Month: September 2011

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

In a repeat of an event from two years ago, the Boston University men’s hockey team will wet its feet for the upcoming season with an exhibition game against St. Francis Xavier University at Agganis Arena Saturday.

The game will be the first for the Terriers since losing in the quarterfinals of the Hockey East tournament last season. BU lost only three players – senior goaltender Adam Kraus and senior co-captain Joe Pereira to graduation, and junior defenseman David Warsofsky to professional hockey – from last year’s squad. Senior forward Chris Connolly will return as a second-year captain and will be joined by junior assistant captains Alex Chiasson and Justin Courtnall.

The X-Men are one of Canada’s premiere college hockey teams and last played BU before the 2009-10 season, when the Terriers and X-Men skated to a 2-2 tie. The game will serve as an early indicator for the Terriers as to what their team will look like against tough competition.

“They have been one of the best teams in recent vintage up there,” BU head coach Jack Parker said of the X-Men. “I’ve seen some [Canadian] teams that weren’t quite as good or didn’t take it seriously, but these guys are well-coached. They play hard.

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

The Boston University men’s hockey team was picked to finish second in the conference behind Boston College in the preseason coaches poll, Hockey East announced Tuesday at its annual media day.

BU received three first-place votes and 83 points in the poll while BC received seven first-place votes and 88 points. The University of New Hampshire (72 points) and the University of Maine (64 points) rounded out the top four teams in the conference.

BU coach Jack Parker does not like to put much stock into polls, especially preseason polls, but he did note that HE looks to be a competitive conference this season.

“I’m not sure that there’s any clear-cut ‘These two teams or this one team will win the league’ like BC was last year and BU was a couple of years ago,” Parker said. “I think there are an awful lot of good teams in our league.”

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Boston University’s men’s hockey team has yet to play a game or get into the full swing of practices, but it already has the beginnings of an injury list.

Redshirt freshman Yasin Cisse will once again get off to a delayed start after suffering a concussion in practice last week. He is still waiting for clearance from doctors to play. Cisse missed all of last season after re-tearing a tendon in his ankle, an injury that the French Canadian forward first suffered from when he played in the United States Hockey League the year before.

“He got a concussion in practice so there’s a limitation that way right now,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “[The ankle] is a day-to-day thing. It’s see how he feels. If it swells up, if it’s bothering him, he’ll have to take a few days off. We haven’t really started day-to-day hard practices so we’ll get a feel for that once he gets cleared from his concussion and really gets going.”

Oft-injured defenseman Ryan Ruikka joins Cisse on the injured list. Ruikka has a hairline fracture in his right foot and will likely be out for at least three weeks. Ruikka missed the first two seasons of his BU career with a shoulder injury in his freshman year and a blown-out knee in his sophomore year. Last season, Ruikka played well through the first half of the season before suffering another shoulder injury that hampered his play in the second half.

“He’s had really hard times and hard luck,” said Parker. “When he’s been healthy, he’s been good. Hopefully we’ll get him healthy here.”

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

The Boston University men’s hockey program added another Massachusetts prospect to its list of recruits with the addition of Marshfield native Mike Moran to the class of 2012, Chris Heisenberg reported on his website. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound forward with a left shot will play this season for the Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League.

Moran recently graduated from the Taft School in Watertown, Conn. where he was a three-sport athlete participating in football, hockey and baseball. The 20-year-old captained the Taft hockey team last season and led Taft in goals with a 13-10-23 scoring line.

Moran is the seventh New England native slated to arrive at BU within the next two years, joining Robbie Baillargeon (Enfield, Conn.), Brendan Collier (Charlestown), Matt Grzelcyk (Charlestown), Marc Hetnik (Chestnut Hill), Sam Kurker (Reading), and Danny O’Regan (Needham).

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

In keeping with its recent trend, Boston University has secured another commitment from a New England native for the fall of 2013, this time from New Canaan, Conn. native Kevin Duane, according to USHR.

A 6-foot-4, 215-pound right winger, Duane racked up 33 points (15 goals and 18 assists) with Brunswick Academy during the 2010-11 season before being selected 157th overall by the Quebec Remparts in the QMJHL draft. He will be a senior at Brunswick this year, and plans on playing with the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL before coming to BU.

Duane has also been a part of the Boston Junior Bruins program. Duane is the fifth 2013 recruit to come from New England, joining right winger Robbie Baillargeon (Enfield, Conn.), forward Danny O’Regan (Needham), and forward Brendan Collier and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (Charlestown).