It was January 21, 2006, and the men’s ice hockey team had just defeated the University of Vermont, 3–0, setting themselves up for a first-place national ranking. Chris Collins ’06 was leading the nation in goals, and expectations were rising for a team that included 10 freshmen and that was supposed to be in training for a serious championship run the following year. “I just have this feeling about this team right now,” Coach Jerry York said that night, alone in a Conte Forum hallway long after the crowd, the players, and the other coaches had gone home. “I just think that they are meshing and finally putting their best work in on the ice.”

Ben Ferriero ’09 and Joe Rooney ’07. Photograph: John Quakenbos

It was not to be. January was the best of times for BC in the regular season. But then came the worst of times: a 1-5-1 finish and a free fall out of the rankings. In the end, there was no Beanpot trophy, no Hockey East season championship or tournament title; and a 2-4 record against hometown rival Boston University. And while the second win against BU put BC in Milwaukee for the Frozen Four tournament, where two wins would have erased all prior disappointments, BC could only muster one, 6–5, over the University of North Dakota, before falling to the University of Wisconsin, 2–1, in the national championship game.

“There were definitely highs and lows throughout the season. There was the point when we were Number One, and then we hit the brick wall,” York said after the team returned from Milwaukee. “But I don’t think we would have made it to the Frozen Four if we had not fallen back down to earth like that. That allowed us to re-evaluate where we were as players and as a team. It was a learning experience for all classes on the team.” It was also a great season for two players: Collins, who finished with 34 goals and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, ice hockey’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy; and Cory Schneider ’08, who became BC’s first All-American first-team goaltender in the 49 years that the American Hockey Coaches Association has voted for All-American teams. Schneider also set a BC season shutout mark with eight, and broke the team record of saves-in-season (1,048, held by Scott Gordon ’86), with 1,088 saves.

Kevin Armstrong ’06

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