Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Jack Parker is a good man

Jack Parker is a great man for a lot of reasons, and as I was beginning to write a post regarding now Northeastern assistant coach Shawn McEachern's run with BU to the NCAA finals in 1990-91, I decided instead to combine that post with another, detailing the Saturday night assault on four Boston University athletes.

Well, upon my research on Shawn McEachern's collegiate days, I fell upon the story of the 1990-91 NCAA hockey championship. After reaching the Frozen Four as a second team Hockey East All-Star the year before, McEachern came back with 34 goals and 48 assists for BU’s second highest single-season total of 82 points in 1990-91. The Terriers, with McEachern, Tony Amonte and Keith Tkachuk starting at forward on what head coach Jack Parker called “the most talented team we ever had,” won the Hockey East tournament and reached the NCAA championship but lost in triple overtime to Northern Michigan, 8-7, in an incredible back-and-forth game. It was also the second longest NCAA final game in history. McEachern was named a first team Hockey East all-star, a NCAA East first team All-American and the William Flynn Tournament MVP, given annually to the Most Valuable Player of the Hockey East Championship Tournament. Other recipients have included Brian Leetch in 1987 and Dwayne Roloson in 1994.

Within Dave Hendrickson's article, Parker goes on to say the following: "About two years ago, I saw Tony Amonte at T. Anthony's restaurant," says Parker. "The Black Hawks were in town to play the Bruins the next day, so he came up to his old stomping grounds to say hello. I had just been reading the Globe sports page and it was one of those days where they have all the scorers of every team in the NHL. Amonte was leading Chicago by a mile in scoring. Keith Tkachuk was leading Phoenix by a mile in scoring. And Shawn McEachern was the second-leading scorer for Ottawa. In walks Amonte and I said, 'Tony, here you're the number one guy. Tkachuk's the number one guy. McEachern's the number-two guy. How did we not win the national championship?' He just looked at me and said, 'Hey coach, offense wasn't our problem. We got seven. We just couldn't keep it up.' I would say that that was one of the most exciting teams I've ever coached and without question, the most talented team we ever had. That was the heyday of college hockey and the apex of college hockey as far as talent across the nation, especially in Hockey East. We'd go out for the Beanpot final and put McEachern, Amonte, Tkachuk, [Peter] Ahola and [Scott] Lachance for our starting five and BC would counter with [Steve] Heinze, [Marty] McInnis, [David] Emma and [Scott] LaGrand in the cage. Maine had great players. It was a great league. I think one of the greatest college teams ever assembled was the team that Northern Michigan had that year. They had a lot of talented players who are still in the NHL to this day."

Chris O'Sullivan, who played for the Terriers from 1993 to 1996, said this of his former coach: "Coach Parker doesn't just care about you at the rink. He cares about you as a person. He cares about the rest of your life."

That's where the recent assault on the four Boston University athletes - including star goalie John Curry, captain defenseman Sean Sullivan and another defenseman, Kevin Schaeffer, who was most seriously injured after being knocked unconscience. Lauren Morton of the women's lacrosse team had jaw broken. Apparently, most of the BU hockey team was out at a party in Allston. Many of the players left, but some, including those attacked, got into a fight with some others at the party. Then around 4 a.m., three white men wearing hooded sweatshirts attacked the four with wrenches, baseball bats and hammers.

When reached for comment, Jack Parker had this to say: "He looks like Tony Conigliaro, exactly. Amazing. That's the first thing I thought when I saw him in the hospital was he looked like Tony C [after his beaning in 1967]...Nothing good happens after 2 o'clock in the morning. The team rule is the only night you can drink is on Saturday night and you can't drink if you're under 21."


Without any pictures of Kevin Schaeffer in a hospital bed, you can use your imagination to play out the assault on early Sunday morning

While we have seen other universities have several players thrown off their respective teams, and some involved with coaches, Parker seems only calm and congenial. Too bad he rejected the Bruins offer.

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