Congratulations to the Eagles!

High fives all around for Coach Jerry York and his Boston College team after they stormed through the Frozen Four and made it look easy against top-notch competition.

With great respect to BC for its near-constant presence around the FF during recent years, and it's second title in three years,, a few notes about the parallels between the last two years'' NCAA Basketball and Hockey championship weekend results:

Last year UNC won the men's b'ball final, as most had expected them to.

Last year, BU won the men's hockey final, as most had expected them to. BU's road to the title was a litle bit more dramatic than UNC's, but the result was the same.

This year, Duke won the men's b'ball final, which almost no one expected, based on dramatically better play during the final two months of the season.

This year, BC won the men's hockey final, which absolutely no one except the most ardent Eagle supporters even dared to dream of until they won the Beanpot in February.

Last year was a great year for eastern hockey and a bit of downer for the west, the WCHA in particular. This year, the east was perceived to be much weaker, yet a Hockey East team won it all again.

Last year was seen as a relatively weak year for the ACC in basketball, UNC excepted, with the Big East perceived as "super conference." But an ACC team won the title.

This year was also perceived as a mediocre year for the ACC, with the Big East and Big 12 (see WCHA and CCHA) seen as the powers. But once again, an ACC team finished on top, as did a Hockey East team.

Just goes to show that after a ridiculously long season in both sports, it's the team playing best in March and April that often grabs the prize.