Senior moments

In the locker room following the Boston University men’s ice hockey team’s season-ending loss to the University of Maine, then-senior forward Luke Popko and then-junior forward Joe Pereira sat next to each other without much to say. Popko was not moving. He seemed reluctant to take off his jersey because once he did, it would mean his four years of hockey at BU were actually over.

That scene stuck with Pereira, who now serves as a captain for the Terriers. Pereira and the only other senior on the team, goaltender Adam Kraus, are the last two remnants of an originally seven-member class.

Both are 23 years old, neither were drafted and this season, both are attempting to get the 2010-11 version of the Terriers back to playing BU hockey following an underwhelming effort from the team last season.

If there is anybody on the team that is right for that job, it is Kraus and Pereira. Their personalities balance each other well. Pereira is an energetic player with a quick wit but also an awareness of when to be serious. Kraus is well spoken and calm, and, despite only playing in four career games, still maintains a positive attitude.

Most importantly, they both have experience. They were on the team for the 2007-08 season when the Terriers had a bad year and lost in the Hockey East semifinals to the University of Vermont. They were also, of course, on the team for the next season, when BU came back to win the NCAA championship.

And then there was last season, when the effort and will to win simply was not there. This season, Pereira and Kraus are drawing on the examples set by those three senior classes in order to get this team on the right track.

“[This season] is kind of similar to how things were our freshman year to sophomore year,” Kraus said. “At the end of the day, we didn’t perform on the ice, so we’re just kind of starting things over. It’s a new team this year, and we’re doing our best with this team.”

One of their biggest sources of inspiration comes from former Terrier Brandon Yip, who now plays for the Colorado Avalanche. Yip scored 31 points in 39 games during his freshman season and was named Hockey East Rookie of the Year. For the next two seasons, however, Yip struggled with off-ice issues and injuries. For his senior year, Yip returned more determined than ever and scored 43 points in 45 games to help the team win a national championship.

“I think out of [the 2009 senior class], Yip showed the most m¡aturation,” Kraus said. “Yip just had such a total change in attitude and was working so hard and was so focused. That’s why he had such a good year. It’s because his dedication was just so strong.”

Pereira and Kraus also noted how the seniors that season kept everybody in check through leading by example.

“Those guys, every day, were the hardest workers, the most focused and the most determined,” Kraus said. “That becomes really contagious. When you’re a younger guy and you see the seniors are working the hardest, then you’re going to want to keep up with them, and you just don’t want to let them down.”

“Yeah, like [John McCarthy] was a guy you just didn’t want to let down,” Pereira added, interrupting Kraus mid-sentence. “It’s like when you let your mom down or something. You never wanted to let Johnny Mac down. He would just give you the worst face and you would just feel so guilty like, “I let him down.'”

That type of leadership clearly worked for the 2008-09 team, which won more games and tournament championships than any BU hockey team in history.

While that success of the 2008-09 team did not translate into a good year last season, Pereira and Kraus said they learned a lot about leadership from last season’s senior class. Aside from learning a thing or two about how not to behave off the ice, Pereira and Kraus also learned about the importance of looking only at what is in front of them.

“We’re going up a hill,” Pereira said. “You can’t take a leap up a hill. You have to go step-by-step, step-by-step.

“Adam put up on the board one-six. We’re one-sixth of the way right now. We’ve got five more championships to get done, but there’s also a lot of little things you gotta do in between those. So we just keep coming to the rink every day, getting better with the right attitude and the right mindset.”

Kraus and Pereira are not the only elders guiding the team through those five championships left. The Terriers have a couple of juniors, co-captain Chris Connolly and forward Kevin Gilroy, who are older than Kraus. Then there are redshirt sophomores Ross Gaudet and Ryan Ruikka, both of whom are 22, and junior defenseman David Warsofsky, who is only 20 but is an assistant captain.

“We’ve got some guys who are a little older to be mature leaders and who have gotten years of experience under their belt to show everyone else the way,” Kraus said.

Kraus and Pereira also still bounce ideas off their five departed classmates: Colin Wilson, Nick Bonino, Colby Cohen, Kevin Shattenkirk and Victor Saponari. Saponari remains the most present because, although he was dismissed from the team after last season, he remains at BU to finish his degree in the School of Management.

“He’s still great friends with all of us, and we’re still great friends with him,” Kraus said. “He hangs out with us all the time, and he’s still very much a part of our class.”

Their other four classmates left BU to pursue their professional careers, but they all still try to talk to each other at least once a week. According to Pereira, they are also planning on taking a senior class vacation together after the season ends.

“We’re planning on Colin taking us on a senior-class vacation since he makes the most money out of all of us,” Pereira said. “He’s kind of stingy with his money, but I’m sure we can talk him into it.”

Pereira and Kraus don’t appear to be in any rush to go on that vacation, though. For now, it looks like their main focus is on wearing the scarlet-and-white jersey for as long as possible.