By Meredith Perri/DFP Staff
With less than a month until the Boston University men’s hockey team opens its first season under a new head coach in 40 years, the Terriers have announced their 2013-14 roster.
BU coach David Quinn announced Tuesday that the Terriers would return five seniors, two juniors and eight sophomores from last year’s squad while adding nine freshman and one transfer student. Nine out of BU’s 10 newcomers hail from Connecticut or Massachusetts.
Dillon Lawrence, a walk-on out of Toronto, Ontario, is the only newcomer who does not come from the New England area. Lawrence, a forward who recorded 57 points (26 goals, 31 assists) in 44 games with the Toronto Nationals of the Greater Toronto Hockey League, earned the 2013 Wayne Gretzky Award, which is given to a player who excels both academically and on the ice.
As expected, Robbie Baillargeon, Brendan Collier, Kevin Duane, Tommy Kelley and Nick Roberto join Lawrence as incoming forwards.
The Terriers will also have four new defensemen with J.D. Carrabino, Dalton MacAfee, T.J. Ryan and Doyle Somerby joining the team.
Due to NCAA regulations, Carrabino, a transfer out of Clarkson University, will sit out the 2013-14 season. Carrabino, who was a redshirt freshman in 2012-13, had one assist in three games with Clarkson.
Of the 10 newcomers, three were selected in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Somerby went the earliest of the three as he was selected in the fifth round, 125th overall, by the New York Islanders. The Ottawa Senators chose Baillargeon in the fifth round, 136th overall, while the Carolina Hurricanes picked Collier in the seventh round, 189th overall.
As The Daily Free Press reported earlier in 2013, Matt Nieto, Sahir Gill and Alexx Privitera will not return to BU.
Nieto, who would have been a senior this season, decided to forego his final year at BU to sign an entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks in April. The Sharks drafted Nieto in the second round, 47th overall, in the 2011 draft.
Gill, who also would have been a senior, announced on Aug. 8 that he would not return to the Terriers.
Privitera’s announcement came in June when he, along with his brother, announced that he was no longer affiliated with the team. Privitera missed the final 13 games of last season after he was suspended in February. His brother, Jarrid, was set to join the team in either the fall of 2013 or the fall of 2014.
BU will open its season on Oct. 5 when it plays an exhibition game against St. Francis Xavier at Agganis Arena.
Did we get Dillon Lawrence just to raise the poor GPA of the team?
I am wondering why we have a 24 man roster when others have 27