Notre Dame Thoughts and Recruiting Updates

BC’s abbreviated unbeaten streak of three games came to an end on Friday afternoon as they fell to rival Notre Dame 5-2 at Conte Forum. I am going to offer a few quick thoughts before diving into some recruiting and coaching updates. 

First of all, this was not BC’s best effort, particularly in the defensive zone. As with any contest involving Notre Dame, that game felt like watching paint dry for much of the afternoon, but I honestly thought BC did a pretty good job of breaking Notre Dame’s vaunted neutral zone scheme and generated a few quality chances throughout the game, particularly in the first and second periods. However, the two issues that have been plaguing this team all year reared their heads on Friday afternoon- porous play below their own blue line and bad penalties. 

On the first Notre Dame goal, BC just looked like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off in their own end. The BC winger rotated down to pick up the ND forward, who then moved the puck right up Chase Blackmun (former Lowell defenseman), who made a really nice pass to the eventual goal scorer, Nick Leivermann. BC had been playing well up to that point, but two blown assignments by their wingers- on each ND defenseman- led to a pretty easy goal for the Fighting Irish. It seemed like Mitch Benson kind of tripped when he was sliding over to make a play for the one-timer, but that goal certainly wasn’t his fault. 

BC had a nice response when Andre Gasseau forced a turnover and found Trevor Kuntar in the slot, who ripped home a snap shot to tie the score with under 20 seconds left in the first period. Almost a minute into the second period, BC took their only lead of the contest, when the junior class hooked up for an Eamon Powell goal. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- right now, Powell is by far BC’s best defenseman, so it was good to see him get on the scoresheet. Unfortunately, other than that shift, Notre Dame did a really good job of shutting down BC’s top line. They clearly made it a point to take away time and space from Cutter Gauthier, who seemed frustrated throughout the night. Notre Dame answered back almost a minute later, thanks to more horrendous defensive zone play from BC. One of BC’s defensemen couldn’t make a play on the puck to the right of Benson, and then BC’s center just got beat in the slot for an easy tap in goal. BC’s second line- the “Bruins line”- has been solid for most of the season, but for whatever reason, they were outplayed in their own zone for most of the night, including on the second Notre Dame goal. 

The Notre Dame goal at the end of the second period was just bad all around. First, BC had two chances to clear the puck and they failed to do so. One of their junior wingers had it along the boards, failed to get it out, and then one of their freshmen defensemen just passed it right to the Notre Dame defenseman at the top of the blue line, who sent it towards Benson for a redirection. BC has these spurts where they are the better team for most of the night, but then just commit these boneheaded turnovers in their own zone. Notre Dame’s first three goals can all be tied back to either a missed assignment on BC’s part or a turnover. Now, give Notre Dame a lot of credit, because their structure and discipline had a lot to do with what happened yesterday, but BC just shoots themselves in the foot way too often. If they clean up these mistakes, they can be a good team, but they are not talented enough to overcome so many errors. 

Anyways, I thought Notre Dame was the better team in the third period- it was the one portion of the game where I thought they thoroughly outplayed BC. On the fourth Notre Dame goal, one of BC’s forwards got toasted at the top of the zone and seconds later, the puck ended up in the back of the net. Just a frustrating night all around for the Eagles on the defensive side of things. 

Overall, I think there are some invaluable lessons BC can take from this game, the biggest being that they have to clean things up in their own end. The games are not going to get any easier with Providence and BU on the horizon, so they need to make sure they beat Brown on Tuesday by playing good, clean hockey that will allow them to build momentum for those three crucial games to close the first half. On the flip side, there were portions of this game where BC was the better team- they generated a few quality chances, even when they went down 4-2. 

They absolutely need to beat Brown on Tuesday night, but the Bears are no pushover, given that they just beat Providence at Providence. BC hasn’t suffered any horrible losses so far this season- it is why their floor is relatively high when it comes to the pairwise rankings. However, they will need to start winning games against the BUs, UConns, and Providences of the world if they want any chance of playing hockey in the spring. If they can take care of business against the Bears, perhaps they can parlay that into a great weekend vs one of the top teams in the country. 

