The Boston University men’s hockey team (11-10-3, 7-6-3 HE) was back at Agganis Arena this afternoon for the second game of their series against the University of Vermont Catamounts (4-15-2, 3-8-2 HE). The matinee matchup resulted in a shutout 4-0 win, a collegiate first for sophomore netminder Drew Commesso.
“We did a lot of things better tonight, we had a lot more urgency to our game,” Head Coach Albie O’Connell said in the postgame press conference. “First shift of the game, with our leaders out there, they kind of set the tone for the game.”
O’Connell made a couple lineup changes for today’s competition after some lackluster play from portions of the roster last night. Sophomore forward Dylan Peterson and junior forward Jamie Armstrong were both snubbed from the fourth line and replaced with Sam Stevens and Brian Carrabes.
Freshman forward Tristan Amonte took Stevens’ space as the extra skater, and junior forward Ethan Phillips traded first line spots with graduate student forward Max Kaufman who skated on the third line.
“We thought he could give a little bit of a dynamic skating quality to that line. Whatever line he’s been on he’s really helped,” O’Connell said of Phillips.
Commesso remained in net for the second competition. There were some thoughts of giving Vinny Duplessis some ice time before the Terriers’ regular starter leaves for the Olympics on Jan. 30th, but no changes were made between the pipes.
With his first collegiate shutout, Commesso put up 35 saves for a beyond-deserved stat to have on his resume.
“It’s obviously great getting a shutout––I feel like the last few weekends we’ve been really close, but at the same time it’s a team effort,” Commesso said in the postgame press conference. “Shutout’s nice but you know I really care about getting the win.”
BU got on the board first and early with a tip-in goal from junior forward Sam Stevens. The original snapshot came from Carrabes above the left faceoff circle, and Stevens was able to get some wood on it to give the Terriers a 1-0 lead at 2:48, and notch his fourth goal of the season.
It was great to see Stevens get rewarded this afternoon after playing a pretty thorough 60 minutes last night. He’s clearly working to keep his spot in the lineup and it has evidently shown this weekend.
“You can call it our fourth line, but they were one of our best lines tonight,” O’Connell said.
UVM looked for the equalizer on the power play after junior forward Jay O’Brien was dealt two minutes for holding at 12:40. BU put together a strong penalty kill and limited Catamount chances, protecting their one goal advantage.
The opening period ended with the two teams tied 9-9 in SOG––a much more even ratio than last game. The Terriers put forth an extra hustle throughout the first 20 minutes, jumping on loose pucks and having an intentionality to their actions.
Both groups had chances on the man-advantage throughout the second period, but the Terriers didn’t strike until seconds after getting back to even strength. Freshman defenseman Ty Gallagher had an outstanding assist.
Using his patience to pull sophomore goaltender Gabe Carriere out of the crease, Gallagher then dropped it to a wide open Phillips net front who made the game 2-0 at 15:21.
“Gally just has like ice water in his veins poise,” O’Connell said. “That was a huge, huge goal.”
Doubling their lead late in the second period was an important turning point for the Terriers who swayed the momentum going into the final 20 minutes of play.
BU got two more tallys on the board before the buzzer at the end of the third. Junior forward Robert Mastrosimone had a character-like highlight reel breakaway rush at 2:07 to advance his squad’s advantage to 3-0. Hustling through a UVM defenseman at the blueline, and then deking Carriere, Mastro garnered his second goal of the weekend.
Playing in front of his friends and family for the first time at BU, Phillips secured a two-goal performance with a confident play. Picking up a lobbed cross-zone pass from O’Brien, Phillips lifted and flipped the puck over the goaltender’s shoulder, reaching the night’s final 4-0 score.
“With the time I spent out, I had a lot of time to think about the type of player I wanted to be when I came back,” Phillips said in the postgame press conference. “Playing to my strengths, using my skating––if I can bring that every night I think that’s the biggest part of my game.”
The Terriers have a quick turnaround this week as they’re headed to Amherst on Tuesday for a 7:00pm matchup against UMass. This will be a good test to gauge the strength of the BU group in the second half of the season. We’ll have full coverage on the blog, and as always follow along on Twitter @BOShockeyblog and Instagram @boston.hockey.blog for further updates.
