Brown, Fitzgerald hoping to lead Boston College back to Frozen Four

It's an old trope in sports: When you reach the top of the mountain early, getting there can seem easy. Christopher Brown and Casey Fitzgerald were no exception.
Brown (sixth round, 2014) and Fitzgerald (third round, 2016) made it to the Frozen Four as freshmen at Boston College in 2016, falling by one goal to Quinnipiac in the semifinal round. They left that game with big plans for the remainder of their college career.
"I was young, naïve at the time," Fitzgerald said by phone on Thursday. "You look at it and think, We can do this every year. We're going to go back and we're going to win it next year, we're going to win three national championships in a row.
"That's what the thought process was. You don't realize how hard it really is to get there."

Now seniors and serving as two of three captains at B.C., Brown and Fitzgerald are instilling that message on a young Eagles team looking to make it back to the Frozen Four in Buffalo this April.
They haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since that freshman campaign despite finishing atop the Hockey East standings in each of the past two seasons. They lost in the conference finals in 2017 and in the semifinals last season.
But after an 0-5 start to begin their senior years, they think they know the recipe to get back.
"The team I had my freshman year, we had a lot of talent," Fitzgerald said. "We were really, really deep, and we could go into games and maybe some guys would slack off a little or something, but we had such high-end talent that we could get the job done every night.
"We have a lot of talent on this team, but I think our goals are we have to come in, we have to be a work horse team, a team that every night brings their work bucket. That's a culture thing, that's a mentality that we've kind of instilled here."
The Eagles pulled back to .500 entering their winter break after sweeping their home-and-home series with UConn last week. They're 6-1-2 since losing their first five games of the season. Fitzgerald cited the fourth game in that stretch - a 7-0 loss at home to St. Cloud State - as the wake-up call.
"It was kind of a rude awakening," Fitzgerald said. "… It told us that we have to know that every game is a battle. You're not going to have any free games anymore. Every game's going to be neck and neck and we've got to come out with those greasy wins and we have to figure it out.
"Every game you've got to bring your work hat. That was a turning point for us."
As upperclassmen and captains along with fellow senior Michael Kim, Fitzgerald and Brown were tasked with pulling the Eagles through the tough times. They carry the message of coach Jerry York, who's cited his 2008 team that won a national championship despite winning only three of its first 12 games, led by former Sabre Nathan Gerbe.
"I definitely think a lot of the younger guys leaned on us being seniors and being around Coach York and Boston College for a while, I think we've had a lot of ups and downs as we've been here," Brown said.
"We just kept preaching, we've got to keep trusting our process, believe in the systems, believe in the guy next to you that if you keep doing the right thing, the puck will get into the net and we'll win games."
Brown and Fitzgerald know each other well, having lived together since their sophomore year and attended Sabres development camps together each summer. Brown describes the defenseman Fitzgerald as an all-around leader who's not afraid to speak up.
"Very talkative, but he also works really hard and leads by example," Brown said. "He's the best of both worlds. I love living with him and I love being his teammate. There's no one else I'd rather pick to lead this team and also live with these past couple years."
Brown, Fitzgerald says, is the lead-by-example type.
"He's not a guy who's going to be rah-rah in the locker room, but he leads by example," Fitzgerald said. "If coaches tell him to do a job, he's going to do it. He's not going to complain about it. That's something that we kind of point to Brownie when we talk to our younger guys. We say, 'Look at Brownie.'
"He's playing second, third line with two freshmen. It's hard for a veteran guy to put two freshmen on your line, and he's making things happen and didn't complain once about it. That's just the kind of kid he is and a testament to him."
The Eagles return from winter break at Notre Dame on New Year's Eve. It's a game both Brown and Fitzgerald have circled for its importance, one they hope can springboard them to a special ending to their collegiate career.
"The last couple months we've been looking back like, what was that team doing?" Brown said of his freshman campaign. "That was our best team since we've been here. What can we pull from them?
"That was just one of those years where you have not only a great coach and a great university behind you, but a group of guys that, although very skilled, really worked together and were enjoying each other off the ice as much as on the ice. I think being able to battle and grind for your teammate next to you is a very important thing.
"It's something I think this team has as well, which is why we keep telling them to trust the process, keep your head down and stay positive, because the kind of relationships we have off the ice are just as strong this year as they were freshmen year."

Stats

| Skater | Position | Team (League) | GP | G | A | PTS | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Christopher Brown | F | Boston College (NCAA) | 14 | 2 | 3 | 5 | | Jacob Bryson | D | Providence (NCAA) | 16 | 3 | 11 | 14 | | Ivan Chukarov | D | Massachusetts (NCAA) | 14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | | Marcus Davidsson | F | Djuragardens (SHL) | 23 | 2 | 11 | 13 | | Casey Fitzgerald | D | Boston College (NCAA) | 14 | 0 | 6 | 6 | | Vasily Glotov | F | Cincinnati (ECHL) | 24 | 5 | 14 | 19 | | Miska Kukkonen | D | Tappara U20 (Mestis) | 26 | 2 | 6 | 8 | | Oskari Laaksonen | D | Ilves (Liiga) | 25 | 3 | 10 | 13 | | Linus Lindstrand Cronholm | D | IK Pantern (Allsvenskan) | 21 | 1 | 5 | 6 | | Brett Murray | F | Youngstown (USHL) | 21 | 9 | 12 | 21 | | Philip Nyberg | D | UConn (NCAA) | 17 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Matej Pekar | F | Barrie (OHL) | 30 | 12 | 21 | 33 | | Mattias Samuelsson | D | Western Michigan (NCAA) | 16 | 3 | 5 | 8 | | Linus Weissbach | F | Wisconsin (NCAA) | 8 | 2 | 9 | 11 | | Maxwell Willman | F | Boston University (NCAA) | 15 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | William Worge Kreu | D | Linkoping J20 (SuperElit) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Goaltender | Team (League) | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | GAA | SV% | SO | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | Sudbury (OHL) | 24 | 17 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2.49 | .923 | 2 |