Rising Red keeps Papa Wilson from Frozen Four

IT would be an understatement to suggest life in the Carey Wilson clan is just a wee bit tumultuous, anxious and exhilarating these days.

The son, Boston University stud Colin Wilson, is playing this week for a national championship, while at the same time a finalist for the prestigious Hobey Baker Award, emblematic of the top player in U.S. college hockey.

Yet the father, Carey, former NHLer, will be stuck at the family's St. Vital home on the banks of the Red River, unable to attend the finals in Washington, D.C. Instead, Carey Wilson will be nervously watching the rising Red, while his son's No. 1-ranked Terriers face the University of Vermont in Thursday night's semifinal.

That's right: The son is battling in the Frozen Four while the father is left to defend the Frozen Forks.

"It sucks," Carey Wilson lamented, "to be me."

But life, the river and hockey move on unabated.

"Somebody's got to guard the house," said Colin from his dorm room at BU prior to leaving for the capital Tuesday afternoon. "I'll call after every game to let him know what's going on and, obviously, he'll let me know how the house is doing."

At least Wilson's mother, Joan, will be making the trip south, where the Hobey Baker winner -- also including finalists BU senior defenceman Matt Gilroy and Northeastern goaltender Brad Thiessen -- will be announced Friday in Washington.

But the Hobey will only be an accessory for Wilson and the Terriers, who enter the Frozen Four as prohibitive favourites against the No. 9-ranked Vermont. Thursday's other semifinal will pit underdog Bemidji State against Miami (Ohio), the alma mater of a football receiver named Milt Stegall, with the final on Saturday.

Indeed, the most troubling opponent facing the Terriers, who've won 22 of their last 23 games, might be -- to use a fancy-schmancy college word -- presumptuousness. Even Wilson concedes his BU mates have been guilty of getting ahead of themselves before.

"We've been humbled so many times by teams when we've become overconfident," the big power forward admitted. "The very first time we got ranked No. 1, the next game we went out and we got blown out 5-1 by UMass. So we realized when we get too overconfident, that's when we get beat.

"Top-ranked teams have been taking other teams lightly and they don't come out and give their best games and work hard," Wilson said of the upsets that have dominated the U.S. college regionals. "Our team is the most talented in all of college hockey, but if a team outworks us that's how we're going to lose. That's something we can control."

And Wilson is a force very few opponents have yet to control in only his sophomore season at BU, where the Winnipegger (born in the U.S.), who for the last two seasons has been a dominant member of the American world junior squad, has blossomed this season with 15 goals and 37 assists -- the first BU player to record a 50-plus-point season since 1998 Hobey Baker winner Chris Drury (ring a bell?) had 57 points.

Perhaps that's why the Terriers, a non-factor in Wilson's freshman season, have vaulted into the national spotlight faster than many observers anticipated. Young Wilson, included.

"Last year we didn't have a good year and this year I was expecting it to be a little bit better. But I certainly didn't expect us to be the No. 1 team for so long and be the favourite to win everything."

Same goes for the Hobey nomination in just Wilson's second college season. "I think that's pretty cool that got nominated to be in the top three," the 19-year-old said. "I definitely wasn't expecting it but I knew it was an opportunity I could have. But to be in the top three is pretty special to me and my family."

But the immediate future isn't the only uncertainty for Wilson who will have some hard choices to make later this year. You see, as a sophomore, Wilson lives in a brownstone dorm on BU campus. The juniors and seniors reside in a more luxurious apartment complex across from the arena. As a veteran, he noted, "You get the benefits."

Yet Wilson, a seventh overall pick of the Nashville Predators in 2008, admitted "there's a pretty strong chance I won't be making it to those dorms."

That's because in Wilson, the drooling Preds see a young Jason Arnott, and the NHL club will be lobbying hard to get the youngster in Nashville next season. But Wilson is leaving his options open for now -- even if this week has a storybook ending of a Hobey award and national championship.

"It would definitely be an accomplishment, but I don't necessarily think it would persuade me to leave college hockey because when it comes down to it, I'm going to leave college hockey when I think I'm ready for the pros," Wilson said.

It's kinda like waiting for a flood. You never know just how high the water will rise, but you have to be prepared regardless.

Son at the Frozen Four. Father at the Frozen Forks.

Game on.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 8, 2009 C3