When Brian McConnell first put on a scarlet and white sweater on Oct. 13, 2001, the Boston University hockey team was trying to start over.

When Captain Brian McConnell puts on his scarlet and white sweater for the first time this October, the Icedogs will be trying again to start over.

BU coach Jack Parker tagged McConnell as the team captain for 2004-05 at Saturday’s hockey banquet. According to Parker, the decision came in a nearly unanimous vote of the players, as only McConnell’s own ballot did not include his name.

McConnell will not only welcome one of the most highly touted recruiting classes in recent memory, but will have to help the team adjust to a goaltender not named Sean Fields, an arena not named Walter Brown and a team trying to recover from a disappointing year.

“That was one thing we tried to communicate to the freshman all year – that this is not the way it is. That this is not acceptable, basically,” McConnell said. “We’ve already started working out real hard and doing everything we can to make sure that this doesn’t happen and show the freshman how it really is around here.”

Six other awards were handed out Saturday. Fields was named Most Valuable Player, Dan Spang earned best defenseman and Dave Van der Gulik received the Eilberg Scholarship for athletic and academic achievement. Steve Greeley received the Sprit Award, Spang and Tom Morrow shared the Most Improved Player Award and Matt Radoslovich earned the Unsung Hero Award.

-Steve Moore