Rumors have been circulating on Twitter about a possible venue change for BC's home game against Northeastern on January 14th, and today the BC ticket office made it official in an email to season ticket holders:
"We are pleased to announce that Boston College Hockey will play its Jan. 14 game against Northeastern at Fenway Park at 6 p.m. The game will immediately follow a high school hockey game between long-time rivals Boston College High School and Catholic Memorial, which will faceoff at 3 p.m."
Jerry York is pleased.
"The opportunity to play our long-time rival Northeastern on a stage like Fenway Park captivates not only our fan base and the public at large, but our coaches, staff and players as well. Based on our previous experience, which was a memorable night, we look forward to another outdoor game at Fenway Park with great anticipation."
Despite being, I can only imagine, a huge deal for the players and certainly a boon for recruiting, this isn't really the best news for BC fans.
Those BC fans likely to attend an event like this were likely in attendance two years ago when BC played against BU at Fenway. Ignoring the fact that we lost, the cold weather and awful sightlines for 95% of fans made many fans a bit sour on any similar future event. In addition, the poor ice quality made for poor hockey quality. Most frustrating of all to Eagles fans is probably the fact that, like two years ago, BC loses a home game.
Nonetheless, Jerry York has built his Frozen Four success partially by preparing his team for large crowds by throwing them into the fire with big early season games and regular season tournaments like this year, with the Ice Breaker, Great Lakes Invitational, and of course, the Beanpot.
Who knows? Maybe playing at Fenway Park is lucky. After all, every season we've played at Fenway, we won the national championship in the same year.