The Surge Incident

Something reminded me of this, so I’m posting it here for easy retrieval.

Text from is here

Northeastern 2, Boston University 1 (ot) (Jan.16, 1998 regular season game at Matthews Arena) –You might call this a “re-surg-ence” of sorts for the Huskies. I’m sure everyone remembers this one from last season. After failing to break through in 12 previous tries, NU finally defeated the hated cross-town rival Terriers.

With 4,189 loonies armed and ready with their complimentary bottles of Surge, NU didn’t disappoint. This was truly playoff hockey, even if the calendar read January. The teams played a scoreless first period as Marc Robitaille and Tom Noble kept the offenses at bay. BU’s Nick Gillis finally opened the scoring with less than five minutes remaining in the second period. Just 22 second later, Justin Kearns ripped a slap shot past Noble to tie the game, setting the stage for a heart-palpitating third period. As is usually the case in close games involving BU coach Jack Parker, Northeastern was forced to kill three penalties in the final 10 minutes. Not only did the Huskies do it, they had the better opportunities down the stretch.

The game moved to overtime and no one left their seats. Neither team was going to settle for the tie, as the players sped up and down the ice looking for an opportunity to be the hero. At the 3:02 mark, it was Todd Barclay who would assume the role for Northeastern. He took a feed from Bobby Davis in the neutral zone and carried down the right wing. As he got closer and closer to Noble and the BU net, the crowd sensed something was imminent. You know when the noise level rises in anticipation of something happening? That’s how it happened here. Barclay’s backhander beat Noble through the pads and the Huskies raced off the bench to mob the sophomore from Fairbanks, Alaska.

As if it was in the script, the fans pelted the Arena ice with the Surge bottles, turning the Husky logo at center ice into the Celtics green leprechaun. Great game. Great finish. Easily the best memory from a season a great ones.

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