Onto the recruiting notes. BC had one of the top prospects in the country visit on Friday as Chicago Steel (USHL) forward Michael Hage was on campus for the game. Hage, from Ontario, is projected to be a top ten pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. Unfortunately, Hage has been injured for this entire season and has not played a game yet for the Steel. Last season, for the Toronto Jr Canadiens, Hage recorded 116 points in 57 games. 

Another prospect to keep an eye on is Steel (USHL) forward Michael Emerson, a former UMass commit. Emerson, from New York, has posted 24 points in 19 games for the Steel so far this year. Per a source, both Emerson and Hage are considering BC, Michigan, and BU. A member of the BC coaching staff was at the Steel game last weekend. 

Last but not least, BC has a new volunteer assistant coach. Former Eagle great Paul Carey has joined the staff as Brooks Orpik left to take a full time job with the Washington Capitals. Carey, a key player on the 2012 national title team, recorded 81 points in his four year career at BC and will primarily help with BC’s forwards. 

That is all I have for now. Go Eagles. 

Lowell Thoughts and Recruiting Notes

Alright, we are back again. I wanted to hit on a few notes tonight- some quick thoughts on the Lowell game, a new recruit, a potential name to keep an eye on, and then more of a bird's eye view of where BC recruiting is at moving forward, particularly as it pertains to next year. 

First off, that was BC's best win of the season on Tuesday night. Lowell is a really good hockey team and I would be surprised if they are not in the NCAA tournament this year- they do the little things really well, prevent you from getting good scoring chances, and play hard for 60 minutes, like they always have. This would have been an easy game for BC to roll over for- they were missing their second line center and were playing their third game in five days, while Lowell was coming off a bye week. Instead, I thought BC came out flying in the first period- highlighted by a snipe from Cutter Gauthier and the first career goal for Connor Joyce. BC's first line dominated the first twenty minutes- they created a ton of good scoring chances, but any time you can get scoring from your fourth line, it is a massive shot in the arm.  It was great to see Joyce, a St. Sebastian's product who plays hard night in and night out, jump on a rebound to double BC's lead towards the end of the period. 

Things took a turn for the worse in the second period as Lowell dominated the time of possession and forced BC to make a few horrible turnovers- one of which came back to haunt them. The River Hawks had the Eagles pinned in their own end for a decent stretch almost halfway through the period, but BC had three chances to clear the puck before surrendering a Lowell goal. It wasn't even a bunch of turnovers on the wall where the Lowell defensemen came crashing down- BC just gave the puck up right in the middle of their defensive zone and like good teams do, Lowell made them pay to cut the score in half. On the second Lowell goal, with about 7 minutes left in the period, BC's winger came flying down to make a play at the top of the offensive zone, missed the puck, which would have been okay if one of BC's defenseman stepped up and knocked the puck back into the zone, but that didn't happen. After winning the puck battle, Lowell created a mini 2 on 1 and capitalized thanks a wicked shot. There wasn't much Benson could have done about either goal- I thought he played one of his best games of the season.

As for that third period, I thought it was one of BC's best of the year. They flipped the ice after the second by pinning Lowell deep in their own and working pucks below the dots. To me, this team is at their best offensively when they get into a cycle and get the puck from low to high. They have some big bodies who are slowly but surely winning more battles along the boards- in particular, I think Andre Gasseau had his second straight solid game, which is a great sign for things to come. BC was awarded a power-play with 15 minutes left in the game. The staff sent out the first unit, who, surprisingly, was unable to garner really any quality chances. The man advantage was winding down when Oskar Jellvik made an unbelievable play on the wall, taking the puck from a Lowell defenseman, keeping his head up while coming towards the net, and then firing a missile past the Lowell goalie. It was a fantastic effort- he made a similar play at Merrimack two weeks ago, only that time he made a great pass to Eamon Powell rather than taking it himself. I really like what I am seeing out of the Bruins draft pick- he clearly has a ton of talent. 

