CONTACT: Adam Sopris, a.sopris@hvcc.edu, 518-629-7898 or 518-416-2137
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Wednesday, March 10, 2021

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the NJCAA National Championship of the Vikings men's ice hockey program. We continue our look back to the year 2001, when the men's ice hockey program traveled to Bottineau, North Dakota in search of a NJCAA National Championship. 

In 2001, former sports information director, Jeff Foley detailed the ice hockey team's trip of a lifetime. In "Day Three" of the daily chronicles of the hockey team, Foley talks about backup goaltender B.J. Sheehan and his road to becoming a champion, from working at Crossgates Mall to his dominating performance in the NJCAA Region 3 Tournament, which earned him the start in the first game of the best-of-three NJCAA National Championship series.

Later that evening Sheehan guided the Vikings to a 5-2 win in the first game of the series and made 48 total saves in goal. The Vikings were now one game away from claiming the national title. 

Saturday, March 10 - In the flatlands of Bottineau, N.D., where the terrain is so level that locals claim you can watch your dog run away for three days, Hudson Valley Community College goaltender B.J. Sheehan spent 60 minutes scaling a personal mountain today.

Speaking of ascents, this time a year ago, Sheehan also was working with ice. He wasn't tending goal, however; he was serving customers at Mr. Smoothies in Crossgates Mall. After graduating from Albany Academy, where he was the starting goalie on a squad that won the 1998 New England Prep School championship, Sheehan took some time off from school.

Now, just 12 months later, Sheehan, a Schenectady native, has gone from wearing an apron and serving up frosty drinks to starting between the pipes in the opening game of the 2000-01 junior college national hockey championship.

"I've never been to a national tournament before," the freshman said before protecting the net at Bottineau's Community Arena, nicknamed the Lumberdome. "This is the biggest moment of my life."

Sheehan played like it. He turned aside 48 shots in all, leading the Vikings to a decisive 5-2 victory. During a seven-minute stretch in the second period, he stonewalled a Bottineau power play for seven straight minutes.

"B.J. earned the right to start this game," head coach Ron Kuhl said. "He's played well, he played two big games for us against Mohawk Valley and Morrisville. I have a lot of confidence in him."

So much confidence, in fact, that Sheehan started while NJCAA Region III Player of the Year Jason Vasco watched from the bench tonight. Vasco will start in game two, at 7 p.m. Sunday.

"I told them after we won regionals that they'd each earned the right to start a game in nationals," Kuhl said. "They're both great goalies."

Sheehan was beaming in the locker room after the victory. "This is what I was hoping for," he said. "To come back, get in shape and be ready for the big game. I think I took advantage of my opportunity. I shined. We all did. And this chance took a long time to get here, but I'm really happy it finally did."

"B.J. played the perfect goaltender's game," Kuhl said. Sheehan will be on the bench Sunday night, probably still riding the high of success, and supporting his teammates.

"I'm proud of my while team," Sheehan said. "And I know Jason Vasco will come out tomorrow night and do the same thing I did."

Sheehan Comes Up Big As Vikings Win Opening National Championship Game

Albany Academy Grad Makes 48 Saves To Lead Hudson Valley To 5-2 Win

Bottineau, N.D. - It took the Vikings all of 20 minutes to familiarize themselves with the Lumberdome of Bottineau, N.D. Hudson Valley Community College's hockey team, in North Dakota to battle Minot State University-Bottineau for the junior college national title, came on strong after a shaky first period to silence a pro-Bottineau crowd and skate away with convincing a 5-2 victory.

The championship tournament, featuring just Hudson Valley and Bottineau, is a two-game series with a 20-minute mini game following the second game if the squads happen to be tied at one win apiece. Game two will be played at 7 p.m. Sunday.

In the opening period, Hudson Valley tried to slug it out with a Paul Bunyon-sized Bottineau squad and paid a price. At the end of the period, Bottineau led 1-0 and held a 15-9 shots-on-goal advantage. Only a phenomenal effort by freshman goaltender B.J. Sheehan (Albany Academy) kept it a one-goal game.

"Bottineau's too big for us to get into a pushing-and-shoving match with," said Ron Kuhl, Hudson Valley's head coach. "Fortunately, B.J. showed that he's a big-game player."

The Vikings played their style - a speedy run-and-gun game - from the outset of the second period, though. And it paid huge dividends.

Looking a step quicker than the bulky Lumberjacks, Hudson Valley notched three goals in the second 20 minutes. Adam Finkin (Saratoga), Jim Sturges (East Hampton, MA) and Chris Paine (Saratoga) all found the back of the net from close proximity.

Sturges scored the go-ahead goal at 11:52, gathering the puck at mid-ice and juking out three defenders before beating Bottineau's Charles Sterling from point-blank range with some nifty stick handling. Sturges fired once and then collected the rebound, poking it home.

"I just wanted to get to the net and at least get off a shot," Sturges said. "We knew we were down a goal at the end of the first period, and we knew we had to step it up. So we came out flying."

Paine's unassisted score came off the ensuing face-off, just 10 seconds later. Aaron Chandler (Ithaca) and Dean Vandervort (Jacobstown, NJ) added third-period scores.

Sheehan, meanwhile, made the Hudson Valley goals stand up. The Schenectady native endured seven minutes with a one- or two-man Hudson Valley disadvantage in the second period, blanking Bottineau with 12 saves during that stretch. Sprawling and diving, he batted aside 20 shots in the second period alone.

"The puck looked like a huge beach ball," said Sheehan after the game, grinning from ear to ear. "I focused real well. I saw everything. And the defensemen played incredible in front of me."

Playing in a rowdy packed house - there were about 1,000 Bottineau supporters; roughly 30 Hudson Valley fans made the trek to North Dakota - Hudson Valley's speed clearly frustrated Bottineau's players and patrons. After Finkin's goal at 13:32 in the second period - a wrister from six feet out - the crowd had to be warned to stop throwing things onto the ice.

"You know what?" Kuhl said. "They were bigger, and maybe stronger, but this group is truly a team. This is what happens when you put 18 guys together that play with passion. You win."