Everything is back to normal love it go bu.
you are right, Colin. a weekend split with one of the worst teams in college is back to normal for BU. well sad
Other then vinnie whinnying all I hear on the blog is crickets. Keep up the good work terriers silence the haters. Go bu
Once we beat top-ten UMass I will be quite vocal, in a highly positive way.
the reason you only hear crickets Colin is because all you hear is what YOU write. but why should you read the other posts because as you pompously said in the last blog, after the ignominious loss to powerhouse vermont, ” many don’t understand the game of hockey like i do.” yeah, right?
Well vinnie if you see the game the way I do. You certainly don’t write it up that way. You totally took my statement out of context but that’s what you do. You try to attack anyone who does not subscribe to your thinking belittle them make them the enemy. The funny thing is you so seldomly talk hockey you just reference how bad we are to try and influence change. There can always be different views on games but you will never admit it. At the end of the day we are talking about kids playing a game . I hope you keep that in mind. Go bu 🐾
Yes vinnie that’s correct after years of playing and watching studying the game I love I consider myself a expert on bu hockey and if that’s upsetting to you or it does not fit your political narrative oh well but if you think I come on this blog to get personally attacked and think I won’t come back with some bite your sorely mistaken.
If your big enough to dish it out you should be big enough to take it. I stand by my statement that the team looses 1 game after a 7 game win streak everyone panics and when we win the haters stay clear . You need to pick a side if your a bu fan pick them if your not declare your allegiance to who ever you want. I don’t care who you root for but make no doubt about it my team is the terriers win or loose and it’s not ever going to change. Go bu 🐾
It is not one loss. It’s who they lost to and their piss poor start. They could not afford to lose to Vermont
Keep dishing Colin my boy. Love it.
Colin,
This is why fans are upset. If the season ended today
Merrimack would make the NCAA s and we would not
The fact that statement can be made at anytime during the season points out how far we have fallen.
Good bounce back game total control all 60 mins.. On to umass.. CLEARLY some of these guys on here no matter what they do win or lose will ALWAYS post to get attention they need .. The POWERHOUSE LOWELL TOP 10 TEAM JUST GOT SWEPT BY Merrimack so any thing can happen any weeknd… Win lose y’all stay complain at least u guys stay consisitent i must say 😆😆.. Miss me with that bullshit .. Go BU 🐾 see ya Tuesday.
To be fair to Vinnie (and I don’t know Vinny so please excuse me if I put words in your mouth), Lowell is 13-5-3 and their strong play throughout the season granted them some wiggle room to be able to handle a few losses the rest of the way and still be in position for an at-large bid unlike us who gave ourselves no wiggle room with our terrible 1st half. I think that’s what he was getting at. But credit to Merrimack who would actually qualify for the NCAAs if the season ended today. Quite an accomplishment for Borek with that small and underfunded program. It’s a position I’m sure we’d rather be in rather than Merrimack. Alas, it’s HE title or bust for us, as we know. It’s too bad we don’t have more options but it’s the position we put ourselves in… again.
Mike
Ultimately (and I hope I can speak for everyone on this), It’s about expectations. What are our realistic expectations for this BU program at the start of each season and did we beat, meet, or fall short of expectations at the end of each season. In my opinion, we have underachieved in each of the past three seasons. We have an upperclassmen-heavy team this season (18 upperclassmen), and we terribly underachieved in the 1st half of the year. I’m pleased that we’re finally playing better. I’m annoyed that we dug such a deep hole when we had.a chance to take advantage of a historically bad Hockey East conference. Unfortunately, we’ve left ourselves no margin for error. Let’s see if we can pull some rabbits out of our hats. If we can’t, and we underachieve for a 4th straight year, it’s fair to ask what needs to be changed to get us regularly achieving and overachieving again.
We all want BU to be a winning program. Some of us aren’t content settling for mediocrity.
Mike
Let’s talk about this weekend 4 out of 6 not what I wanted but nothing is given it’s earned bu played well enough to win Friday but not there best hockey. They came back won Saturday 4 of six is good in this league. I’m not going to knock UVM like some have they are a dangerous team well coached and can beat anyone.
When you knock your opponent the only thing it does is cheapen your win. Judging by comments maybe that’s what some want to do . Not here with me let me go over the positive. Our Olympic goalie had a shutout our freshman Defenseman made a espn highlight reel pass. Mastrimone and our Hobey Baker candidate Dom Fensore were buzzing all over the place. Brian Carabis and Tristan get inserted in line up and excel and take advantage of there opportunity. Bu did not play terrible Friday but they certainly played much better Saturday and will need to play even better against U mass.
I did see some mistakes Saturday that were alarming. I was talking with someone who knows a little hockey we benefited from UVM struggling holding on to pucks at point. U mass will not turn over as many pucks we need to play better defensively. We need to keep improving.
