BU Boys Fly the Coop

As NCAA teams close out their season, their top guns fly the coop. Come late March/April there's always an exodus of top Division I players to the pro ranks. Since BU's season came to a halt, five players have left.


+ Eric Gryba: Arguably the most loved Terrier over the past four years, Gryba signed with Ottawa. He is currently playing for Binghamton in the AHL. I imagine he'll spend awhile down there as he grows and finds his role - which I would guess is going to be that of an enforcer. His size and strength will benefit him in the long run. Once he finds his role and excels at it, I actually think he'll find himself in the show someday.

+ Zach Cohen: Cohen is coming off an awesome year. He was one of the top goal scorers and really just came into his own. He signed with Colorado making the Avs the official home of BU alum. He joins Joe Sacco, David Quinn, Brandon Yip and now Colby Cohen & Kevin Shattenkirk in the organization. Kieran Millan is also a Colorado draft pick.

+ Nick Bonino: One of BU's best players since he got here. Bonino signed with Anaheim a few weeks ago and has since been playing alongside guys like Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry.  He already notched his first goal. If he keeps it up, it doesn't look like he'll be going anywhere. Even so, I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see him spend some minutes in the A next year.

+ Kevin Shattenkirk: Arguably the biggest loss for BU. Not surprised about his early departure at all. I'm pretty sure everyone saw this coming when he arrived. He's been excellent for BU. A class act if I ever saw one who will without a doubt be a fan favorite throughout his playing career.

+ Colby Cohen: I've had a love-hate relationship with this kid. The hate part mainly being that half the time I look at him he's whining. But he's been awesome ever since he's been here. I have no complaints, and I will forever owe him for scoring the game winner in the NCAA Championship game.

The only senior left to sign somewhere is Luke Popko. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for him. I'm sure he will get a shot with at least an ECHL team. The kid is a grinder. He's always out there hustling and working hard. His downfall is his size. He has to overcompensate for his 5-10" frame (and that's being generous).

So where does this leave BU? Well, they obviously took a hit. Losing those five players, they managed to lose five of their six top scorers. They're going to have to get a stronger year out of Millan. If he can revert back to his freshman year form, that will be a big plus. Guys like Ross Gaudet, David Warsofsky, Corey Trivino, Vinny Saponari and Alex Chiasson are going to have to lead the team. It looks like it will be another transition year for the Terriers. You never know though. That's the great thing about hockey. They could be surprising. We'll see how the incoming class is and what they bring to the table.

Best of luck to the boys who have moved on!

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Round 1: BC > BU.

Prior to last night's BU-BC game, I made a prediction: If BU won that game, their season would turn around for the better. Yeah, about that ...

The first match-up of the year between two of the biggest rivals in sports (which made the front page of the Wall Street Journal this week) saw BC heading back down Commonwealth Avenue with a 4-1 win. The score is a little misleading -- BU arguably outplayed BC in the first two periods before falling apart in the third.

The Terriers had a bunch of offensive chances and spent a lot of time in BC's zone. Nick Bonino had a sick wrap-around goal in the second to go up 1-0. Then a puck deflects off of Kevin Shattenkirk's stick past an unprepared Millan to put the Eagles up 2-1, and things go downhill from there. After playing with a bunch of energy, BU just ... lost it. I mean literally there was a point in the third period where both teams were almost just standing around. Maybe the Terriers were tired. Maybe they were emotionally drained from working hard and ending up down 4-1. Maybe it was lack of heart. I don't know. What I do know is that they are a better team than what they showed in the third. The comeback kids just didn't have it in them last night I guess. It happens. It's just disappointing after seeing how well they played in the first two periods.

Part of the problem was the fact that sophomore goaltender Kieran Millan did not give his team a chance to win. Sounds a little harsh, I know. I usually have a huge soft spot for goalies, and I'm a big Millan fan. But what is with him? I have enough confidence in him to say he probably could have made saves on some - if not all - of the goals he allowed last night. When my friends and I are cringing at any fluttering shot towards the net in fear of it going in ... that's pretty bad.

Notes:

+ A 39-game streak came to an end last night: the Terriers had been undefeated every time Nick Bonino scored.

+ Dave Silk, Jim Craig, Mike Eurizone and Jack O'Callahan -- members of the 1980 Olympic 'Miracle' team and well known BU alumni -- took center ice for a presentation during the first intermission. So unbelievably cool.

+ Penguins' prospect Carl Sneep was one of the goal-scorers for BC. I guess if it has to be someone on the Eagles it might as well be someone I'll be cheering for in the future. But as my mom said, "He needs to wait until he's on the Penguins to score."

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29 out of 57 Ain't Bad

After beating Northeastern 5-2 in last night's game, BU has now won 50.8% of the Beanpots. It was their 29th victory in the past 57 years. Basically, they own this tournament.

Wow. I'm not even sure where to begin. It was a great game, and I hope some of you out there got a chance to watch it. If not, here are the highlights broken down for you:

+ Breaking the game down by periods:
- I thought Northeastern was slightly better than BU in the first period. The first few minutes were spent feeling each other out; neither team had excellent chances. There was a lot of dump-and-chase. I'm sure all the boys were a little nervous. BU got the first goal, but NU tied it up before the period was over to make it 1-1.
- The second and third periods belonged to BU. The puck just found a way to their sticks. I don't know how much was luck and how much was simply the fact that they're the number one team in the country. It showed. Northeastern had some quality chances, but they were visibly outplayed by BU. I'd actually like to see puck possession numbers. BU seemed to control it the majority of the time.

+ The biggest part of this game was BU's THREE shorthanded goals. That's insane! It got to the point where it was almost better for them to be on the penalty kill than on the power play. BU was 1 for 7 on their PP and 3 for 10 on their PK. One of the shorties came when Dave Warsofsky skated it down and took a shot that somehow found its way to the back of the net. I'm not sure what exactly happened there; it seems like a save Brad Thiessen should have made.

+ I mentioned in the pre-game post that Kieran Millan needed to have a stellar night. He did. He absolutely did. BU owes him a big thanks. He made 23 saves on 25 shots -- and some of those saves were huge. He stood out tonight. I was very impressed.

+ Colin Wilson is a beast. I've been hesitant to say this in the past, but this kid is ready to go pro. He manages to land every pass exactly where he wants to. It's ridiculous. Even if there's three opponents standing in front of him, C. Willie will complete the pass. I'd love to see him back for one more year at BU, but this kid is gone.

+ Brad Thiessen won the Eberly Award for best save percentage (.925) in the tournament. I don't know how happy he was with it at the time, but he's a great goaltender with a bright future ahead of him.

+ Nick Bonino won the tournament MVP. Good timing. The San Jose Sharks prospect could very likely have been watched by Sharks staff in town for their game against the Bruins tonight.

Northeastern goes another year (since 1988) without a Beanpot. Their turn will come soon enough. BU showed why they are ranked number one in the country. Once they get into their flow, there's no stopping them.

Here are some pictures from the tournament I snapped with my phone. They're not the greatest -- I was sitting in the very last row of the building.