New Article on Holy Cross (from Boston Herald)

[SiouxFanInBoston]

Holy Cross takes it from top

By John Connolly (Boston Herald)

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

The journey sometimes exceeds the end result.

A Cinderella season in which the Holy Cross hockey team qualified for

a first-ever berth in the NCAA Division 1 tournament began with a 7-1

exhibition win over St. Nick's of Manhattan. St. Nick's once featured the

considerable talents of legendary Hobart Amory Hare ``Hobey'' Baker, after

whom college hockey's most prestigious prize is named.

The storybook ride gets even better Friday night (7:30) in Colorado

Springs, Colo., when the fourth-seeded Crusaders (22-9-4) play top-seeded

North Dakota (29-7-3) in a West Regional contest.

``We'll see what we can do out there,'' said Holy Cross coach Paul

Pearl, a Winthrop native and ex-Crusaders player. ``We're in a fact-finding

mode. Obviously, we know what everyone else knows (about North Dakota).

They have some future NHLers on their team.''

The Fighting Sioux are led by junior forward Brandon Bochenski (26

goals, 21 assists), sophomore forward Zach Parise (22 goals, 31 assists),

freshman forward Brady Murray (19 goals, 25 assists), junior blueliner Nick

Fuher (10 goals, 15 assists), and the goaltending tandem of junior Jake

Brandt (16-4-0, 2.25 GAA, .906 SP) and freshman Jordan Parise (13-3-3, 2.21

GAA, .903 SP). The Parise brothers hail from Faribault, Minn., the same

hometown that spawned Boston College star siblings Ben and Patrick Eaves.

The Parise's are the sons of ex-Bruins and Minnesota North Stars skater

J.P. Parise.

``We just have to defend well,'' Pearl said of a Fighting Sioux

offense that has rung up 179 goals in 39 games this season (4.5 average).

The Crusaders face the monumental task of trying to unseat the

top-seeded team in the entire tournament. Pearl believes the tournament

will soon see a top seed fall in the first round, and he hopes it happens

this weekend.

``Absolutely, it can be done,'' Pearl said. ``Why not us?''

Holy Cross arrived at the coveted tourney by dispatching Sacred Heart,

4-0, behind a pair of goals by junior forward Andrew McKay and 28 saves by

sophomore goalkeeper Tony Quesada to capture the Atlantic Hockey

Association tournament title. That earned the Crusaders the league's

automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

``We played about as well as any team I've had before,'' Pearl said of

the victory over the Pioneers.

Holy Cross was buoyed by huge crowd support at the AHA championship

game played at Army's Tate Rink.

``We had 500 people come on buses and then about another 300 people

come on their own,'' Pearl said. ``It was an excellent turnout.''

[redwing77]

Well written article. This newspaper even spelled Parise right. And, unlike HB.com, got his year correct too.

For an article that was meant to cover Holy Cross, it certainly does give justice to UND. Coach Pearl definitely has the right mindset as far as I can tell. He wants to find out where his team stands next to a truly big time team like UND. I also think he is excited because of all of UND's hype and the fact that his team rarely sees any action against western teams. New experiences can always be a good experience win or lose. Who knows, with all these Tier I and Tier II Junior A teams in the midwest (NAHL and USHL for example), perhaps this trip to CC may be good for recruiting purposes.