By Tim Healey/DFP Staff
AMHERST — The No. 9/11 Boston University men’s hockey team only played one game on Friday, but it suffered a pair of losses.
Just hours before visiting University of Massachusetts — a game the Terriers went on to lose, 5-1, with a very poor showing — the team announced freshman forward Wes Myron decided to leave the team to “attempt to begin a professional career in hockey.”
Myron has yet to reply to an email seeking comment, but BU coach Jack Parker said after Friday’s game Myron left because he was unhappy overall, particularly with his ice time and spot in the lineup.
“He was very unhappy all year,” Parker said. “He thought he should have been on the first line. He thought he wasn’t getting what he wanted out of this and he played that way.”
The Victoria, British Columbia, native put up just two goals and an assist in 21 games, and had recently seen his playing time drop. He was a healthy scratch for two games before returning to the lineup last Saturday vs. Providence College after sophomore forward Evan Rodrigues was forced out of action due to a hand injury.
With Rodrigues good to go for Friday’s game, and Parker slotting senior assistant captain Ryan Ruikka at fourth-line right wing, Myron was again the odd man out.
The pair met after practice Thursday, and Parker was brief in his description of the conversation.
“He told me he was leaving. I said OK,” Parker said.
This is the fifth mid-season departure in two years for Parker’s squad, and the third one to leave voluntarily.
Myron’s sudden exit comes less than two months after forward Yasin Cissé left the team in favor of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Parker cited similar reasons as to why the two left — unhappiness with ice time and expectations to play on the top lines — but only spoke in generalities when it came to why certain players feel entitled to more playing time without previous production.
“Most kids work for their ice time and if they don’t like their role they try to make it a different role,” Parker said. “Some kids can’t face that adversity. I don’t know if it was exactly the same with these two kids [Myron and Cissé] or not, but it is what it is.”
What’s Myron will do next is unclear. He was a sixth-round draft pick by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2012 NHL Draft, and, according to Parker, he will likely try to sign an East Coast Hockey League contract.
Ruikka, who said the team found out Thursday after practice, was calm in discussing Myron.
“I wish him the best of luck,” Ruikka said. “It’s sad to see him go but he’s got to do what’s best for him.
“It’s definitely tough [seeing players leave]. They’re your friends, they’re your teammates, and you don’t want to see them go, but a lot of guys, this is their life and hockey’s their end goal and they make choices for themselves.
“He was just a little frustrated not being up on the top two lines. But you’ve got to work for it,” Ruikka said. “You’ve got to earn your position. Nothing’s given here.”
Since December, 2011, eight players with eligibility have left on their own or have been removed, including two for disciplinary reasons (Corey Trivino, Max Nicastro); four to play pro hockey (Charley Coyle, Adam Clendeing, Alex Chiasson and Goeff Coutnall) and two because they were disappointed in their roles (Cisse, Myron).
This kind of attrition is unsustainable, and certainly does nothing to enhance the reputation of the BU hockey program among potential recruits. Perhaps Cisse and Myron had unrealistic expectations, but that brings up the question of whether the coaches did their due diligence in the recruiting process. Did they have some sense of the recruit beyond his playing skills?
The coaches are certainly not responsible for every early departure, but are they identifying and bringing in players who are committed to the idea of combining a BU education and hockey? If they’re just here for hockey, then they should probably go to major juniors.
You can recruit all the “blue chippers” you want, but if they don’t have the right kind of attitude – and aren’t here for the right reasons – then it’s going to lead to a lot of problems. Witness eight departures in a little over a year.
ok, first of all it’s Charlie (not Charley Coyle) and Justin (not Geoff, that was his dad) Courtnall but Clendening, Courtnall and Chiasson left in the off season, something that happens at every college in the country. Thats fine. They did not leave the team like Myron, Cisse or Coyle, who most likely all had trouble in school, though no one will ever actually say that.
Cisse did not have trouble in school.
The recruiting has been a disaster of late. These kids are not devoted to BU hockey or school. How can guys throw away a free six figure education? The vast majority of them will be out of hockey before age 30. I understand most of the departed believe they will earn megabucks but what of Courtnall? A guy who can barely make the starting 18? Pro hockey? Myron, who can not crack a lineup made up of two D men? Get real. If you don’t have a ddate for several Saturdays in a row you might be ugly!!!