The Boston College Eagles captured the program's fifth National Championship with a 4-1 victory over Ferris State. Here are the quotes to prove it.
Coach York complimenting Ferris State on a great season because that's how he rolls:
"We knew Ferris State was going to be outstanding. They might not have the name recognition, but we knew how good they were. We stayed patient through the first two periods. Parker was extremely strong in net. You can't be measured until you win that last trophy. Now this team can take its place among the other championship teams."
Parker Milner on the total team effort:
"It's hard to put it into words because everyone did their part and we came together as a team. You don't do this without contributions from everyone and that's what we got."
BC assistant coach Mike Cavanaugh on the key to the Eagles' success on the penalty kill:
"Goaltending: The goaltender should always be your best penalty-killer. But we really buy into being an aggressive penalty kill, and our philosophy is we're going to make the other team make four or five good passes to beat us. If they can do that, we'll tip our hats to them. But I think we have the players that are really quick, they make other teams jumpy, I think they take them out of the systems that they want to do, that make them successful. In the end, we've got a lot of good players, and we've got a terrific goaltender."
Johnny Gaudreau with last night's dagger:
"It was a great breakout pass by Destry Straight,'' said Gaudreau. "I was thinking that maybe I should probably get this deep. There was four minutes left in the game. I didn't go with what I was thinking. I just went with it, and luckily it happened to work for me.''
Pat Mullane on Gaudreau:
"I first saw [Gaudreau], and I was like, ‘There is no way this 140-pound, 5-4 kid is going to make an impact in college hockey. He's been unbelievable. He's become an unbelievable hockey player.''
Barry Almeida on Coach York's mantra:
"We stress it so much, winning trophies is so important to this program," said senior forward Barry Almeida. "Graduating players and winning trophies, that's Coach York's mantra. Something about this team, when trophies are on the line, everyone buys in."
York on the blueprint he follows in building a National Championship-calibre program:
"It's just like Bob Johnson said to me, if you get a blueprint ... we've always tried to have excellent defensemen, we've had that through all these title teams. Our forwards have been explosive and very creative, whether it's Brian Gionta or Barry Almeida, right through the list," York said. "They all do share great team bonding, they're all tight as groups and there are probably more similarities than differences in them based on my observation. All good goaltenders too, we've had a string of great goaltenders."
Captain Tommy Cross reflects on the season and his teammates:
"I can't believe we won the national championship in my senior year, my second one," said Cross, the Eagles' senior captain. "It's a privilege to be part of the BC program. I keep thinking of my teammates, the best group of teammates I've ever had. The closest team I've ever been on. We had something on our minds that the season was only going to end one way and we wanted that to be our main focus."
And Cross on the storybook end of the season:
"We had it in our mind that the season was only going to end one way."
Almeida on Steven Whitney's empty-netter that put BC up 4-1:
"Once Stevie (Steven) Whitney put that last one in the open net, it started to dawn on me," said left wing Barry Almeida. "Gaudreau's goal was a huge one too, but once we got that fourth one, I don't even know what I was doing. Words can't describe it. It is an unbelievable feeling."
Coach York on the victory:
"You can't buy one of these championships. You have to earn them. And this team definitely earned it."