Everyone has a favorite player. It is almost impossible not to have one. Garrett Noonan is my favorite player (along with half the Dog Pound, I suspect). This post might be completely biased, but Garrett Noonan deserves all the awards this season and these are the reasons why.
Reason #1: His head is in the game.
I felt like this season there were a lot of times when the Terriers just didn’t have their heads in the game and looked like they had no idea what they were doing on that ice. However, Noonan never seemed to be one of those guys. Every game, he goes in fighting for a win, even when the team seems like they are in Narnia instead of a hockey game. The Beanpot game against BC pops into mind as a perfect example of this. He was the only player who scored and even gave us a fighting chance at a trophy during that game, while the other players took a few periods to get their heads in the game. You can always count on Noonan to be there, fighting with everything he has to secure a win.
Reason #2: Offensive Defensemen
I know a lot of people will say Clendening is probably one of the strongest offensive defensemen we have on our team, but I beg to differ. Not only is Noonan a strong defensive player doing everything he can to prevent that puck from going into our net, he also gets the job done on offense. Noonan ended the season with 16 goals and +19, scoring more goals than some of our forwards and having the highest +/- on the team, making him one of top scoring defensemen in the nation. In three games he has scored 2 goals, and was soooo close to a hat trick at the final game of the regular season at Northeastern. He was the only one to score any goals during the final game of the Beanpot. While he is smart and skilled on defense, he also excels at the opposite side of the rink as well.
Reason #3: Penalties
Okay, while having a lot of penalties is not a good thing, especially for our team since we are one of the most penalized teams in college hockey, I will say, Noonan excels at getting penalties. I’m always a little shocked when Noonan does not end up in the penalty box by the end of the game. His freshman year he lead the Terriers in penalty minutes with 89 minutes. This year, that number is down slightly, serving only 64 minutes in the box (Courtnall got him beat this year with 73 minutes). If a penalty is called my first thought tends to be “Oh, it’s Noonan,” but I’m okay with that. And he is definitely getting better at trying to stay away from the box, so that’s good.
Reason #4: He gets shit done.
Seriously, though, he does. On the power play, the penalty kill, on defense and on offensive, Noonan goes for it and gets it done. When Noonan’s on the ice, I feel secure in knowing one of our best player is there ready to get shit done. He improved so much from his freshman year to his sophomore year that I can’t wait to see what happens next year. If he continues at BU, he will definitely grow even more as a player, which would help him in his future for whatever team he plays with.
Reason #5: Proud Terrier
Noonan is one of the guys on the team you can tell is genuinely proud to wear the scarlet and white. He would bleed scarlet. The passion he has on the ice shows this. And if anyone hates BC more than us fans, it would probably be Noonan. I seriously doubt he is going anywhere until he brings BU home a Beanpot trophy (preferably in a victory over BC). He’s as proud to be a Terrier as we are.
Noonan is one of the best Terriers on the team and definitely a fan favorite (Nooñan anyone?). if he returns next season (which he will), he will definitely win all the awards the next year and continue to do amazing things.
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