BC Hockey vs. ND: Interview With "Diehard" Notre Dame Fan Tommy O'Rourke

As you know, we at BC Interruption like to get the opposing team's perspective going into games. Unfortunately, we scoured the internet but were unable to find anyone who cares about Notre Dame hockey enough to write about them regularly. So we took matters into our own hands, searching the streets of Dorchester until we found the perfect diehard Notre Dame fan to answer questions for us. Take it away, Tommy O'Rourke!

BCI: Tommy, thank you for taking the time to talk with us about the upcoming BC-Notre Dame hockey game.

Tommy: You got it! I am a huge Notre Dame fan. Hail to the victors!

BCI: Right. Okay, let's get started. To the surprise of some, Notre Dame is mired in eighth place in Hockey East, despite coming into the year with some lofty expectations. What's your overall impression of Notre Dame's first trip through Hockey East?

Tommy: I'm so glad that Notre Dame started a hockey team. I know we aren't winning Hockey East right now but since this is our first year having a hockey team I think we are doing pretty good. I'm sure we will dominate in no time just like we do in football.

I'm gonna put a hockey stick on my Notre Dame tattoo and call it "hat trick Jesus."

BCI: Lots has been written about the Joyce Center, Notre Dame's hockey venue. Is it true what they say about it being one of the nation's top college hockey venues?

Tommy: Oh man. It's just a magical place. My family has been going to games there since before World War II. There's no place better.

BCI: Who would you say is your favorite player on the team?

Tommy: Oh I have so many. All of them. They're great. They're like a part of my family. I grew up singing the Notre Dame fight song and dreaming of playing there. I couldn't just name one player, it wouldn't be fair.

BCI: So what happened when Notre Dame lost to BC at Fenway back in January?

Tommy: Well look everyone knows we sacrifice some of our home games to take our show on the road with the Shamrock Series and bring Irish Hockey to a national audience, like we did at Fenway.

Unfortunately sometimes our road and neutral-heavy schedule hurts us, especially playing on bad ice which gave the other team an unfair advantage. That won't happen this time.

BCI: Do you think Notre Dame's program can ever reach BC's level in hockey? If not, what's a realistic goal?

Tommy: I am pretty sure my Irish have never lost to Not In Boston College in football so why should it be different in hockey? I know we whooped you when I went to Alumni Stadium last year and we hadn't played in about 20 years before that. Maybe we did, I was always busy on Saturdays between 1994 and 2013 but I happened to have time to watch them last year.

BCI: How do you respond to critics who think Quinnipiac would have been a better choice for Hockey East than Notre Dame?

Tommy: I'm pretty sure that's a Division 2 team, right? Why would the Big East want to add more schools nobody has ever heard of? We have a national brand.

BCI: I see from your other tattoo that you're a huge Bruins and Celtics fan. So why do you root for a college from Indiana?

Well as a working-class Irish Catholic guy I could never support a school full of rich, spoiled white kids like Boston College. That's why I root for Notre Dame. Salt of the earth. And all about humility and diversity.

BCI: Any predictions for Saturday's game?

Tommy: I think Notre Dame will probably be fired up to play in front of so many home fans on Saturday so expect them to do awesome and score a lot of points.

BC might keep it close for a while, but we're a second half team.

BCI: Lastly, I'm sure you remember that Notre Dame's net randomly came off of its moorings many times during the game at Fenway. What do you think of rumors it was Lennay Kekua kicking the net off the pipes and not Summerhays?

Tommy: Bro, too soon. She died. That's not cool, man.

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Check back here for more coverage of BC hockey vs. Notre Dame throughout the week. Apropos of nothing, for quality Quinnipiac hockey coverage, check out The New Haven Register's hockey blog.

Disclaimer: Tommy O'Rourke is a fictional character. Any resemblance between Tommy and a real Notre Dame fan is totally intentional.