Column: Team living on a prayer

They filed in, one by one, making their way to the pews like lines skating to the bench on the ice.

Dressed in suits, hair combed, and pads off, they came without the maroon and gold sweaters that they will wear this weekend. It was the hockey team's opening Mass in St. Mary's Chapel, the annual beginning of its season.

The York of Kelley Rink was in attendance, looking fit and ready for his 34th season on the bench. It was a trying offseason for the head coach, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the summer. Since the announcement, he has had surgery and looks to be on the way to a speedy recovery.

At 60 years old and carrying 723 wins in his coat pocket, he is No. 3 on the all-time wins list for college hockey coaches. Sitting next to him in the pew was his wife, Bobbie. On his other side, York was joined by a man who once held the reins of the BC hockey program. His name? Len Ceglarski, the man who coached York at BC when he was a player, and the same man who is No. 5 on the all-time wins list, weighing in with 673 victories.

But those wins are in the past and the feeling during the Mass was one of the present. Celebrating the Mass was Rev. Tony Pena, chaplain of the athletic department. The first reading and responsorial psalm were done by senior captain Peter Harrold and the second was done by the deeply religious junior Brian Boyle. Families sat throughout the rows, and the players sat in the first four, taking in the words preached by the readings and the homily given by Pena.

It was tailor made for the group at hand. Pena said he would have had the team up at 7 a.m. for the service, but he deferred to York who preferred 10 a.m. He homilized on the kingdom of heaven and how everyone's invited to the party, but not all are guaranteed a seat. He talked about the connection between good teammates and the success of the team.

He preached about heaven and H-E-double hockey sticks. He pointed toward the Sept. 11 memorial outside of Bapst Library and how there are 22 alumni memorialized there.

He talked about living for each other, and how the generous and selfless are the ones who get by and enjoy the fruits of others. The jealous fail, and the self-centered don't succeed, let alone score goals, and all of a sudden you could picture a Ben or a Patrick Eaves, whomever you so choose, listening to the words in earlier years.

You see, that's the difference about hockey at BC. If you watch them, you learn about them. You know the classiness that comes with the program.

You see the shirts and ties before and after games. You start thinking about the days when coaches used to have teams dress in attire that showed discipline and a business. You see old school when you see York's players. You see history and tradition being practiced, just as York learned from Ceglarski.

This weekend, York returns to Bowling Green for a Friday night tilt with the school that he once led to a national championship in 1984. He was inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame in 2003, but don't think he won't want to walk off the visiting bench with a win in hand. Sentiments for the old school only last so long, namely until the puck is dropped. Then games are games and you can forget about the banner hanging from the rafters with his fingerprints on it.

Saturday night involves a trip to Ann Arbor for the skaters. A match-up with Big Blue is in order, in the rink that is the college hockey equivalent of Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium.

And so it begins. Another chapter in BC hockey, another year of living on a prayer.