20 Questions with BU hockey juniors Doyle Somerby and Robbie Baillargeon

1. What’s been your best memory so far this season?

DS: I think obviously it’s kind of been a tough season with championships … but for me, coming to BU, a premier program, I really like playing against the other big programs that you grow up watching. So when we beat [the University of] Michigan 3-2 [on Nov. 20, 2015], I think we had a band on either side, it was a sold-out crowd, it was really loud. So for me, that was probably one of the most fun games I’ve played at BU, not even just this year.

RB: Either beating Quinnipiac [University on Dec. 12, 2015] or just making the tournament. As of now, making the tournament.

2. What’s the best rink you’ve played in during college that isn’t Agganis?

DS: Personally, I love [the University of] Maine. There’s just something in the air up there. They’re so loud. Freshman year, they had some pretty good chants for us when they were beating us 7-0, so it’s always fun. You know it’s always going to be a packed rink no matter how good they’re doing. 

RB: Michigan. My freshman year, we went to Michigan, and the student section there was filled before warm-ups. And you could hear them yelling. Our locker room was right below where they were. So it was pretty loud. It was a good game.

3. Who’s the toughest player to take a shift against in Hockey East and why?

DS: That’s a tough one.

RB: [Former Boston College forward Johnny] Gaudreau? I guess Gaudreau. Small, shifty, quick. A ton of skill. You might think you have him covered, and then the next thing you know, the puck’s in the back of the net. Definitely, he’s probably one of the best players I’ve seen or played against. Definitely been one of the toughest within my career.

DS: I think there’s certainly a fair share of the small shifty guys, but maybe Devin Shore from Maine. I think he kind of sneaks under the radar there, but I think he was like 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and really strong, and never gave up on any plays. And he was skilled. It was really hard to play against him, and I’m glad he’s gone.

4. What is your least favorite workout or drill?

DS: Oh, get-ups. Get-ups in the weight room. Come on, Robbie.

RB: Yeah, I’d go with them, too. Just one of those annoying exercises that you just don’t like to do, that when you’re done, you’re like, “Wow, I never want to do those again.”

DS: They just take so long.

RB: A long time.

5. Who is your favorite professional athlete that isn’t a hockey player?

RB: Oh, that’s easy. [New England Patriots quarterback] Tom Brady. That was too easy.

DS: Really? Why?

RB: I think what he’s done in his career, just coming in as the 199th pick, just coming in as an underrated player, nobody knew who he was, and now look at him as a Hall of Famer. He just kind of made something of himself. He’s just fun to watch every Sunday. I always watch him. I love to watch him, how he carries himself, how he plays the game, all the emotion that he shows. And I’m a huge Patriots fan, so I kind of got lucky there that they drafted him, but he’s just someone I’ll always continue to watch until he retires.

DS: I’m going to go with [former Patriots linebacker] Tedy Bruschi. I read his book when I was younger, and one of the highlights I watched of the Patriots growing up was the specific play he had that he made an interception against Miami, threw the snow up in the air. That was pretty iconic for the Patriots.

6. Most listened-to song right now, and what is your favorite song of all time?

DS: [Justin] Bieber’s music has been on my playlist.

RB: “Sorry” by Justin Bieber. That’s for me.

DS: “Love Yourself” is definitely right now. I can’t get over it. Favorite song of all time, though? It came up on my iPod this morning … “Fast Train?”

RB: “Fast Car?” Tracy Chapman?

DS: Yeah.

RB: Mine’s probably “Man in the Mirror” [by] Michael Jackson.

7. Favorite place to eat on or near campus, and what is your usual order?

RB: Can it be off campus by like a mile and a half?

DS: That’s like our pregame meal, like every Thursday. We go to Garlic ‘n Lemons, a Mediterranean place down on Harvard Avenue. We go there every night before the game or the night before we leave on trips. I [get the] mixed plate with spicy chicken and beef, tabouleh and rice. I was a pretty picky eater before we went there, but now I love it.

RB: Yeah, been doing that since our freshman year. That’s something we’ve always done, always get the same thing.

8. Of the two of you, what is the other person’s most annoying quality?

RB: He’s always right.

DS: This is for both of us, I guess. I’m going to answer one for myself. Every time, instead of a conversation, it’s an argument. No matter what. No matter what.

RB: Our conversations turn into arguments and then he’s always right.

9. Who’s the better dancer, and what’s your signature move?

RB: Doyle, and the Dougie.

DS: Best is [senior defenseman] Matt Grzelcyk, but yeah.

10. Who on the team has the worst celly?

RB: Oh man, I’m trying to think.

DS: Didn’t [freshman forward Ryan] Cloonan fall this year after one, or did he get tripped? Northeastern [University], his breakaway, he went to celly, and I think he fell. Nah, I don’t want to say Cloonan, that’s mean … [Sophomore defenseman] Brandon Hickey. Brandon Hickey. One hundred percent.

BH: [walking past] For what?

DS: The worst celly on the team after you score a goal.

BH: Worst celly on the team? Are you kidding me?

RB: Maybe [freshman forward] Bobo [Carpenter]. When I saw that [him doing “The Dab”] I was like, come on.