The best part of the game, for me, was how BC closed it out. Things got a little shaky with about five minutes left in the period- Lowell had two really good chances to tie it up, but Benson made the saves. However, after Lowell pulled their netminder, BC kept them from getting any quality chances. Obviously, after what happened at Matthews, I was keeping a sharp eye on who they were putting out there and it seems like they're going to have the Gauthier line be their "closing" line from here on out. The O'Neill-Burke-Argentina line, which was their closing line at NU (with Izyk in for Argentina) was out there with about two minutes left in the period, but when Lowell got an offensive zone draw late in the period, it was the Gauthier line on to take the draw, which was a change from what we saw last week. Again, those situations will come up again throughout the year, so we will see how the staff plays it, but from my vantage point, the more you play that top line, the better. Building off that point, I do not have the exact time on ice in front of me, but the staff plays that top line a ton, which is good to see. I thought they were a bit off after the first period as Lowell seemed to be playing them a little tighter, but they still had two or three great chances. 

Overall, this was a great win for BC and hopefully it is something they can build on. With the exception of the second Merrimack game, this team is playing hard night in and night out and they're going toe to toe with some teams that were projected to be better than they were coming into the season. If BC can avoid the bad losses to teams like Brown, Maine, and Vermont, they are going to have many opportunities to take on good teams during the second half of the season. Now, I am still not convinced that this is an NCAA tournament team, despite the last two games, but I am more confident today than I was on October 1st when it comes to how BC stacks up against the rest of the conference. BC has five games before break- Notre Dame, @ Brown, PC, @ PC, and the big one on December 9th. If they can beat Brown and pick off two more wins in those four other games, they are going to be in pretty good shape going into the second half. 

Ok, now onto the topic everyone wants to talk about- recruiting! BC picked up a massive commit today, as goalie Jacob Fowler committed to the Eagles. Fowler, from Florida, currently plays for the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL. This season, Fowler has posted a 3.09 GAA and .900 save percentage. Last season, in 18 games, he had a 2.18 GAA and .927 GAA for the Phantoms. Fowler was recently named to Team USA for the World Junior A Challenge. Fowler was previously committed to Clarkson, but after he decommitted from the Golden Knights, his decision came down to BC and Michigan. Many scouts regard Fowler as the best goalie in the USHL at the moment. Scout Gabe Foley of Modern Hockey says that Fowler is "undeniably the best goaltender in the 2023 NHL Draft in North America." Furthermore, Fowler was ranked as a "C" prospect in the last rendition of the NHL Central Scouting Rankings. 

Goaltending was one of the last real question marks I had going into next season. Obviously, they planned on Dylan Silverstein being their guy for the future, but after things broke the way they did, they needed to look in other directions. Now, they have Fowler and Jan Korec, another goalie from the USHL, who is also "very good" according to a scout I talked to today, in the fray for next fall. I, like many other fans, did not want to see them go through the portal route to fill in the goaltending hole yet again, not because it won't work, but because I think you need some sort of consistency between the pipes from year to year. With the additions of Fowler and Korec, BC will have that. 

Now, BC's class for next year is absolutely stacked, but there is one last name I am keeping an eye on- defenseman Maxim Strbak of Sioux Falls (USHL). Strbak, from Slovakia, is projected to be a first or second round pick in this summer's NHL Draft. As of now, BC will lose Marshall Warren and Mitch Andres on the back end, but with how Eamon Powell has been playing this year, there is no guarantee that he returns for another season. Strbak would be a pretty big addition on their blue line and from what I have heard, BC is one of the finalist for him along with two western powers. This is certainly one to watch. 

If they do not get Strbak, I assume they'll try to add another defenseman through the transfer portal over the summer, but it is not like they have a dearth of players returning after this season, not to mention the three incoming ones they have signed on. 

Obviously, a lot depends on what happens with BC's four juniors- Nesterenko, Ambrosio, Kuntar, and Powell. I think there is a better chance of me firing a 65 at Augusta National than there is of Gauthier coming back, but crazier things have happened (besides me shooting 65, that can only happen at Pirate’s Cove). If I had to guess, I bet they're planning on definitely losing Gauthier and Nesterenko, but are hopeful that Ambrosio and Kuntar will return for one more year. As for Powell, I honestly do not know. Again, I don't really like speculating on this stuff, particularly when we are in the middle of a season, but their recruiting outlook is going to depend on what happens with those guys. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again- the future of this program is as bright as its been in a long time. They needed to get goaltending help and they got it. If they can add one more stud defenseman, that would be great, but you can't win every recruiting battle. Because they have such a large class next year, I think they will keep their 2024 class, which is now at just four players, very small. I honestly would not be surprised if they kept it at that number- obviously there are still some big names out there, like James Hagens (who I think will end up at Harvard), but BC has already passed on a few names in that class because they're looking to keep their number low. 