Since some folks want to talk about first half and struggles we had ask yourself this how successful could we be with all of last nights first line out for most of first half. I give the coaching staff and players a lot of credit for keeping things together. This team has been playing good hockey as of late and that’s what I’m going to focus on. It’s a great feeling going to bu hockey games and rooting for my team which does have great kids on it. I know that kills the haters as they hope the team is full of misfits so they can get the coach they want that much easier. But the truth is they are a easy team to root for because they work so hard. I could never imagine rooting for bu as hard as I do and then go to games and root against my team and enjoy when they loose hoping for some sort of change that does not benefit anyone not sure in what sport that’s acceptable but it’s a free country and extra motivation I guess.
I have said it many times who knows where this season will go but I know I will be there right with this team rooting them on to the final whistle.
Unless this team wins the national championship there will be a game ended by a whistle where I will be disappointed every team except one will be disappointed at some point. My theory is if that happens to bu will Vinnie and others be excited? I don’t understand stand that nothing personal but in my book a fan is a fan all the time you can’t be loyal part of the time that’s not how sports are played.
I will continue to focus on the positives of this great hockey program and speak of the weaknesses and dissect the game but I will never knock kids on the team or the greatest hockey program in the country it’s not in my personality I’m loyal to this program. Go bu 🐾
I love you Colin, but sometimes I think you just like to pick fights on this blog with your hyperbole 🙂 Being critical does not mean you aren’t a fan. It doesn’t mean anyone on this blog roots against the team. It doesn’t make people “haters” of the program. It’s a healthy attitude to question when and why a team doesn’t perform and achieve and it’s the opposite of fanaticism.
FANATICISM: Fanaticism is a belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal OR an obsessive enthusiasm. Philosopher George Santayana defines fanaticism as “redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim”. The fanatic displays very strict standards and little tolerance for contrary ideas or opinions.
If every fan were a fanatic, there would be no coaching changes. No adapted style of play. No accountability. It would simply be the word of the program. The word of the leader. There’s a lot of “fascism” in fanaticism.
Our “aim” is to consistently be a nationally relevant program that performs at or above expectations and wins trophies on a regular basis, be-it Beanpots, Hockey East Titles, NCAA Regional Titles, or NCAA Championships.
Some emotionally criticize to vent when they are unhappy. Some criticize when they can point out flaws that aren’t being corrected. Some criticism is based on unemotional data and facts. Some criticism points out the obvious. Some criticism is unwarranted and unsupported.
But almost all criticism (especially in this case) is based on the desire to improve an outcome.
Heck, Bill Belichick is arguably the best coach in NFL history but even he’s not above criticism. And he’s actually won things. Lots of things.
As far as I know, everybody on this board still
attends the games or watches online or on TV if they can’t. They all want BU to be better than they’ve been. We’re all fans. But we’re not all fanatics.
Over the past four years, we haven’t performed well. At least not to the quality and success levels our program used to demand. We have great facilities. Great training programs. And everything a program really needs to be consistently successful. But the end product just hasn’t been there. The fan wants that to change. The fanatic has forgotten the aim.
UMass Amherst remembered it’s aim when it changed from Micheletto to Carvel.
As I’ve told you and others before, if we miraculously pull some rabbits out of our hat and win the Beanlot, get home ice, and make it to the NCAAs, I’ll gladly give Albie another season to show that he’s finally figured things out. But if we don’t, it’s time for us to find our Carvel.
FWIW, my understanding is that Albie is a good guy, great recruiter, and the players like him, but he doesn’t command the “respect” of the team in the ways that Parker and Quinn did. That’s a major reason why you’ve seen undisciplined, frenetic, and unbalanced play for seasons on end. But, as I’ve also said countless times, one coach, one player, one fan does not make a program. The talent has certainly been there. But we’ve been less than the sum of our parts. And that needs to change if we truly want to reach our “aim”.
For four seasons, we are what our record says we are. Time’s running out to correct that. Nobody I’ve met has ever booed the team off the ice or not cheered when we score or not celebrated a win. We all want to win. But we’re also not going to pretend .500 hockey without winning ANYTHING is good enough for this program.
If it is, we may as well be a youth team where everyone gets trophies and nobody keeps score. But, like it or not, that’s not NCAA Division 1 Sports.
