Ice Hockey, Sports

Sam Kurker leaves men’s hockey team

Sophomore forward Sam Kurker has left the Boston University men’s hockey team, a source confirmed with The Daily Free Press.

The move comes about a month after the Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey League added Kurker to their roster. He is believed to be headed there to continue his hockey career.

When BU (7-11-2, 2-5-1 Hockey East) returned from its winter break earlier this month, coach David Quinn laughed off the idea that Kurker was going to leave the Terriers in favor of juniors, saying that both Kurker and freshman wing Brendan Collier, who was also added to a USHL roster in December, were “pissed.”

“There was nothing to it from [the players’] end of it, there was nothing to it from our end of it,” Quinn said on Jan. 2. “I know people raise an eyebrow when they see it, but you will see them both in the lineup for BU at Harvard against Harvard.

“It didn’t really matter to me and it didn’t really matter to them. It is just something that happens in the hockey world and you just move on from it. People probably look at rosters and think, ‘Hey, he’s not playing a lot. Maybe he will jump.’ There was nothing to it.”

Kurker, who has struggled to stay in the lineup this season, played in the Terriers’ most recent game, Saturday against the University of Maine at Frozen Fenway, a 7-3 loss. He was the fourth-line center, registering zero shots while taking his seventh penalty of the season.

He had one goal and no assists in 12 games this season.

The midseason departure comes at a bad time for the Terriers, who are 0-5-1 in their last six games. They have not won since a Nov. 30matchup with Cornell University at Madison Square Garden, and have been outscored by a combined 18-9 in three games in 2014.

BU is also without senior forward Jake Moscatel, junior forward Evan Rodrigues and sophomore defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, all of whom are out injured and have no public timetable to return.

That leaves Quinn with 17 healthy skaters. A college hockey team usually plays 18.

A Reading resident and St. John’s Prep product, Kurker was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the second round (56th overall) in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He collected five points (three goals, two assists) in 35 games during his freshman campaign.

The Boston College Hockey Blog was the first to report the news.

The Kurker family declined to comment.

 

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