My only area of concern when it comes to recruiting, and this is based purely on past experience, is that they could use a couple more four year players. With the transfer portal, it is easier to fill in holes on your roster when guys leave early, so they'll continue to use that tool, but once the extra Covid year goes away, you may see a bit of a decline in how many people enter the portal. While I do not think its the best strategy to get your best players our of the portal (and to be clear, BC is not doing this), I think it is a great way to build depth on your team. If BC didn't make any transfer additions this past season they would have absolutely zero depth. If those juniors decide to come back, they may not use the portal at all. If they leave, then there may be a hole or two to fill. My concern is purely based on what happened in 2016- BC had unbelievable recruiting classes in 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16, but when some of those guys left unexpectedly, it set them back a little bit. Obviously, this is a good problem to have- if we had the opposite problem where BC was not getting enough high-end players, then that would be a totally different story. Fortunately, they have an immense amount of talent on the way. 

This is all to say that the vibes around this program at the moment are extremely high. The team on the ice, while not the most talented they've had, is playing hard and there isn't a program in college hockey that has more talent coming in over the next two years than BC does. Good things are on the way, we just have to be patient. 

That is all I have for now. Have a great Thanksgiving and Go Eagles! 

Northeastern Series Thoughts

In what was one of the wildest weekends of hockey I can remember in some time, BC played two hard fought games against Northeastern, settling for a tie (and shootout loss) on Friday before bouncing back with a win at home on Saturday night. 

To be honest, Friday night was one of the most deflating BC hockey games I can remember in my close to 20 years following the team. I thought BC was the better team throughout the weekend, but especially for the first 55 minutes on Friday night. They were getting pucks behind NU's shaky defensive core, winning battles along the boards, and most importantly, winning the special teams battle. After NU took a 1-0 lead on a bad face-off loss (something that would come back to haunt BC), Cutter Gauthier responded with a power-play goal almost halfway through the period. I was a bit surprised when the staff shook up the power-play units for the first game of the Merrimack series, but I am glad to see that they have the original units back, with the exception of Kuntar replacing Hreschuk. In my opinion, you need to get Nesterenko, Ambrosio, and Gauthier on the ice together as often as possible in order for this team to have the best chance of winning and that line did more than their part this weekend (besides a bad turnover on Saturday leading NU's second goal).

The second period on Friday was perhaps BC's best of the series as they controlled the play for the majority of the twenty minute frame. The Eagles were rewarded with a five minute major after an NU player got caught jabbing Gauthier with the end of his stick. I saw the replay and to me, it looked inadvertent and I was a bit surprised they called it a major, but the ref clearly had his eyes on the situation. Unfortunately, right as the power-play began, BC took a boneheaded penalty that negated two minutes of power-play time. I am a getting a little bit concerned with some of the lazy penalties they are taking- a lot of them are so far away from the play there is really no need to even engage. Anyways, Trevor Kuntar cleaned up a rebound to Devon Levi’s left side with just over a minute left in the second to give BC the lead, which was a power-play goal. I thought Kuntar had his best weekend of the year, besides the bad penalty he took on Friday. Northeastern had a very hard time dealing with him in front of the net, an area where he is quickly becoming a bit of a force. 

Unfortunately, we have to discuss the third period. BC was able to build up their lead, first to 3-1 thanks to another greasy net-front goal, this time from Liam Izyk. With just under ten minutes left in the period, Gauthier scored yet another highlight reel goal, forcing an NU defender to fall and then beating Levi with a backhander. Like everyone else in the building, I thought the game was over, but BC just went into a total shell for the final seven or eight minutes of the game. Northeastern had too much space, especially in the neutral zone and they got BC pinned down badly in their own end for extended periods of time. On the second Northeastern goal, BC had three defenders surrounding the puck carrier, but no one was able to take him off the puck and eventually it ended up in the back of the net. It wasn’t like BC was outnumbered at the point of attack- there were three white jerseys in the area- it was just that no one made a play. On the third Northeastern goal, BC had a chance to make a play in the neutral zone, but NU forward Cam Lund (who is a stud), beat BC’s forward, made a quick pass, and then banged home a short-side rebound. Again, if you watch the replay, it looks like BC just got lackadaisical towards the end of the game- they were playing fast, physical, and hard for so much of that game, but towards the end, Northeastern just had way too much space to maneuver. 

