This week in college hockey - Chiasson signs with Dallas

So I have been avoiding to blogging this week to avoid thinking about last weekend. I was out there in St. Paul and watched my last game as an undergrad. I'm not going to go all emotional and start crying like TO or something but it does suck that it is no longer socially acceptable for me to stand all game and yell offensive things at opposing goalies. BU lost a game where they simply got outplayed by a hot Minnesota team. They dismantled North Dakota the next day(which I also witnessed) and made it look easy doing so. They would simply rush to the front of the net and bury the puck. BC will certainly have their hands full with the Gophers next Thursday in the National Championship game(I know it's technically the semifinal but Ferris and Union suck).

Overall, I enjoyed the trip to St. Paul despite the outcome. As Coach Parker said after the game, it is a great hockey city and a good place to go watch hockey. The X was very nice despite the Minnesota and North Dakota students not showing up. The fact that the 8 BU fans plus band so 32 total could be heard on the telecast is just embarrassing to Minnesota. The rink was 9 miles from your campus and over 1,000 from ours. Lock it up. It was a nice city and I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to go on a good hockey roadie.

After the games this weekend, players began to announce their intentions for next year. Many of the higher ranked seniors quickly signed contracts such as Maine products Brian Flynn(Buffalo), and Hobey Finalist Spencer Abbott(Toronto) along with Colgate Hobey Finalist Austin Smith(Dallas). Other big names leaving their respective schools are Michigan's Chris Brown(Phoenix), Denver's Drew Shore(Florida) and Jason Zucker(Minnesota), along with Northeastern's Anthony Bitetto who signed with Nashville today.

Northeastern took another big hit as BIG-time goalie recruit Jon Gillies decomitted after he learned that rising senior Chris Rawlings would remain at school and take most of the of the time in net. Gillies is supposedly considering the Q and other colleges. If he goes to the Q, then I actually almost feel for NU fans since the Q sucks and I would rather face him 3 times a year than lose a college guy to major juniors. I saw some people online suggesting that Gillies could consider BU but that won't happen with two big time goalie recruits of our own coming in this year in Matt O'Connor(USHL) and Sean MacGuire(BCHL). Both have had solid years in their respective leagues and figure to fight for the job come October. Also, BU doesn't take NU's sloppy seconds. It's the other way around.

The only departure from thus far has been the expected announcement by junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson that he will sign with the Dallas Stars, who drafted him in the second round in 2009 draft. There were rumors that they pushed him hard to leave last year and he chose to stay one more year at BU. That says alot about Chiasson's character and we wish him all the best with Dallas. Chiasson did have some nice comments about his departure which you can see here from the Daily Free Press:
“[Parker] thought if in my heart that’s what I wanted to do then he was going to support me through it.”

This quote really shows how honest Parker will be his players when it is time to make the decision to go pro and supports them either way. Charlie Coyle had similar comments about Parker even though it was quite evident Parker disagreed with the decision in that instance. That is the difference between Parker and York or Berenson who both basically beg guys to stay every year for the benefit of the program. Today, Berenson made a comment saying he was disappointed in junior Chris Brown's decision to go pro which was basically a big guilt trip to a kid who was already gone. No need to make that comment in my opinion.

BU's class next year(as of now) consists of 9 which includes forwards Matt Lane, Wes Myron, Mike Moran, Robert Polsello, and Jarrid Privitera. It also includes the two goalies mentioned above and 2 d-men in Marc Hetnik and Matt Grzelcyk. This number could increase if Adam Clendening, Matt Nieto, or Garrett Noonan decide to turn pro in the coming weeks. I remain hopeful that Nieto and Noonan will return as both of their organization in the Sharks and Predators typically allow guys to develop at school as long as they desire. Clendening is more of a toss-up but we won't really know until all the guys go to their development camps and then return to school . That's all I got for now but we will be posting grades for each player and the coaching staff in the next week or so.