2010-11 BU hockey season preview

For the second straight season, it may take a while to learn the true identity of the No. 14 Boston University men’s hockey team. The Terriers followed a national championship campaign with a disappointing 18-17-3 record and a frustrating 5-2 loss to the University of Maine in the Hockey East semifinals.

To make things more difficult, the team has lost five forwards and three defensemen from last year’s squad &- three to graduation, three to the professional ranks and the other two to team dismissal. Those veterans will be replaced by eight new freshmen, meaning that the Terriers will be as young and inexperienced as they’ve been in years.

Nonetheless, BU was picked fourth in the preseason by HE coaches and has undergone a drastic change in both leadership and attitude, leaving plenty of room for optimism heading into Friday’s opening game at the Ice Breaker tournament in St. Louis.

Forwards

Among the departed forwards from last year’s squad are Nick Bonino, Zach Cohen, Victor and Vinny Saponari and Luke Popko. Bonino, Cohen and Vinny Saponari provided various levels of offensive output for the team a year ago, while Popko was the team’s go-to center on the penalty kill.

While nobody returning on this year’s squad can match Popko’s defensive reputation, the team should be in solid shape when it comes to defending up top in its own zone.

Junior Corey Trivino and sophomore Wade Megan both thrilled coach Jack Parker with their defensive play from the pivot last year, and the team has plenty of experienced options at the wing.

Replacing the offensive output of Bonino, Cohen and Vinny Saponari is another challenge. Junior co-captain Chris Connolly (10 goals, 21 assists) is the team’s most dangerous returning forward while senior co-captain Joe Pereira (5 g, 16 a) and redshirt sophomore Ross Gaudet (10 g, 2 a) both emerged as surprising offensive options a year ago.

The team will also expect bigger contributions from the likes of Trivino (4 g, 11 a), Megan (5 g, 7 a), sophomore Alex Chiasson (7 g, 12 a) and sophomore Ryan Santana (0 g, 1 a), all of whom have been endorsed by the Terrier coaching staff as players capable of scoring points in HE.

If the BU offense is going to succeed in 2010-11 though, there’s no question the pressure is on the team’s highly touted freshman class. East Weymouth native Charlie

Coyle performed well enough in camp to earn first-line duties with Connolly and Pereira in last Saturday’s exhibition, and his three goals and an assist have Terrier Nation drooling over his potential.

Beyond Coyle, Matt Nieto also arrives on BU with first-round talent, even though the winger isn’t eligible for the NHL draft until next summer. The Long Beach, Calif., native tallied 54 points (28 g, 26 a) in 61 games with the U.S. National Under-18 Team last year, and looked very comfortable working alongside Megan on BU’s second unit last Saturday.

Defense

Thanks to the graduation of Eric Gryba and the early departures of Kevin Shattenkirk and Colby Cohen to the pros, defense is arguably the biggest question facing this year’s BU squad.

“Right now, that’s the place that looks like the biggest hole on the team because we lost so many guys that were so experienced there,” Parker said. “We don’t have a senior. We only have one junior. But I think there’s a lot of talent there, so it should be fun to watch.”

The leaders of the group are junior assistant captain David Warsofsky, whom Parker said he expects to be “one of the best players in the league,” and sophomore Max Nicastro, whom Parker described as “a real top prospect” who “could be a force in this league.”

Warsofsky, a 2008 fourth-round NHL pick who had his rights traded to the Boston Bruins this summer, finished last season with 12 goals, 11 assists and a plus-4 rating.

Nicastro, a 2008 third-round pick, notched three goals, 12 assists and a plus-2 rating in his rookie campaign. Sophomore Sean Escobedo, a hard-hitting, stay-at-home defender who played in all 38 games last season, also returns.

The most exciting new name on the blue line is freshman Adam Clendening, who had three assists in Saturday’s 9-3 exhibition win over the University of Toronto and projects to be a first-round pick in next summer’s NHL draft.

“Clendening is a guy that looks like he’s going to get a lot of ice time as a freshman,” Parker said. “He looks like he could really be something special on the power play.”

The other two spots in the lineup are up for grabs in a competition between four players — freshmen Garrett Noonan and Patrick MacGregor, redshirt sophomore Ryan Ruikka and sophomore Ben Rosen, who played nine games last year and could also see some time at forward this season.

Ruikka is the most interesting name in that group. He redshirted his freshman year after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in the preseason, and then missed all of last year after tearing both his menisci and an ACL during training.

“He deserves the chance to play,” Parker said. “He’s a capable player, a physical player.”

Goaltending

The Terriers have three netminders on their roster, but the starting job is undoubtedly junior Kieran Millan’s to lose.

Now two seasons removed from leading BU to a national championship, Millan will look to return to his freshman-year form when he posted a minute goals-against average of 1.94 and a save percentage of .921. In 2009-10, the Edmonton native saw those numbers balloon and shrink respectively to 3.15 and .891.

However, those latest numbers are more indicative of a difficult first half of the season than the season as a whole.

The second half saw Millan put up some of his best performances as a Terrier, including a career-high 42 saves against Boston College in a 5-4 overtime win on Jan. 22 and a 3-0 shutout of Merrimack College in Game 3 of the HE quarterfinals.

“He was somewhat inconsistent last year, but his consistency came back in the second half,” Parker said. “Three out of the four semesters we’ve had him here he’s been terrific for us, and we’re hoping for him to do the same.”

However, two other goalies will challenge Millan for ice time. Junior Grant Rollheiser and senior Adam Kraus could each see time on a rotating basis, according to Parker.

Rollheiser saw action in seven games last season and went undefeated (2-0-3) in his first five starts before Millan took over the netminding job for good. However, with the team suffering key losses on the blue line, Rollheiser (3.39, .876) also saw his production dip slightly last season.

Kraus has received ice time in just five games in his NCAA career, with none of those games coming after his freshman year in 2007-08. He made eight saves on 11 shots in BU’s 9-3 exhibition win over the University of Toronto last Saturday.

“We’d like to be able to rotate guys,” Parker said. “We’ve got three guys to choose from. Adam’s a senior, and we’d like to get him in there and show what he can do. Those who play well will be rewarded with further play.”