As for the tying goal, I am frankly, still in the state of shock. No matter who is out there in that situation, you cannot lose that face-off like that. Northeastern was clearly trying to get it to Aidan McDonough for a quick snap-shot and even after NU won the draw, BC looked like they had it covered as Hreschuk made a nice diving effort to prevent the initial shot opportunity, but the puck got right back to McDonough, who got it on net and you know what happened next. I think Benson probably wants that one back as it did not look like McDonough got a ton of wood on the shot, but it was enough to slip by Benson and into the crease.  In reality, it all goes back to the face-off. There are a million scenarios you will take there on that draw other than the one that happened- it was a clean loss and led to the golden opportunity for NU to tie it up. Furthermore, BC’s defensemen can’t let the NU forwards outnumber them in front of the net. There were two green jerseys directly in front of Benson, both of whom could have knocked home the rebound. Just an extremely frustrating situation all around. 

Looking back on it, the silver lining is that BC didn’t lose in OT because NU had all of the momentum and certainly had the better chances in the extra frame. To his credit, Benson made a couple of key stops in the overtime stanza. Lastly, everyone (myself included) is wondering why Gauthier did not go in the shootout, but those are something that the team practices often (they have one at the practice before every game), so I have no reason to think they based that decision on something other than what they have seen during those sessions- stinks it didn’t work out, but shootouts are a crapshoot anyways. 

Now onto Saturday (I am going to keep this shorter, I promise). I absolutely loved the way BC bounced back last night- they were the better team throughout the game and it would have been a shame for them to get anything other than a regulation win. For some time, I was getting flashbacks to the UConn game, another contest where BC outplayed their opponent, but came out on the wrong end of the stick. For me, there were two overarching themes to take out of this game and the series as a whole. First, BC’s power-play looks very good. When you are a bit short on scoring depth (which, yes, will change soon), you need to have a power-play that makes up for that deficiency and after a pretty disastrous weekend against Merrimack last week, I thought BC’s power-play was the difference maker this weekend. They had two power play goals this weekend when they made things simple by getting pucks on net and outnumbering the opponent at the net-front. On BC’s second goal of the night, Eamon Powell threw a puck on net and Kuntar was once again there to clean up the mess- similar to BC’s second goal on Friday night. I thought last weekend, they made too many errant passes at the top of the zone that were either mishandled, intercepted, or wayward. The staff clearly emphasized making things simple on the man-advantage during practice this week and the results spoke for themselves. 

My second major takeaway, which I hit on earlier, was that I loved the way they responded. After what happened on Friday, they could have just thrown it in the towel last night, but not only did they win, they were the far superior team (as I thought they were for most of the weekend). Give Coach Brown and the staff credit for reinforcing a positive message because there was a certain blogger who was not exactly the most positive person in the world on Saturday morning. 

Some quick notes on a few players before I wrap things up. I thought Andre Gasseau played his best game of the year on Saturday night- he made the play that led to BC’s game winning goal. I also thought BC’s third line of O’Neill-Burke-Izyk had a solid weekend, besides the glaring error on Friday night. They aren’t the most skilled third line BC has ever had, but they are all good skaters and do a nice job of applying pressure in the offensive zone. I noticed Colby Ambrosio had his ankle roll up towards the end of the third period on Saturday, so hopefully that is nothing major- BC has some time off after their game against Lowell on Tuesday. Finally, two thoughts on the penalties. One, I don’t understand why BC’s players keep grabbing opponents’ facemasks. It has happened twice in two weeks- it is the most obvious five minute major in the game, they simply have to stop doing it! In both instances, the culprit has been a freshman defenseman. Also, I saw the replay of Aidan McDonough’s hit on Trevor Kuntar, which took place after the game ended- I expect Hockey East to hand out a suspension there as it was a dirty play. Cade Alami was also assessed a ten minute misconduct after the game ended, so he could pick up a suspension as well. To be fair, I have not seen a replay of what Alami did. 

