New goaltenders, promising defensemen and experienced forwards comprise this year’s Boston University men’s hockey team, which is eyeing a seamless transition into the post-John Curry era.
In each of Curry’s three seasons as a starter, BU captured the Beanpot Tournament title and reached the NCAA Tournament. This year’s Terriers, picked to finish third in Hockey East, will ride the performances of sophomore Brett Bennett and senior Karson Gillespie. The tandem is set to anchor a defensive corps that features a host of future National Hockey League blueliners, and a deep group of seasoned forwards is eager to wipe away the memories of last year’s spotty offense.
Forwards
Here’s a relatively safe assumption: BU will score more goals than it did last season.
Considering last year’s struggles, it won’t take much for these Terriers to outdo the 2006-07 crew, which netted 2.5 goals per game in support of Curry.
‘I would find it hard to believe that we won’t be better offensively, because we were so inept last year,’ BU coach Jack Parker said. ‘I’m expecting us to be better offensively. Does that mean we’ll be great offensively? I don’t know, but it won’t take much to be better than we were at home. We didn’t have a very good power play last year, so when you’re not scoring goals at home and not scoring goals on the power play, you’re going to struggle.’
Six of the Terriers’ top eight scorers from a year ago are back in the fold this season. Led by senior Pete MacArthur, the team’s leading returning goal scorer, BU’s top five forwards have each experienced at least one breakout year at the collegiate level. The challenge, Parker said, will be getting the quintet to produce simultaneously.
‘They need to have a senior or junior year like they had during their best year,’ Parker said. ‘[Junior Brandon] Yip had a great freshman year, [junior Chris] Higgins had a great sophomore year, [junior Jason] Lawrence had a pretty good freshman year, and MacArthur’s had three pretty good years, but his best year is still ahead of him.’
After claiming Hockey East Rookie of the Year honors in 2005-06, Yip struggled through an injury-plagued sophomore season, during which he suffered a dislocated shoulder in BU’s home opener and did not return until mid-January. A revitalized Yip, coupled with the expected efforts of his four veteran teammates, could make for a potent attack up front.
‘Yip’s one of the keys,’ Parker said. ‘MacArthur, Higgins, Ewing, Yip and Lawrence need to play up to and beyond their capabilities, and they have a lot of offensive capabilities. They’ve got to step up and be 30-40 point scorers. Somebody’s got to get a 40-point year for us.’
No line combinations have been etched in stone, but that should change once Parker identifies what forwards are best suited to play with each other. In all likelihood, Higgins will center a line flanked by Lawrence and Yip. Ewing and MacArthur are expected to be linemates for a third straight season.
Parker also introduces four rookies to his gifted group of forwards, including NHL draft pick Nick Bonino, Joe Pereira, Victor Saponari and Nye Frontier Classic All-Tournament Team selection Colin Wilson.
‘I’m sure the freshmen will get to play, and play regularly,’ Parker said. ‘On any given night, there might two or three in the lineup. I think some of them will get more time than some upperclassmen, but they’re not going to be more important than [the top five forwards]. The junior and senior classes are going to carry this team.’
Defensemen
How does a national power go about replacing three stalwart defensemen?
Meet Colby Cohen and Kevin Shattenkirk, a pair of Colorado Avalanche draft choices who will help replenish a Terrier defensive unit that lost mainstays Tom Morrow, Kevin Schaeffer and Sean Sullivan to graduation.
‘When you lose three senior defensemen that played as much as they did, you know you’re going to take a step back,’ Parker said. ‘The good part about it is that we’re adding two extremely talented freshmen defensemen. Coming in, they’re probably more skilled than Schaeffer and Morrow were, and probably Sully, too. But they bring no experience or physical play, because they don’t have the maturity you need to be a physical player in this league yet.’
The addition of the touted tandem gives BU one of the most talented defensive corps in Hockey East, as the sophomore duo of Eric Gryba and Brian Strait is back to build on freshmen seasons in which each made more than 35 appearances.
But none of the aforementioned foursome has proven himself at the Division I level, forcing Parker to rely on his veteran blueliners to start the season. Junior Matt Gilroy is BU’s lone returning All-American, and he will serve exclusively as a defender after playing on both sides of the ice last year. Gilroy joins seniors Kevin Kielt, Dan McGoff and Ryan Monaghan as the Terriers’ most experienced defensemen, but the underclassmen are expected to assume key roles by midseason — or perhaps, sooner.
‘Cohen and Shattenkirk will probably make more contributions than the freshman forwards because we need more help on defense,’ Parker said. ‘The reason we recruited both of them is we needed help on the point for the power play, and both can do that very well. They may not get a lot of ice time five-on-five, but they’ll both play on the power play early in the year.’
Goaltenders
The hole is gaping, one no individual could dream of filling.
Bennett, Gillespie and freshman Adam Kraus are not John Curry, and don’t claim to be, but they will be called on to provide solid goaltending for a BU team that has aspirations of advancing to the NCAAs for a fourth straight season.
Despite sitting for three years behind Curry, Gillespie won’t automatically assume the starting spot over Bennett out of seniority. Instead, Parker will begin the season by rotating the two. Whoever emerges will ultimately earn the lion’s share of the playing time.
‘I’m not the type of coach that says, ‘You’ve got to establish a number one guy,” Parker said. ‘But, if you’ve got two good goalies, I don’t think you have to rotate them every night either. If one guy’s on a hot streak, you might play him a few games in a row and then play the next guy for a couple games. I’ve had years where I’ve rotated and had one guy play Friday and one guy play Saturday.’
The minimal collegiate experience of Bennett and Gillespie (11 combined NCAA appearances) is worth noting, but the fact is these aren’t a pair of rookies battling for the right to succeed Curry. As he begins his 35th season behind the bench, Parker understands that though replacing Curry will be the primary focus of Terrier Nation, overall team defense is the true question mark surrounding his squad. Goaltending is just part of that equation.
‘We’ve got guys we’re very confident in and believe can be very good goaltenders,’ Parker said. ‘It’ll be interesting to see who winds up as the number one goalie, because I do believe that both of these guys are very capable.
‘We’re not as nervous as some of the fans might be. We think we’re going to be pretty good [in goal]. Will we get John Curry All-American goalie and Hockey East Player of the Year-type of goaltending? Probably not. But will we get outstanding goaltending every night? I think both of these guys can do that for us.’