2012-13 Season Preview

While QQ covered his line projections, projected league standings , and previews of the freshmen class (part 1, part 2, and part 3), I wanted to toss up a general preview of the team/season and my expectations for the year.

Forwards

Without a doubt, I think the forwards will be the strongest part of the 2012-13 team.  While that statement may seem counterintuitive after losing Alex Chiasson, Chris Connolly, Charlie Coyle and Corey Trivino, I firmly believe that the new crop of forwards are ready to step up.  Wade Megan (20-9-29) and Matt Nieto (16-26-42) figure to be primary scorers, with Sahir Gill (12-19-31) also solidly in the mix.  Look for Cason Hohmann (2-6-8) and Evan Rodrigues (2-10-12) to build on relatively quiet freshmen years and contribute on the scoresheet much more so than last year.  Freshmen Matt Lane, Danny O'Regan and Sam Kurker also figure to contribute a decent amount - I'd expect all 3 to break the 20 point mark, with one breaking the 30 point mark.  I also wouldn't be surprised to see Ben Rosen (1-6-7) and Ryan Santanimal (3-4-7) scoring a bit more than they have in recent years.  Rosen strikes me as the type of player who could come out and contribute 10-15 goals this year, similar to Joe Pereira his senior year.



Defensemen

A definite question mark for me this season, but not as big a concern as the goaltending.  Losing Adam Clendening (4-29-33) is definitely going to hurt the d-corps, especially on the power play.  As much as we here at the BSRS liked to harp on Clendening's Shatty-like tendencies (the bad ones, not the good ones), he was an absolute force patrolling the blue line on the power play.

That being said, we do return some solid d-men.  Garrett Noonan (16-11-27) will definitely anchor the defense this year, although I expect his goal total to significantly decrease without AC as his d partner.  Alexx Privitera (4-10-14) will most likely be picked to fill the offensive void left by Clendening, a steep task but one I think Priv could definitely fulfill. Patrick MacGregor (0-3-3), Sean Escobedo (3-10-13), and Ryan Ruikka (0-5-5) fill out the rest of the returning defensemen from last year's squad.  The new guys on the blue line will be Matt Grzelcyk and Ahti Oksanen, both of whom will most likely be tapped to start right away.

My concern with the blue line this year is inexperience and lack of discipline.  Noonan and Priviterra are top notch players, but the rest of the D scares me a bit.  Scooby can be relatively undisciplined at times, and MacGregor has been known to take a bad penalty or two.  I've never been completely sold on Ruikka, and I don't think he will see too much time this year barring any injuries.  That means a third of your D will be diving headfirst into the college game, and as coach Parker has pointed out before, you notice the mistakes of freshmen defensemen a lot more often than a freshmen forward.

All that being said, if those two can get it going, and Truck and Scooby can stay out of the box/in position, we could be in business.

Goaltending

I'll be completely honest, our goaltending situation this year has been causing me to lose sleep.  Having two freshmen be your only real options in nett scares the ever living shit out of me.  Yes, I know the last time we had this exact situation we won a national title.  But anybody who thinks the 12-13 team will be anything like the 08-09 team is a complete moron.  Maybe if Coyle, Clendening and Chiasson had decided to stick around, but even then probably not.

Anyways, our two options in net this year are Sean Maguire and Matt O'Connor.  Maguire comes straight from the BCHL, a league that has sent many a-player to Hockey East.  O'Connor comes from the USHL, a virtual breeding ground for college hockey players.

Maguire (a 4th round pick of the Penguins) is certainly the pre-season favorite to start in net, after playing solidly for Canada West in the World Junior A challenge.  He put up decent numbers with the Powell River Kings last season (17-12-1, 2.33, .913), and combine that with his Junior A success and you've got yourself the pre-season favorite.

O'Connor's numbers in the USHL certainly weren't mind blowing (28-16-5, 3.04, .902), but they definitely weren't poor.  The advantage he has going for him is his size - at 6'5", 185, O'Connor is a force is net.  Whether or not he can utilize his size in the college game, however, remains to be seen.

Overall Predictions

Admittedly, guessing team records and standings before the season even begins is a complete crapshoot.  But it's fun, and I'm bored, so here goes.  Note - I'm leaving out the Beanpot and the game against Toronto on the 7th.

I'm going to base my predictions on the theory that you win a third of your games, and lose a third of your games, and that it's that last third that counts (yes, I stole this from baseball/The West Wing. bite me).  Therefore, I'm going to figure that BU will go somewhere around 21-12 this season.  It could be 20-12-1, it could be 22-10-1, but I'm guessing it is going to be somewhere around there.

Oh, and we're gonna win the Beanpot this year. Just know that.