Alright- that is all I got for now. Big game for the Eagles on Tuesday night against Lowell, who, ironically, did not have to play this weekend. This is as deep as Hockey East has been in years- BC will have opportunities to play high-end teams almost every weekend here on out, so will see what they are made of. 

One last note, Brooks Orpik is no longer BC’s volunteer assistant coach as he took on a full time role with the Washington Capitals. I think BC will name a new volunteer assistant at some point this week- expect it to be another former Eagle. 

Go Eagles

Merrimack Series Thoughts

Alright, I wanted to offer a few quick thoughts on the series against Merrimack. First of all, obviously, a bad weekend all around for the Eagles. I thought they got outplayed for five of the six periods, with the exception being the second period on Saturday. This was not a fluke- Merrimack was awesome in their own end, they blocked a ton of shots, and they won the special teams battle over the course of both games. I was very impressed with how the Warriors played, especially at their defensive blue line. It felt like at times, BC ran into a wall in the neutral zone and when the Eagles tried to get it down low to create something, Merrimack consistently won the battles on the boards. 

BC is in a rut right now on the offensive end. They have just one even strength goal in their last nine periods. On Thursday, the staff adjusted the lines with the hope of creating a more balanced attack, but Merrimack shut down any opportunities BC had and let’s be honest, there were not many. Merrimack’s first goal on Thursday was a result of a BC defenseman getting beat to the puck in the corner and then the winger just totally losing sight of the Warrior defender behind him. Furthermore, entering this weekend, BC was one of the least penalized teams in the country, but on Thursday they took three or four boneheaded penalties, one of which led to a five minute major and then an eventual Merrimack goal. I thought BC’s penalty kill had some bright spots, but Merrimack scored two goals this weekend thanks to a guy being unchallenged in front of the BC net. The Warriors’ second goal on Thursday was just a simple deflection in front of Mitch Benson- neither of BC’s two defensemen picked up the guy and what do you know, the puck ends up in the back of the net. On Saturday, BC finally got a spark when Cutter Gauthier scored a power-play goal, but two shifts later, they took a dumb too many men on the ice penalty and Merrimack once again planted a guy in front of the net who was able to score. It was disappointing to see BC come out so flat on Saturday afternoon- I figured after what transpired on Thursday they would be ready to go, but Merrimack absolutely dominated the first part of the game. Merrimack’s first goal on Saturday was the result of a horrible shift from BC’s first line in which they got pinned in their own end for what seemed like fifteen minutes. The end result was Merrimack winning a battle behind the net and then beating Benson five-hole (I think he would want that first goal back). 

Anyways, BC came out flying in the second period on Saturday. They were constantly applying pressure and were rewarded with a golden opportunity to tie the game when Merrimack took a bad too many men penalty of their own to give the Eagles a 5 on 3. Coach Brown used his timeout to give the first unit, which had already been out there for 45 seconds, a breather, but even though BC won the ensuing offensive zone face-off, they could not put the puck in the net at the most crucial point of the game. I thought BC had a couple of good looks on the two-man advantage, but in that scenario, down a goal after losing the first game of the series, you absolutely have to capitalize and tie the game up. They were unable to do that and of course, Merrimack seized on the momentum they garnered from that kill and put the game away shortly after that. 

Look, there really is no way to sugarcoat what happened this weekend- that was the first time BC has been swept by Merrimack since a month after Bill Clinton was sworn in for a second term. I thought there were a couple of bright spots- I liked Oskar Jellvik’s game, particularly on Thursday, Cutter Gauthier was playing with much more pace on Saturday, and Eamon Powell continues to emerge as the team’s top defenseman, but there were too many guys who simply just did not make enough plays to help the team out this weekend. Like I said in the preseason preview, BC is going to go by how its junior class goes- when Trevor Kuntar, Nikita Nesterenko, and Colby Ambrosio are playing at a high level, this team can win games, when they are off, it is going to be a slog. I am sure it is tough to swallow right now- no one wants to get swept- but I am also absolutely 100% confident that this team will be playing its best hockey at the end of the season. They’re still growing, learning how to play with one another, and obviously adjusting to a new way of doing things. There will be downs because they simply do not have the firepower at the moment needed to compete consistently on the highest level (that will change very soon), but they will also surprise people at certain times. 