I will always appreciate your enthusiasm and devotion. I’ll likely continue to get a little annoyed by your hyperbole (though probably much less than others on this board 😉 because I know you. But I’’m also reacting to a reality where results do matter and accountability promotes success rather than the status quo.
If life were all orange slices between periods and a pat on the back, the world would be a pleasant but incredibly boring place. For better or worse, that’s not the world we’re living in.
Go BU! Let do the things that need to be done to become a successful program again. And let’s not ignore the issues keeping us from reaching our goals.
Mike
Quite a diatribe Mike and an excellent analysis of the state of BU Hockey. i agree Colin is a bit of a troll but I guess that’s his thing. I think the fact that the Terriers haven’t wan a beanpot in 7 years ( 2015 the year we almost swept the board with Eichel & Grezlyck) speaks volumes about where this program is headed, a tournament BU owned for decades, and own records of 6 consecutive wins in that tourney in jeopardy of being equaled or surpassed by Northeastern of all people! ( a program that until just a few years ago had only won 4 in its history. I attended the Vermont game on Saturday and i have to admit I left after the second period ( just disgusted at the Terriers inability to score and lack of effort at the goalmouth, and it was incredibly BORING). BTW what has happened to the BU Band ( we do have a terrific band), they have been a no show for 2 games in a row now. The band for me is a big part of the spirit and fun of going to a college game ( has the Athletic dept eliminated that too?
My gripes almong with what i just mentioned has more to do with how the loyal fans and former Friends of Hockey ( we have been dissolved i think, have been treated over the past few years, shut out of the Friends Club, no more pre game meals, ( only in the Burke Room, no more programs which named all of the contributors to the program. B/c I think these decisions reflect how the athletic department now views this program and I don’t think excellence and winning trophies are part of the equation anymore for how the university regards the hockey program. This IMO is at the root of why BU hockey has fallen so far down. JP always said in his and BUs hayday that the Terriers were always very good b/c this (BU) university wants to be good at hockey. I wonder if that is the case anymore.
Spot on.
Vito,
Well said, If the Department doesn’t t like 500 hockey they sure make it look like they do.
I hate living in the past but if I have too I will to disprove what has been said. Apparently this storied program is being judged on the past 4 years. Last year we made the national tournament and we also had the worst luck with Covid but still finished the season as one of the best in the country. The year before we were peeking and covid shut the world down so how can they be judged there I don’t know . Year before made it to the garden year before that hockey East champs national tournament and advanced to regional final. To me that’s a winning tradition.
With all the good coming from this team all folks want to talk about is negative again we won 7 games this blog was quiet we loose everyone comes on here bashing me and the team. I understand how college hockey and athletics work you can get mad all you want but that does not change the fact that I know bu hockey. You can say print what ever propaganda you want but that does not make it true.
Why are we not talking about the fact we have a goalie going to the Olympics. A defenseman named to Hobey Baker ballot. And a Freshman Defenseman who is excelling and set up a outstanding highlight reel play the other night. The answer is because most folks only want to talk negative because they want change for themselves not the betterment of the team because if they cared about the team they would see we have great coaches.
I call it as I see it and I enjoy sticking up for my team it’s my pleasure to defend a great program like bu.
Vito: Don’t worry, the band will be back next weekend for Providence. This past weekend was a good reminder of how much they truly make the atmosphere at games. And kudos to them for doing the same for the women’s program and BU hoops as well. As far as how much the administration “cares” about the hockey program… I’d offer that it’s definitely less than in the Parker decades but more than some other programs. Probably somewhere in the middle. It is sad that the FOH has been dissolved for all intents and purposes. Quinn really focused on the Burke room and $$$ and while Albie tried to revive it a bit, I suspect COVID did a number on the FOH room availability these past few years. It’s a shame 🙁
All that said, winning cures a lot of ills. If we can return to being a winning program it will be very helpful from an attendance, student involvement, and administering-caring standpoint. But the relevance of college hockey, not just here but across the country, has slowly drifted the way of horse racing in America. The die hards are still there but they’re getting older and the younger generations have so many options for entertainment that their attention will only be on the “big games” unless you put out a consistently entertaining and winning product (and even then, sadly, I don’t think the interest we saw in past decades will ever return).
