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!
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