Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Coming soon to a bookstore near you

A must-read account of BU’s eight-month trek to college hockey’s D1 National Championship is in the works.

USCHO Senior Writer Scott Weighart, who has covered BU hockey for more than a decade, confirmed that he is in the process of writing an "authorized biography" of the Terriers' seven-championship season, culminating in their overtime win in the NCAA title game. As might be expected, the title will be Burn The Boats, while a subtitle has yet to be determined.

For Weighart, who has five other books to his credit, this is his first sports book. It will feature a 16-page insert of photos and will be published by Mosaic Eye Publishing of Brookline, Mass.

Burn The Boats will begin with BU's season-ending loss to Vermont in the 2007-08 Hockey East semifinals, and then will continue through the 45 games of this record-setting season. For his research, Weighart interviewed all six Terrier seniors as well as numerous underclassmen, including Brian Strait, Colin Wilson, Kieran Millan, Zach Cohen, Nick Bonino, Eric Gryba, and Colby Cohen among others. Jack Parker and assistants David Quinn and Mike Bavis also were interviewed for the project, as was the Voice of Terrier Hockey, Bernie Corbett.

According to Weighart, the book will go into detail about many behind-the-scenes events. These include the near defections of Matt Gilroy and Colin Wilson to the professional ranks last summer as well as the "death-row reprieve" granted to two players who were nearly cut from the team last spring. Besides game action, he says readers will “get to know about the personalities in the team, life in the clubhouse, and many previously unrevealed turning points during the momentous season.

"This project is a real labor of love," Weighart explained."It was an amazing experience to follow the team this season, and I am very apreciative of the opportunity to write a permanent record of it all in the form of this book. I already have written about 20,000 words, and the story is up to the early Lowell game with the frenetic ending.

“ I also have had to weave in quite a bit of description about Parker, the key players, and the locker room, so I believe that much of the most challenging writing is behind me,” he added. "That remains to be seen, though."

Burn The Boats will be published before next season begins. We’ll post further details, including how to obtain it, later this summer.

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