Transcripts from Tuesday’s practice

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

I had just started writing my preview of the Merrimack game when I got the email that it was canceled. No reason to preview a game that is now a week away, but we got some good stuff from Parker today that is unrelated to Merrimack, so I decided to post some of those transcripts anyway. Parker’s quotes are in italics.

After Sunday’s lackluster 4-2 win at Vermont, Parker said his team “can’t seem to get ready for games or care that much to give us an effort for 60 minutes.” Last year, he made similar statements and one of the reasons he kept citing for it was a lack of leadership from the upperclassmen. But this season, he has said all year that he has been happy with the leadership. In fact, when we brought it up today, he interrupted us with, “Real happy with our leadership.” So what is causing it this year?

I think it’s just some immaturity. I think it’s some guys, certainly not the upperclassmen, but some of the sophomores and maybe a few of the freshmen thinking that we’re going to play volleyball instead of getting ready to play a game. I already talked to the sophomore class to see if I can get some of those guys on the right page.

Alex Chiasson, a sophomore himself, has been outspoken when we have talked to him this year about guys not being ready to go. On Sunday, he said, “I think guys think everything’s going to come easy” and “I don’t think all the guys are ready to play.” Does he stand out as an exception?

Alex Chiasson is not one of those guys. He gets ready to play. When he loses, it hurts. When he wins, he’s happy, but he’s not ecstatic because he knows we’ve got another game coming up.

Last year, you said you were worried that the freshmen on that team were picking up bad habits because of the lack of leadership, and that they would have to learn this year that that is not how a BU hockey team operates. Is that part of the problem with the sophomore class?

I think it is. I think it could be a problem. We’re going to try and nip it in the butt.

We also asked a little bit more about the dismissal of Andrew Glass. How is the team reacting to it?

We’ve moved on. They understand that it’s a hard thing for him and they liked him as a player, but they understand why he’s not on the team, too. There’s nobody who’s… we’ve moved on.

In the last few years, you have dismissed four players from the program (Brett Bennett, Victor and Vinny Saponari, and now Glass), and handed down several other suspensions of various lengths. Do you think that has an effect on recruiting?

I hope it has a positive effect on recruiting. People know that their kids are going to be surrounded by the right type of kids, kids that really want to win and kids that really work hard. The Saponari thing and the Glass thing couldn’t be farther apart in terms of the rationale for dismissal. Completely different situations. I don’t think there’s any one specific thing that’s the reason why, that everybody goes because of this.

We haven’t had a history of doing this very often. Sometimes we do it and we’re right. Sometimes we do it and we get accosted by the team and they say, ‘Hey, you’re making a mistake here,’ and we change our minds. We’re very, very comfortable with the decisions we’ve made with the Saponaris and with, and I don’t mean this, with Glass… it’s hard on them, it’s hard on their families, it’s not the greatest thing in the world. But there’s been more than enough time to straighten that problem out, and when problems don’t get straightened out, it’s time to move on.

Will Glass get to keep his scholarship?

He’ll keep his scholarship.

Will it still count against the limit next year?

No, next year that lets up. He can graduate this summer, actually. He will not have to pay to graduate BU, I can guarantee you that. And that’s not the reason why we… you know. We’re in the business of graduating kids, and he’s a good student.

We also asked about the latest NHL Central Scouting rankings for North American skaters, which featured several BU players and recruits, including freshman forward Matt Nieto at No. 55 and freshman defenseman Adam Clendening at No. 61 — both much lower than the first-round range many people had been projecting for them before the season. What were your thoughts on the rankings?

Not only do I have no thoughts about what Central Scouting does, the NHL has no thoughts about what Central Scouting does. It doesn’t matter what Central Scouting does. They don’t draft anybody. Their opinions don’t matter. What matters is all you have to do is have one team like you. If that team likes you, they’ll draft you. I’m not sure why they have Central Scouting, to tell you the truth, when all the teams are so good at what they do scouting-wise.