EagleAction.com - A Look Ahead: BC Hockey '09-10

October 14, 2009

Bob Van Wert
EagleAction.com Staff Analyst

EagleAction will be providing full coverage of the BC hockey team this season. After the first 2 articles this will be premium content, so you'll need to sign up for a subscription to access. We hope you enjoy the work of our lead analyst Bob Van Wert.

With the official season opener coming up Sunday at Vermont, the only certainty so far at Conte Forum is that fans will love the new scoreboards that went up over the summer at each end of the building. They are large, they are bright, the HD television is better than you get at home and even the oldest alum will be able to read about shots on goal without using binoculars. Fans have to be careful that they don't watch the entire game up on those scoreboards.

Down on the ice, however, nothing is quite so sure for the Eagles, ranked 12th nationwide and 3rd in Hockey East. This team is chocked full of question marks despite Jerry York's upbeat outlook and the presence of seven key players remaining from the NCAA championship team of 2007-2008.

"I've got 26 players in that locker room," York said recently "and only eight of them are juniors and seniors. But I think that, down the middle, I have the best group of centers that I have ever had. I just have to decide who to put with them."

Three of those centers, Brian Gibbons, Jimmy Hayes and Cam Atkinson will be paired in some order with lettermen Ben Smith, Joe Whitney, Barry Almeida, Tommy Atkinson, Paul Carey, Brian Gibbons, Matt Lombardi, and Matt Price. Or you might see a few of the highly touted freshman working their way into the regular rotation, although York shakes his head and reminds listeners that "they are barely 18-years-old."

The returning forwards accounted for just 65 goals last season and only one of them scored as many as nine (Gibbons.) At least one of them will have to come up with a breakout season if the Eagles are to succeed. Jimmy Hayes, at 6"5 and 210 pounds, was a highly touted freshman last year (picked 60th overall by the Maple Leafs in the 2008 NHL draft) scored eight goals in his debut year and he may be the most likely of all to make a huge impact this year. Senior Ben Smith was limited by injuries to six goals last year, but he scored 25 as a sophomore and if he stays healthy he too could be the go-to guy.

As for the freshmen, Chris Kreider was the 1st round choice (19th overall) of the New York Rangers in the NHL draft last summer after being named prep player of the year playing for Phillips Andover. He scored two goals in the exhibition against the US under-18 team last week, but York reminds us not to expect too much out of any freshman. At 6"2 and 205 pounds he is not the typical Eagles forward (he's actually taller than 5'11" and heavier than 188 pounds), but he has speed to go with his size and is definitely not shy around the puck. Another freshman to watch is Kenny Ryan, a 2nd round draft choice who was regular scorer for the US under18 team last year and he has plenty of size at 6' and 209 pounds.

Defensively, goalie John Muse shouldn't be a question mark for York, but he is. After playing all but 7:56 of the past two seasons, he spent eight weeks on crutches following hip surgery last April and we all saw how long it took baseball players Mike Lowell and Alex Rodriguez to return to top form this past summer after hip surgeries of their own. He has played a period in both of the exhibition games, but if he is not ready, York has apparently seen enough in practices to have confidence in his untested backups, Chris Venti, a sophomore, and former USHL hotshot Parker Milner, another of those freshmen.

The two question marks on defense are the health of Tommy Cross's knees and the development of four more freshman. York is excited about Cross and says that if healthy, Cross is one of the best defensemen that you will see anywhere. Senior Carl Sneep has size and experience. The freshmen, however, are all unknown quantities, except to college and NHL scouts who made three of them high draft choices last spring ("but they are all just 18-years-old," York says again with a smile.) Of course the most watched among them will be Phillip Samuelson, (a 2nd round choice) son of the infamous Ulf Samuelson, he of Cam Neely fame. Brian Dumoulin (second round) and Patrick Wey (4th round) both have NHL size.

So shuffle the deck and see what comes out. Everyone knows that in the past Jerry York has won with experienced teams and with freshman laden teams and with teams in between. With the first two games against 11th-ranked Vermont (who split last weekend with then top ranked Denver) and the following weekend with 7th-ranked Notre Dame it might not be long before some answers start to come down on the ice. And if you are looking for answers, it won't be long before they will be right up there on those scoreboards, in living color, high-def and all.

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