With about seven minutes left in the Boston University men’s ice hockey team’s 5-4 win over the University of Maine Saturday, forward David Van der Gulik showed exactly what he brings to this team.
As a Maine forward wound up to unleash a rocket of a slapshot from the left slot, Van der Gulik stepped in no more than six feet away, puffed out his chest and took the full brunt of the shot to his sternum. A moment later, he lay on the ice almost motionless until a trainer came to see him and two teammates helped him to the bench.
Yet, as scary as the sight was – “kind of a stinger” Van der Gulik called it – there was hardly, if any, doubt that the Terriers’ senior co-captain would return. And he did, of course, skating almost effortlessly on the next shift.
This is David Van der Gulik. A talented left wing for the Terriers, Van der Gulik has compiled an impressive career thus far at BU, one that’s defined by many things: leadership, hard-nosed play, an unsurpassed knack for defense. But three things may stand out the most.
There’s his scoring – he led the team in points last season with 31, in goals with 13 the year before and all BU freshmen in scoring his rookie year with 20 points.
There are also his injuries – a leg injury his freshman year, a painful hip pointer as a sophomore and a chronic injury that left him in pain through all 41 games last year, also forcing him to miss the first 16 this season.
But above all that, there’s also his resiliency.
“He’s definitely the toughest kid on the team, and, you know, he won’t let you know about it,” said junior goalie John Curry. “He’s not moping around, he’s not complaining or whining about any type of injury. He’s injured all the time pretty much and he’s really been toughing it out. All of last year, we find out now that he was battling through all this stuff.”
And battle is what he’s done now more than ever. As he led BU to an NCAA Tournament berth last season, Van der Gulik fought through excruciating pain – unbeknownst to most of his teammates – every time he skated.
He finished the season and was later diagnosed with osteitis pubis, or inflammation of the pubic bone, a chronic disorder that kept the 22-year-old off skates for nearly eight months.
He then made his return on Dec. 30 in a 4-2 win over Merrimack College. In that game, he ripped off a game-high eight shots, assisted on the game winner and sent a resounding message that he was here to stay on one of his first shifts, when he put a Merrimack defenseman on his back with a huge check.
“There were definite doubts that I was going to make it back,” Van der Gulik said following that game. “I kinda just had to go by how my body was feeling, and my body was feeling really, really up and down through the first semester until maybe the last month I started feeling pretty good and I was skating again.
“But still I wasn’t really at the level to compete. Really just the last few weeks I’ve been at the point where I was practicing hard and I knew I was definitely coming back for the second half.”
But even now he’s not injury-free. Besides the usual soreness that comes with returning to the ice, only weeks before his return, Van der Gulik was diagnosed with a “sports hernia,” a tear in his abdominal wall that pokes into his intestines. It’s the same well-publicized injury that ended the season of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.
Yet Van der Gulik is still playing and more importantly, contributing loads to a Terrier team that is starting to turn it around. Since his return, BU is 4-1 and jumped to a No. 16 ranking in the USCHO.com national poll after reeling off a season-high three straight wins. He’s added depth, toughness and leadership, three things that would have most certainly changed BU’s sub-.500 record heading into winter break.
“The things he does out there is unbelievable for us,” said fellow captain and linemate, Brad Zancanaro. “And even though he hasn’t scored a goal for us yet, it’s not that that’s made this team better. It’s all the little things that he does.”
Those little things include blocking pucks and “bringing a big presence to the locker room,” defenseman Kevin Schaeffer said after the Merrimack game. It also includes the spark Van der Gulik sent through the team just by being there.
“The way we were struggling in the first half, it was something to look forward to,” Curry said of Van der Gulik’s return. “We were all looking for something to get excited about, because it was tough to get excited about our record or anything like that. So just to have him back was like a new beginning, a new start, a second chance.
“It’s almost like a new season and a new team with him in there.”
Van der Gulik is still limited in what he can do in the weight room and still feels the added soreness after each game. But after months of rehab, injections for the osteitis pubis, visits with doctors and specialists, waiting and watching, it’s something that he won’t let hamper his aggressive style.
Following the Merrimack game, BU coach Jack Parker admitted that he wanted to be cautious with Van der Gulik’s return to the lineup. He hoped to sit him out against the Warriors, then play him one game the following weekend and then only one the next so he wouldn’t have to play on back-to-back nights.
“Then [Van der Gulik] said, ‘Why don’t you let me play this weekend, then let me play Friday night next weekend and then see how I feel. I probably can play Saturday too,'” Parker said.
Needless to say, Van der Gulik hasn’t missed a game since and appears to only be getting stronger. He won’t admit that he’s helped the team that much because he is goalless, but his teammates and coaches know better.
“He’s had, what, nine months off now? He’s obviously going to be a little rusty,” Zancanaro said. “He’s got the skill obviously and he’s been our leading goal scorer for two years.
“I don’t see that changing all that much.”