BC is about to face a Northeastern team that, while banged up, has won three games in a row. In order to right the ship, they absolutely need to flip the switch when it comes to special teams- you can’t consistently lose the special teams battle and expect to win in Hockey East. BC has had three straight games now where its power-play has cost them big time. This team, as of now, is not good enough 5 on 5 to have a power-play that is converting at such a low rate. Anyways, we knew there would be some growing pains this year- but I have no doubt that the staff will get this team off the mat and ready to play next Friday night. See you then. 

BC Lands Top 2005 Prospect

Boston College received a major commitment on Wednesday night as forward Gabriel Perreault announced his intentions to play at BC next fall. Perreault, a projected first round pick, hails from Hinsdale, IL, and is linemates with BC commits Will Smith and Ryan Leonard. Perreault's father, Yanic, had a long NHL career for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Phoenix Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks, LA Kings, Montreal Canadiens, and Nashville Predators. The entire first line of the National Team Development Program is now committed to BC for next fall and all three players are slated to go in the first round of the 2023 NHL Draft. Additionally, BC has three other NTDP prospects who will also be picked at some point in the draft- forward Will Vote and defensemen Aram Minnetian and Drew Fortescue. 

Perreault has recorded 25 points in 14 games this season, which is good for second on the team, behind Smith. Leonard, who has missed the past couple of games, is third on the team with 20 points in 12 games. Neutral Zone described Perreault, who they ranked as 4.5/5 star prospect, as a “smaller forward who plays with good offensive skills and vision. Perreault has long legs but is a fairly balanced skater. He shows good vision and awareness with his playmaking ability.” Neutral Zone had Perreault ranked as the 9th best player in his age group. Puck Preps had Perreault rated as a 5 star player and 16th in the world for his age group- for clarity purposes, the Puck Prep rankings include players from other countries who won’t play NCAA hockey, so take that for what it’s worth. Neutral Zone sticks to mostly NCAA prospects. As I posted yesterday, The Athletic had Perreault going at #21 in their latest mock draft. 

This is a massive, massive get for BC as all of the big time programs were in on Perreault. I was thinking about this earlier tonight- on paper, next year’s recruiting class is perhaps the best BC has had in twenty-plus years. Obviously, the 2018 class had three first rounders of its own with Newhook, Boldy, and Knight, but the combination of skill and depth in this class is remarkable. BC has been lucky enough to land a few star-studded classes- the aforementioned 2018 class, 2015 (White, Wood, Fitzgerald, and for five seconds Bracco), 2014 (Tuch, Sanford, Hanifin, and for zero seconds Milano), 2013 (Demko, Santini, McCoshen, Cangelosi, Fitzgerald), 2009 (Kreider, Dumoulin, Whitney) were all outstanding, but the class of 2023, at least on paper, probably tops them all. Obviously, I am basing this off of expectations before any of these players actually ever stepped foot on campus (and in the case of Milano and Bracco, they just jumped ship on everyone)- things will change once these guys actually start playing college hockey and who knows where the chips will fall. 

Like I said in my tweet, I have no idea how this season will finish up- it could go well, it could go downhill. Whatever happens, I could not be more excited about where this program is at going forward. You would be hard pressed to find any team in college hockey that has recruited as well as BC has as of late and with this type of talent coming in, I feel very confident that more trophies will find their way to Conte Forum sooner rather than later. 

Thoughts on the UConn Game; Minor Recruiting Updates

We are back again. I just wanted to offer a few quick thoughts on BC's 5-1 setback at UConn last week and look at some very minor recruiting updates. 

In what was perhaps their stiffest test of the year to this point, against a top ten team on the road, BC was unable to hold onto their second period lead and fell 5-1 to UConn last Thursday. First off, I know I sound like a broken record here, but I thought BC played well for the majority of the game. In fact, their best period, to me, was the third period- they just couldn’t buy a goal to save their lives. It felt like BC had the puck in the UConn end for the entirety of the first 16 minutes of the period, sans the UConn goal, but time and time again, they were stuffed by Husky goalie, Logan Terness, who made 33 saves. 