11. What’s the weirdest thing you have in your dorm room?

RB: I don’t think it’s weird, but I got a guitar for my birthday. So I’ve got that in my room.

DS: A dreamcatcher?

RB: Yeah, I think I’ll go with that. I’ve never really been a musician, but I’m starting to become one.

12. Biggest fear?

RB: Spiders. Spiders or snakes, definitely.

DS: Heights.

RB: Me too.

DS: Scariest thing I’ve ever done is the CN Tower in Toronto, with that glass floor. I almost started crying.

RB: Quicksand.

DS: Oh, that’s a good one.

13. If you could hang out with one fictional character, who would it be?

DS: The Hulk. I’m trying to embody him a little bit, I guess.

RB: I don’t know if this is fictional, but like, the “Entourage” crew?

DS: That’s real.

RB: They’re real actors, but those people don’t exist.

DS: All right.

RB: Are you kidding me? They have the sickest life.

DS: Isn’t that Mark Wahlberg’s life?

RB: It’s roughly based around it. Loosely based around it. There’s no Vince in real life.

DS: I’ll stick with my Hulk.

RB: I’ll stick with the Entourage crew.

14. Which TV series have you watched from start to finish?

RB: Oh yeah, I think I’ve watched [“Entourage”] three or four times, maybe four? I think me and my friends, I’m on the fourth round now, I want to say. It’s just one of my favorite shows. I could probably pick any episode and can name any line in the show. But I have all eight seasons on DVD, got an HBO account, so I can watch it whenever I want.

DS: “Entourage,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Prison Break” was one that I watched recently. I watched that whole thing. I was kind of rattled on the last season. And then “Law and Order: SVU.” Seen every one of those.

15. Favorite cartoon as a child?

RB: This is easy. “Rocket Power.” I used to watch that before school every morning. I’m kind of upset that they stopped showing it. But that was definitely mine.

DS: I didn’t get to see a lot growing up, but I liked “Rocket Power.” Probably “Hey Arnold.”

16. What’s your favorite scene in “Miracle?”

RB: That’s so funny you just asked that. I watched a clip today, the speech, Herb [Brooks’s] speech before the game. I don’t know how I came across it, but I was on YouTube in study hall and I came across it, so I clicked it. Definitely that one’s mine.

DS: Maybe the bar scene, when they’re arguing about whose side he’s on. That one’s always fun because one of our buddies back home is really good at reenacting that one with the accent. Or OC’s [Jack O’Callahan’s] hit, BU guy.

17. What’s the worst trip you’ve ever been on?

RB: [University of] Notre Dame, freshman year. The plane ride, we were on a plane for 15 hours. No, it was like 10 hours or something ridiculous. We didn’t even get to Notre Dame until the next day. We got swept, didn’t score a goal and then didn’t leave until the next day. So it was just kind of a pretty [bad] weekend, I guess … I think the USA women’s team lost a gold medal the day we were flying out there. Just kind of a weekend you don’t want to remember.

DS: Second that one, absolutely.

18. What are the top three things on your bucket list?

DS: This one’s going to sound weird because I said heights, but I want to either bungee jump or go skydiving. I don’t really know why, but that’s one of them. I want to travel Europe for a while. I’ve been there. I went to France when I was younger, with my grandfather. I want to go back. And then win a national championship.

RB: Second that one, that’s probably the No. 1. I want to learn how to fly. My dad was a pilot. I’ve kind of always been interested in it. Just being able to fly, just a plane, would be pretty cool. Yeah, definitely go to Europe. I’ve only been to Canada, so I kind of want to go to a different country, and when I went to Canada, it was only for hockey. So just take a vacation outside of the U.S. and Canada.

19. Most embarrassing hockey-related moment?

RB: This is going to sound weird, but my first preseason game of juniors, my first year, I had to take the ACT in the morning, which you don’t want to do. I was in Indianapolis and we had a game in Chicago, so one of the teachers at the school, who was a billet at the time, was going to drive all the high schoolers up because all the high schoolers were taking the ACT … After the ACT was done, we went and got our bags at the rink, and then a teammate of mine drove me to the teacher’s house and the other three guys got their own ride. And we went inside, and we were playing pool for a little bit, kind of waiting for her to finish up some work, and she kind of rushed us a bit. We got in her car and drove off, and I forgot to put my bag in her car … So I forgot my bag to pretty much my first game of juniors, kind of funny, because instead of playing, I was scratched and was going to play the next game. But it was a rough way to start the preseason there. I guess thanks to the ACT there for that one.

DS: Not a whole bag, but I forgot my skates my eighth grade year at St. Mary’s [High School in Lynn], so I started getting dressed and realized I didn’t have my skates. That was pretty brutal.

20. Personal goals for the NCAA Tournament?

RB: Just make sure the team wins. That’s pretty much it. I think that’s what everyone’s just trying to do right now — do whatever they can to make sure that we win, to get back to the Frozen Four, get back to that final game and, this time, come out on top.

DS: Just whatever it takes to win, just not feel the way we felt last year. Not let the freshman class feel that way. They’re a big part of our success, but just take what we learned last year and hopefully we can bring it back this year.