Mike
yeah Mike i agree with many of your points, however you also raise a interesting question. Whether college hockey nationwide has been in decline for a while due to the conditions you mention and whether that has effected BU hockey or does Terrier hockey have more specific problems independent of that. If , for example, declining attendance figures at games is due to decreased interest in college hockey, just focusing on BU for a moment, doesn’t it make sense not to dissolve the friends of hockey, not to stop printing programs, and not to stop planning fan events before big games and therefore alienate the loyal fanbase which HAD been around for years since you correctly point out that the student body only strongly supports the hockey program when they are at top ten in the nation? The Friends of Hockey have long been the base of support that greatly helped with their contributions the construction of WBA, our first home campus arena, and recently the Student Village and Agannis Arena.
I look around and see fewer and fewer of the old fans at games ( in particular one night vs Ariz. State in the Burke Club, I was there that night for reasons i shall not disclose at the moment), and understand that many of the old fans are unhappy with things at Agannis and not just the performance of the team. The new regime, as “Frozen Out” ( an old blogger here) would call them wanted to change everything JP had constructed over many years and with the complicity of Quinn , achieved this.
So getting back to my question would returning things back to the old days with the Friends reinstated, programs being printed, and social events organized for big games like the beanpot, HE, ect rekindle more interest in the program? Surely success on the ice would be the ultimate goal, but is one way of getting there reaching out again to the old fans and friends who were to a significant degree responsible for the tremendous success Terrier hockey enjoyed under coach Parker?
I definitely think returning to a grassroots approach can help in our particular situation but since they’ve already done so much damage (as you properly described), I suspect the consistent winning has to come first to rekindle some emotions in the collective which will help generate interest (and $), and hopefully programs for us (for lack of a better term) “blue-collar” fans and current students who become young alumni and stick with the program past their college years.
But the winning needs to come first. And that’s why I’ve been so concerned and vocal over the past handful of seasons. UMaine and UNH used to be the class of Hockey East when it came to banged out home rinks and community interest. How far they have fallen. I don’t want us to follow that path. It’s very difficult to come back from it.
Mike
And not to pick on Colin again but this best explains my point… I sometimes wonder if Colin would be perfectly content being the only person in attendance in an otherwise empty arena with the team plating “for him” since he’s so laser-focused on personal relationships with the individual coaches and players rather than acknowledging the bigger picture of how precarious of a situation our program is actually in, when considering where we’ve been and where we all on this blog want the program to be.
We’re definitely at a crossroads. Upcoming decisions made in the locker room, on the ice, in the AD’s office, in the administration, by the current student body, by the aging hard core fans, and by the younger generation who are incredibly distracted in this day and age (but necessary to carry forward a successful program) are all important.
But the one thing that makes all of those decisions easier, is having an exciting, consistently winning product on the ice that generates buzz, community, and a collective drive to be a part of something great.
These past four seasons have had none of that. Hopefully it starts in the coming weeks. But if it doesn’t, we’ll need to find a new chef with a different recipe. Because the last thing we all want is for this restaurant to become an afterthought that just gets by on the dwindling generosity of the middle-aged and older fans who remember better times and wonder why it’s in a position to possibly slip away.
Mike
I agree Mike. This is spot on. In about five hours we face-off against a #9 nationally ranked team at their arena. Albie and company have a chance to show that Sunday’s shut-out and the “unbeaten in regulation” streak we have going means we are turning a corner or our recent success is only due to the fact that we haven’t played high-end opponents. I most certainly hope it’s the former.
Since this is the blog surrounding bu hockey I wanted to say how thrilled I am that Ethan Phillips is back in the line up. As coach says whatever line he plays on he makes them better. Happy for him to be rewarded on the score sheet. It was a win win situation switching him and max out because Max brings it every night.
Just like when O’Brien came back this team is getting a spark from Phillips energy it’s great to see. Go bu 🐾
I also want to acknowledge some of the kids who don’t dress every game. Too be a good college hockey team you have to have depth. It’s not easy to be so good at a sport to be not in line up. Please again remember we are talking about kids on this blog I give these kids lots of credit for working as hard as they do in class and practice it’s impressive to me to see a kid like Carabis Tristan Amonte or Markus who don’t play all the time get in there and show there stuff. I just wanted to point that out because not many speak of how great it is to have them on our team.
Yes Colin, the emergence of Ethan Phillips as a solid and steady source of offense is quite encouraging. But most of us on this blog find very little consolation in the individual achievements of the team (such as what Commesso and Fensore have done) when the team is grossly underachieving. A few other points:
1 – I read the posts and nobody has bashed or knocked any of the players on the team. They only make critical comments about their play when appropriate. There is a big difference. And the players on our team are all young adults. None of them are kids.
