SiouxFanInBoston Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 WORCESTER - The Holy Cross hockey team was in new territory yesterday afternoon - gathered 'round the big screen on the lower level of the Hogan Campus Center anxiously awaiting the official announcement of their NCAA Tournament date and destination. The anticipation was great, even though the Crusaders already had a pretty good idea of just whom and where they'd be playing in their first NCAA appearance. The clapping and hollering rang out when ESPN2 confirmed the Crusaders' hunch and revealed Holy Cross would indeed be heading west, to the West Regional that is, in Colorado Springs, Colo., to play North Dakota, the top-ranked team in the country and the No. 1 seed in the 16-team tournament. "I told the guys at 8 o'clock this morning we'd be playing North Dakota, there was no question," HC coach Paul Pearl said. ""We're the 16th seed and they're the first and that's the way it should be." The Crusaders (22-9-4) will face North Dakota (29-7-3) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at World Arena, Colorado College's home rink. Denver and Miami (of Ohio) will play in the second game at 11 p.m. HC will depart on Wednesday and this will actually be the Crusaders' second trip to Colorado Springs this season. They played two games at Air Force in February. Holy Cross earned the automatic NCAA berth by defeating Sacred Heart, 4-0, in the Atlantic Hockey championship Saturday night at Army's Tate Rink. It was HC's second conference tournament title in the last five years. The Crusaders won the inaugural Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tourney final in 1999, but the title did not come with the automatic bid then. The Crusaders, who returned to Worcester after the game on Saturday and celebrated into the wee hours, prominently displayed their Atlantic Hockey championship trophy at yesterday's get-together and wore their ""Atlantic Hockey 2004 champions" hats. "It's incredible," senior defenseman R.J. Irving of Marlboro said. ""Just to see everyone's faces when your name pops up on the screen, it's pretty cool." North Dakota lost to Minnesota in the WCHA final on Saturday, but the loss did nothing to shake the Fighting Sioux' No. 1 standing. North Dakota had won nine straight before the title game defeat. Led by sophomore center Zach Parisi (22-31-53) and junior right wing Brandon Bochenski (26-32-58), both Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalists, the Fighting Sioux top the nation in scoring offense, averaging 4.62 goals a game, and scoring margin (2.41). "Obviously they're real good," said HC senior forward Greg Kealey, the Atlantic Hockey tournament MVP. ""They have skilled players and we're just going to have to play excellent defense. (Goalie) Tony (Quesada) will shut the door and we have to hope we can sneak in a couple of goals. We'll see." There was an outside chance Holy Cross would stay close to home and possibly play Boston College in the Northeast Regional in Manchester, N.H. The Eagles are the top seed in the Northeast, and No. 2 overall, and will play Niagara on Saturday. Maine, which beat UMass in a thrilling triple-overtime Hockey East final, is the top seed in the East (East Albany, N.Y.). Minnesota is the top seed in the Midwest (Grand Rapids, Mich.). The Northeast and East brackets were announced first yesterday, so the Crusaders deduced their fate. "I kind of hoped we'd be playing BC because I know a bunch of kids on the team and it would have been fun," Irving said. ""I don't know much about North Dakota, other than the fact that they have two of the best players in the country. We don't get to see teams from the west that often. It will be great, a great experience." The Crusaders will have their work cut out, but it's a challenge they're looking forward to. "Our main goal was to win our tournament and go to the NCAAs, win a ring for our class and for everybody," Irving said. ""That was the main goal, everything else is just icing on the cake. We'll go out there and that's why we play the games. Maybe we'll take them down. That would be great, but we're just happy." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiouxFanInBoston Posted March 23, 2004 Author Share Posted March 23, 2004 HC fans are also commenting on how they've read the Grand Forks Herald articles and think UND players are not showing HC any respect -- and how they hope the "over-confidence" they think the Sioux have will help HC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinnesotaNorthStar Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 Who is Zach Parisi? Was this another Christmas add like Siembida a few years ago that I missed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siouxhockey03 Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 thanks for posting the article!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwing77 Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 Who is Zach Parisi? Was this another Christmas add like Siembida a few years ago that I missed Parisi is Zach's Sicilian cousin. Connected with the mafioso, ya know? Word has it that the Committee is going to be given an offer they cannot refuse, which in turn will give Zach the Hobey. I think this article, otherwise, is well written. It doesn't belittle either side. It doesn't show up either side. It just shows a Holy Cross team that is elated to be where they are. If I am correct, Holy Cross went from worst to first in the AHA to earn its first NCAA berth. I am actually happy for their accomplishment, but drawing UND is not a great thing. This isn't really NCAA basketball, where 15 or 16 seeds can defeat 1 or 2 seeds without miracles. HC has already far exceeded their expectations and has had an excellent season to this point. Just being in the NCAAs is honor enough. They won't be too upset when we beat them. If they upset: HC for the NC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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