The Boston University men’s hockey team climbed to No. 3 in both national polls this week following its sweep of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. The Terriers picked up seven of 50 first-place votes in the USCHO.com poll and topped four of 34 ballots in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
One of the teams BU leapfrogged was archrival Boston College, which fell from second to fourth in both polls after splitting a weekend series against Merrimack College. The Terriers sit a mere point ahead of the Eagles in the USCHO poll and are just four points better in the USA Today poll. BU’s next opponent, the University of Maine, is ranked seventh in both polls after beating the University of Vermont on the road.
The Terriers’ 6-0-1 record matches them with the 2001-02 squad for the program’s best start in the last 32 years and makes them the first BU team to have six wins at the end of October. When they host the Black Bears on Saturday night, the Terriers will be looking to become the first BU team to go undefeated through eight games since the 1977-78 national championship squad got off to a ridiculous 21-0-0 start.
Five of BU’s wins have been by a single goal and four have been come-from-behind victories. Last year, the Terriers had just five come-from-behind wins for the whole season and didn’t record their sixth win until Jan. 8 — more than two months later than this year.
Discussing the issue
BU coach Jack Parker and several other Division-I coaches will meet with National Hockey League representatives next Tuesday to discuss the rising trend of NHL teams signing college players before their eligibility is up, according to The St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press.
“College hockey has been under assault,” Paul Kelly, the executive director of College Hockey Inc., told the paper. “It used to be hard to keep your highly skilled players for three years. Now it’s two years, and sometimes one. You’re constantly recruiting; you have to re-create your team.”
In the last two offseasons, the Terriers have seen Colin Wilson (Nashville Predators), Nick Bonino (Anaheim Ducks), Kevin Shattenkirk (Colorado Avalanche) and Colby Cohen (Colorado) all depart early.
Kelly said in the article that the NHL’s current collective bargaining agreement, which introduced a salary cap after the 2004-05 lockout, has made inexpensive talent more necessary than ever. Poaching college players can provide cheap depth and allow teams to devote more of their salary to elite players.
When the CBA comes up for renegotiation after the 2011-12 season, Kelly, Parker and others in college hockey would like to see the NHL better regulate the signing of college players. The Pioneer Press mentions the possibility of a system similar to what the NHL has with Canada’s elite junior leagues. NHL teams aren’t allowed to send junior players under the age of 20 to the minors &- they must either keep the player for the whole season or return him to his junior team after 10 games.
The biggest obstacle there is that a player automatically loses NCAA eligibility if he signs a pro contract, so there would have to be some sort of agreement allowing the player to play 10 NHL games without actually signing a contract.
Other college coaches reported to be attending the meeting are Harvard University’s Ted Donato, University of Wisconsin’s Mike Eaves and University of Minnesota’s Don Lucia.
“It’s complicated,” Lucia told The Pioneer Press. “I think the good news is they want to try to help, and we want to find solutions that are beneficial to everybody. I think they understand they want college hockey to be viable, too. That’s a strong feeder program.
“There’s only so much you can do, but let’s see if we can find some common ground that can be beneficial to all sides.”
Looking to the future
Two BU recruits will participate in the World Junior A Challenge that begins Saturday in British Columbia. Cason Hohmann, a 2011 forward, will play for the United States and Robert Polesello, a 2012 forward, will compete for Canada East.
Hohmann, currently playing for the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) RoughRiders, leads the United States Hockey League in goals with seven in seven games and is second in points with 11. Polesello has eight goals and seven assists in 11 games for the Vaughan Vipers of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, placing him fifth on the team despite missing five games.
Elsewhere in the world of Terrier recruits, 2011/12 goalie Matthew O’Connor, playing for the Youngstown (Ohio) Phantoms, leads the USHL in minutes played (564:46), is tied for third in wins (4), is 17th in goals-against average (2.87) and is 14th in save percentage (.908).
Alexx Privitera, a 2011 defenseman playing for the Muskegon (Mich.) Lumberjacks of the USHL, has two goals and six assists in eight games. Matt Grzelcyk, a 2013 defenseman, has three assists in five games for the US Under-17 Team.
Adam Erne, a 2013 forward, has a goal and two assists in eight games with the Indiana Ice of the USHL. Lastly, 2014 defenseman Anthony DeAngelo, the youngest player in USHL history, has a goal and two assists in four games as Hohmann’s teammate in Cedar Rapids.
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