2 – I don’t understand why you think a seven-game unbeaten streak against either poor or mediocre opponents is a reason to celebrate. If this was the 2013-2014 Terriers, I would agree. But this is a team that was built to at least gain entry into the NCAA Tournament. It is an unreasonable expectation for us to be elated about this streak given the overall underwhelming performance of our team this season.
3 – You said that we cheapen wins by making disparaging comments about our opponents. That is incorrect. A win against a team with a poor record is cheap. I will reiterate that if we beat UMass on Tuesday I will be very much a positive presence on this blog.
4 – I don’t know if you listen to WFAN much (sports talk radio) but the biggest fans of a given team don’t just come onto the show and make critical comments, they come on to the shows and absolutely verbally destroy their favorite teams. I think this is something we will always disagree on, but that’s fine. Pro or college, it is extremely appropriate for fans to make negative comments on the play of their teams, when those teams do poorly.
5 – Getting into the 2021 NCAA tournament and losing in that first round is OK only if we had other big accomplishments in the last three seasons. We did not. That would have been fine for an emerging NCAA D-1 team but not BU.
Having said all this, I appreciate that you’re a long time BU fan and supporter. I appreciate it even more because you (as far as I know) did not actually attend BU.
thank you Glenn. very well articulated
my dad went to BU, and he took me to my first BU hockey game in 1962. i still have an old game ticket from a BU-BC football game. Ha
i graduated from BU and witnessed two national championship teams in 71 and 72. lived on the same floor at west campus with dan brady , toot cahoon etc
i do not have to defend my BU pedigree to anyone, but when they underachieve, i call it. and when they do well, i acknowledge it
i am sure you know how hard it is going to be to recoup from this downward spiral if he don’t make changes soon. look at maine and UNH
the recruiting class we have coming in is MEH at best. and if commesso does not return, we are up poop’s creek.
You’re welcome Vinnie. It seems like you and Colin had the good fortune to have grown up with BU Hockey. Growing up in Queens, NYC, the whole college hockey thing was not on my radar (until I transferred into BU in 1985 and saw my first game at WBA). And how awesome that you got to have your BU undergrad years coincide with those championship years. What an amazing time to be a Terrier fan!
As for our recruiting classes, I am very high on who we have coming in for 2022 and 2023 but it’s been a while since we landed a big fish. I do think the recruiting class coming to Agganis this October is excellent. Lane Hutson projects to be cut from the same mold as Grzelcyk and Fensore. I agree that we need at least one more year from Commesso, as Anton Castro has been pretty average with Fargo (though it’s only his first USHL season and goalies take a while to develop).
Here’s hoping we have lots of good things to talk about this time tomorrow night!
Colin,
Don t tell us there is a player that brings it every night that has 5 goals. That is a insult to all the great players that have put the BU Jersey on. There is one reason this team is 500 over four years and it’s not the players. Wake up we have had many first round draft picks in the line up during this four year period including a goalie and a Olympic goalie and this is what has been delivered. It’s not a far reach to say if this was going on at North Dakota or any other school where hockey mattered this would not stand.
You have to work at it to be a winner and that seems to be missing.
Ozzie to make the bu hockey team you have to be good. Chances are they were the best player on every team they played on growing up. My point is they try really hard to crack the line up and I’m excited for them when they do. We are talking about kids again that’s what’s great about college hockey. I don’t care about goals I want to see them succeed. For you to say it’s a insult to folks who wear the Jersey is disheartening. Remember it’s kids who don’t get paid they play because they love the game.
By the way if your going to talk hockey don’t call a sweater a jersey
glenn,
i like Hutson too. seems to be very smooth, albeit small
but they need more than that. i think we are going to see a lot of underclassmen leave: mastro, fensore, vlasic, obrien etc. just my opinion; i have no hard evidence of that. add in commesso, and oh boy, we could be in trouble
i admit, we can not have all big fish coming in; that tends to backfire because they leave in short time, but you need a few. i was very disappointed that Boucher did not pan out. not sure he was ready for college hockey or he was not coached properly. you need a blend, say 70’30 of 4 year guys with 1 or 2 year guys
not easy to identify that 70% who can really be effective
what do you think, Glenn?
Hi Vinnie. My gut feeling is that Mastro and Fensore will stay and get their degrees but I can see Vlasic and OB as significant flight risks. I say this based on no insider information. Ryan Greene, Quinn Hutson and Jeremy Wilmer are due here in October and should have top-six forward potential. And none of them will be one and done guys. I never expected Biucher to be a half year and done guy. Very disappointing.