That might be the best run we've ever had since the '78 team.

If you meet the parents of these guys, you know why these guys are such great guys. Really nice people, really know how to keep things in perspective. No big egos, nobody worrying about 'What about my kid? What about my kid's ice time?' That plays right to the kids.

It was a great college hockey game. The emotions were great.

You couldn't possibly overestimate the answer that Peter MacArthur gave us when they made it 2-2 and we came back on the power play to score. That thing took the wind right of their sails. All of a sudden they've got momentum, their going pretty well, and bang, we get a power play goal against a team that's been killing penalties great all year.

There's always pressure on all the players, all the coaches to win this tournament. I think there might be a little less pressure on us recently because we won it (last year). It's not like we haven't won it in five years and we got to get going here. So I don't really think it's that big an effect. It's a new team every year. It's a new tournament every year. It's two games. Anybody can win it. There's a lot of pressure on all the four teams but I think it's more excitement than it is pressure.

Being raised in the city, you're able to spot people who are part of your area.