If Jack Parker gets déjà vu filling out his lineup card for Saturday’s season opener against Providence College, no one could really blame him. The 40-year Boston University men’s hockey coach finds himself in a position similar to one he was in four years ago: choosing between two goalies.
Just like last time, both are freshmen. Both are Canadian. One is tall and lanky, the other a couple inches shorter. One is even donning 31 on the back of his jersey. And just like last time, someone will need to emerge if the Terriers are to be contenders.
Then, it was Kieran Millan and Grant Rollheiser. Now, it’s Sean Maguire and Matt O’Connor.
“They both were highly sought, highly recruited guys,” Parker said of the 2012-13 season’s pair. “When we recruited them, we were absolutely ecstatic that we got both of them knowing that one of them or both of them would be our goaltender this year. Either one is capable of stepping in and taking over for us.”
Maguire reigns from Powell River, British Columbia, and the Pittsburgh Penguins selected him in the fourth round (113th overall) in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He spent the last two seasons with his hometown British Columbia Hockey League team, the Kings, putting up a 2.39 goals–against average and .910 save percentage.
O’Connor followed a slightly different path, opting to play with the Youngstown Phantoms of the United States Hockey League the last two years. He had a 3.04 goals–against average and .902 save-percentage, but it wasn’t enough for the Toronto native to get drafted.
Which of the two will step in and take over remains to be seen. What is known, though, is Parker’s plans to rotate the pair every game, just as he did last time around with Millan and Rollheiser.
That plan worked fine in 2008 — until Rollheiser got hurt in late November. With the starting job in hand, Millan caught fire and led the Terriers to the 2009 national championship.
Rollheiser got hurt again early in the 2009-10 season, giving his counterpart a chance for an encore and setting the stage for him to become one of the best goalies in the history of the BU hockey program.
Millan finished his four-year career as the school record holder in saves (3,768), playing time (8188:16 minutes) and wins (81), among numerous other accolades. Rollheiser played 31 games.
It’s hard to predict cruel twists of fate like Rollheiser’s injuries, but the fact that the Class of 2012 left big shoes to fill — and big questions marks to answer — isn’t lost on Maguire and O’Connor.
“It’s definitely a tough act to follow,” Maguire, who coincidentally is wearing Millan’s old number 31, said. “They were a national championship team. Millan was rookie of the year. It’s going to be a battle.”
Rather than being intimidated, though, both freshmen are eager to rise to the challenge. Both understand they will split time in the crease at the beginning, and they even see such a plan as beneficial to all involved.
“It just allows you to compete during the week. Before you play a team with a different color, it always helps you to just have someone to raise the bar,” O’Connor said. “When you get too comfortable out there … you can get a little relaxed. I’m not saying that that could be something negative, but it’s nice to have competition. It’s definitely a positive when you have someone pushing you like that.”
Maguire agreed, and went as far to say a goalie of O’Connor’s caliber committing before him helped him make the decision to come to BU. The competition and companionship are that valuable.
The team’s third goalie, junior Anthony Moccia, more than likely won’t compete for the starting job. Parker said he could be a player for the backup spot, but no matter Moccia’s position on the depth chart he has a certain, informal role as a tutor.
“Moccia’s a really good guy,” O’Connor said. “He’s upbeat, and he’s a real hard worker, so it’s nice to have him show us around a bit and show us how things work our first year coming in.”
If it were as simple as using each other to bring out the best, every team would consistently use two goalies. There are, of course, potential negative consequences.
Someone could get rusty, especially if he has to go two weeks between games. Someone could have trouble working into a grove. Or someone could let a bad game followed by a long wait hamper his mental game, a factor Maguire said he needs to work on.
Once in a while, though, a team will strike gold and neither goalie will let up. Just ask Brian Durocher, the head coach of the BU women’s hockey team.
“If someone separates themselves, you make the move [and choose a starter]. If not, then you can go right down and pretty much run the table with two kids alternating,” Durocher said. “They advantages would be from a team camaraderie [standpoint]. Sometimes you got both these guys working hard, you got both these guys competing against each other.”
Durocher would know.
During the 1977–78 season, Parker — then in the dawn of his head coaching career — platooned Durocher and Jim Craig, who went on to be the goaltender for the “Miracle on Ice” U.S. hockey team at the 1980 Winter Olympics. Craig went a perfect 16–0 while Durocher was 14–2 en route to a Terrier national championship.
“It didn’t hurt Jimmy Craig that he didn’t play every game,” Parker said. “What you don’t want is to have a No. 1 and a real distant No. 2 and that No. 1 gets hurt. So the ideal situation is to have two guys who are both real good.”
Whether this year looks more like 1977 or 2008 or something else entirely, nobody knows. What all parties do know, however, is that no matter how it turns out they all have the same goal: win, and win often.
“Every goalie’s goal is to play every game,” O’Connor said. “That being said, who knows what’ll happen. It’ll be up to everyone to see and I think Parker’s going to give us an opportunity.
“It’s nice to know that I have a good relationship with Sean and we have a good tandem here. We’re looking forward to really helping out the team and being a good tandem in Hockey East.”
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