BC was able to take a 1-0 lead five minutes into the second period, thanks to a power-play goal from Colby Amborsio, after he put home a beautiful pass from Lukas Gustafsson. Ambrosio and Gustafsson continue to be two of BC’s best players night in and night out- the difference in Ambrosio’s game from the end of last year (when he seemingly got benched versus Northeastern in the playoffs) to today is night and day. A big reason for that? The continued emergence of Nikita Nesterensko as a real force. While Cutter Gauthier gets the hype (rightfully so, he is the fifth overall pick), Nesterenko has been BC’s best player since opening night. Unfortunately, he was unable to put home two really good first period chances- a one timer on the doorstep and a breakaway in the waining seconds of the stanza. The fact that BC’s three junior forwards- the aforementioned Ambrosio, Nesterenko, and also Trevor Kuntar- are playing at this level, is a good sign for this team. 

BC had a chance to put their foot on the gas when they had a minute of 5 on 3 time halfway through the second period, but not only did they not do anything on that man advantage, they gave up a bad shorthanded goal at the tail end of their second power-play. BC had all the momentum in the game at that point, but thanks to some careless play at the top of the offensive zone, they turned the puck over and UConn pounced. BC’s power-play, despite Ambrosio’s goal, absolutely has to be better than it was on Thursday. Granted, UConn has one of the best penalty kills in the country, but the Eagles were skating into walls on their remaining power-play opportunities after the Ambrosio goal.

Like I said earlier, I thought BC absolutely dominated the third period- they outshot UConn 16-8 in the frame- but gave up a goal less than two minutes in and were unable to recover. I thought it was maybe a goal Mitch Benson would like to have back, but it was absolutely a shot that could have been blocked by a BC skater. Originally, UConn’s defenseman shanked his slap shot, but the puck ended up on the stick of Hudson Schandor and he finished it off. Just some bad puck luck there. After that, BC pressed- Ambrosio had a golden opportunity in front of the net, but the puck seemingly slid under the blade of his stick. Gauthier also made a power move to the net for a good chance, but was unable to capitalize. The Huskies pulled away late in the game as BC really started to throw the kitchen sink at the Huskies. 

On the other side of the coin, there are a couple of guys who I think BC needs more from. For starters, while I thought Gauthier was mostly fine, BC will go as he goes and if he isn’t at the top of his game, this isn’t the same team. You don’t want to put those kind of expectations on a freshman, but when you’re as talented as he is, I don’t think it’s an unfair way to look at things- he needs to be better than he was last Thursday. Secondly, I think they’re probably looking for Marshall Warren to take his game up another notch. When Warren is on- as he was pretty much all of last season- he is one of the best defensemen in Hockey East. There were times on Thursday where it looked like he struggled a bit with UConn’s speed and physicality and that presents a bit of a problem given that he is BC’s most experienced and arguably most talented defenseman. That is a long way of saying that the season is a marathon- Warren and Gauthier will be two key cogs in BC’s arsenal as things progress. 

Anyways, credit to UConn- Cav has his best team since he took over down there and while I hate to see it come at BC’s expense, it is good to see him building a winning program. The score was not indicative of how the game was played, but at the end of the day these are crucial games and if BC wants to be in the hunt in March, they need to pick up some wins over teams like UConn, BU, Northeastern, UMass and Providence. Opportunities will continue to arise for the Eagles, given how deep Hockey East is this year, and if they continue to play like this, they will be a good hockey team come crunch time. This upcoming series against Merrimack feels like a very important two game stand at this point in the season. 

Lastly, I want to provide some minor recruiting updates. 

Nick Moldenhauer committed to Michigan tonight. Moldenhauer is a third round pick of Toronto and was a guy BC was in on. Nevertheless, I do not think anyone is surprised Moldenhauer picked the Wolverines- they were always the favorites it seems. 

The big name to watch continues to be Gabriel Perreault of the NTDP- if I had to guess, I think he is #1 on BC’s “board” right now. Perreault is on a line with BC’s two biggest recruits- Will Smith and Ryan Leonard and is projected to be a first round pick in the 2023 NHL draft. 

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler released his preliminary 2023 draft rankings today and had a few BC names throughout his top 64- I’ve listed them out below. 

Will Smith- #10 

Ryan Leonard- #15

Gabe Perreault (BC target)- #21

Aram Minnetian- #64

Honorable mentions- Will Vote and Drew Fortescue (meaning he thinks they will likely be third round picks). 

See you in North Andover on Thursday. Go Eagles.