Sophomore surge

Perhaps the one constant through Max Nicastro’s short career as a defenseman for the Boston University men’s hockey team is that it’s been under a continuous state of flux since he stepped foot on campus last fall.

Nicastro arrived at BU from Thousand Oaks, Calif. by way of the Windy City after totaling 51 points over two seasons with the USHL’s Chicago Steel. In his final season before college, he finished 10th in the junior league in points with 31 and was named to the USHL East Division All-Star team. That helped raise his professional stock before the 2009 NHL draft, where he was selected in the third round (91st overall) by the Detroit Red Wings.

But as any college hockey player will tell you, it doesn’t matter what happens before you step on campus. Everyone has a long resume, otherwise they wouldn’t be playing Division-I.

However once Nicastro actually hit the ice as a freshman, he continued playing as well as he had at any other level. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound blueliner notched his first point in a Nov. 8 loss to the University of Maine on an assist to fellow freshman Alex Chiasson and scored his first goal six days later on a slapper from the point.

As the season continued, Nicastro used his combination of speed, strength and size to quickly become one of the Terriers’ top defensemen on both the offensive and defensive ends of the rink. He paired with another freshman, Sean Escobedo, as BU’s third line on the defensive end, worked with then-sophomore David Warsofsky as a pointman on the power play’s second unit and accrued the second-highest plus-minus rating among BU defensemen at plus-3.

Then in one unfortunate moment, it seemed that his freshman campaign would be cut short. In Game 2 of the HE quarterfinals against Merrimack College, Nicastro fell to the ground, clutching his arm. Blood began squirting out of the spot where one Warrior had accidentally slashed the young defender. The slice required 26 stitches in all, and it didn’t immediately appear that Nicastro would be able to finish out his freshman campaign as planned.

“He was playing extremely well,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “And then all of a sudden, we lost him, and I knew the probability that if we got him back, he wasn’t going to come back 100 percent that year.”

Nicastro did indeed make his return a week later, just in time to see his team end its season in a 5-2 loss to the University of Maine in the HE semifinals.

The roller coaster of a first year came back up after it was announced that Nicastro had been named as one of three defensemen to the HE All-Rookie team. He was the only Terrier included on the list. He’s even drawing

comparisons to one of the best BU defenseman from the 1990’s in Richard Brennan, a member of the 1995 national championship team and former HE First-Teamer who went on to a 13-year professional career both in the States and abroad.

“They both can shoot the puck, they can get the puck out of the zone and they’re really good skaters,” Parker said.

Now as he heads into his second year on Commonwealth Avenue, Nicastro finds himself adjusting again into his new role as not only the second-best defenseman on the team but also as a leader on a young team in dire need of some good ones.

“Personally, I’m a little bit older now,” Nicastro said. “I’m just trying to be a leader and be a role model both on and off the ice this year.”

One of the first blueliners, Nicastro has taken under his wing has been freshman Garrett Noonan, his linemate in Saturday’s 9-3 exhibition win over University of Toronto.

“He’s a great player,” Nicastro said. “We’ve been getting along well, on and off the ice.”

However, don’t expect Nicastro to team with one of his old linemates, Warsofsky, at least until Noonan and the other freshmen feel more comfortable at Agganis Arena.

“I’m not going to play Nicastro and David together for a little while,” Parker said. “I want the new guys to have a little security blanket with their partner.”

Nicastro and the other veteran defensemen may need a security blanket of their own, however, as they adjust again to a new defensive scheme that is more of a hybrid system than the man-to-man systems that they have played under at BU in the past.

“It takes a while to get into the new system, but so far, I’ve been working on it every day and just getting into the system,” Nicastro said. “It’s going to be something that can really help our team out, getting that one D on the rush is really going to help us out.”

No matter what new role Nicastro finds himself in as the season gets under way, he has the confidence of his award-winning coach going for him.

“I think he’s ready for a [bigger role],” Parker said. “He’s ready for it leadership-wise. He’s eager to embrace that. As far as being a more important guy ice-time-wise and as far as being a leader on this team, he’s only a sophomore, but everybody already knows that he’s one of the guys who’s going to have a say on this team. He’s going to have a say with how he plays and he’s going to have a say in the dressing room and how he conducts himself away from the rink.

“I think he’s vocal, but I think he’s physical on the ice. He comes to play every practice. I think he’s already locked in with what the team rules should be and how we’re going to enforce them. I think he’s done a real good job with all that stuff.”