TAMPA, Fla. — When you hear about microscopes and telescopes, you think of biology and astronomy. Well, you can add Boston College hockey to that list.
Over the years, BC coach Jerry York has employed many descriptive devices to vividly make points to his teams. He uses an inverted pyramid in the locker room that depicts the (thin) least important games of the year in October and November, gradually building to the (wider) stretch drive contests, the (wider-still) Hockey East playoffs, and then finally the (widest of all) NCAA tournament, Frozen Four and national championship at the top.
In the 2008 title year, York, by way of Father Tony Penna, used Michelangelo’s paintings to make a point. Penna related how painters of past eras left the corners bare. Michelangelo filled them in. Paint Your Corners became a metaphor for finishing checks and leaving no detail unattended to.
Another visual — a wooden post in the BC locker room, structurally a necessity but otherwise a bother — became a point of pride years ago as the team attached pucks from road wins, the logos depicting the defeated team. The post became appropriately named Road Kill.
At the start of this season, York added the microscope and the telescope to his repertoire.
“The microscope-telescope idea has been important for our team this year,” BC captain Tommy Cross says. “At the beginning of the year, the telescope is on the Frozen Four and having a chance to win the big trophy. But throughout the year, the microscope is on the GLI [tournament], [then] the Beanpot, the Hockey East regular season and the Hockey East playoffs.
“As you move along during the course of the year, the microscope and the telescope start to come together until you get to the point we’re at right now — essentially they’re the same thing.”
The microscope now peers at Saturday night’s title game, showing in clear focus where the telescope has pointed all season long.
[Thanks to Boston Herald writer John “Jocko” Connolly for his assistance.]
