Weekend Recap

The BU Terriers fell to the Providence College Friars in the national championship game on Saturday night at TD Garden. The 4-3 loss is certainly one that fans through college hockey will remember for a while. If you want to read about the actual game(I don't), you can head over to the Daily Free Press who has some great content as always. The loss certainly stings and will for a while with the 3-2 lead that the Terriers held with ten minutes remaining. A lot of press has been made over the bad luck bounce goalie Matt O'Connor was subject to which lead to the tying goal on a harmless flip from center ice. There was nothing that he necessarily did wrong on the play except not realize that he had the puck or that it had left his glove. The BU defense got beat on the game winner moments later and could never find a way to beat soon to be former PC goalie Jon Gillies.

First off, congrats to PC on their first national title. I truly believe that PC is 95% of HE fans second favorite time in the league so it was not surprising to see the support for them. I probably would have been rooting for PC if they were playing any other team in the country besides Alaska because the Nanooks are awesome. Nate Leaman certainly turned that program around in a hurry with some big time help from Gillies who put the team on his back on numerous occasions the last three seasons. There is also the nice storyline of  Drew Brown who overcame cancer and returned to the team last week to be with them at the Frozen Four. Congrats to them but with that said, I want BU to crush them twice next season.

As for BU, Saturday night obviously sucked. The Terriers were very good in the third period all year long but just didn't get the bounces or play well in the third on Saturday. As a fan, it was difficult to take but the worst part of it is watching the team on the ice after the final horn. That is what stings the most. They put everything they had into this season and to come so close without achieving the ultimate goal.  Every BU fan should be grateful for what this team did this year. Coming into the season, if you asked a BU fan if they would take a Frozen Four appearance this year without a title I think 99% of them would say the team would have exceeded expectations considering how young they are.

Realizing it's the last time you will see guys in a BU jersey is always the worst part of the end of the season.Having to watch guys so depressed especially the seniors who did everything they could to change the culture of the team from some low points off the ice in 2012 and on the ice last year to a National runner-up was a very tough thing to do. This team certainly has plenty to be proud of winning both HE titles, the Beanpot and having the Hobey Baker Award winner on the roster. The seniors class was a small one but certainly played a huge impact on this program and the turnaround of success from their freshman year to now. Each of them will have their own post sometime next week but every BU fan should be grateful what Anthony Moccia, Evan Rodrigues and Cason Hohmann contributed to this team during their time on Comm Ave. You can even buy them a beer now and not be committing a NCAA violation! They certainly will not easily be replaced next season.

The immediate reaction once the season ends for some people is to immediately look towards next season. There will be decisions to be made in the coming days/weeks for 5-6 underclassmen who will have opportunities in professional hockey. Juniors Ahti Oksanen, Danny O'Regan and Matt O'Connor will all have professional opportunities if they chose to do so. Junior captain Matt Grzelcyk has already told the Boston Herald that he will return for his senior season which means the entire defensive corps will remain the same besides the addition of U-18 dman Charlie MacAvoy who will certainly push for playing time as well. The big factor for next year's team will be the status of freshman Hobey Baker Winner Jack Eichel. Everyone has heard the story by now  as he will go #2 in the draft this summer behind only overrated Canadian Connor McDavid. The team that Eichel goes to will have an impact on if he returns to BU for one more season or turns pro immediately following the draft. My personal feeling is that if he goes to Buffalo who will have the 1st or 2nd pick depending on the lottery next weekend, he will be pushed harder to go pro immediately than if he lands in Arizona who is the favorite to get the #2 pick as of now. Both teams are in a full rebuild but Arizona's GM has already touted BU as a great place for draft picks to develop when they traded for BU recruit Maxim Letunov a few months ago. The other factor at play is that Arizona native Auston Matthews is the favorite to go #1 in the 2016 NHL Draft and the best way to tank for a local high profile player is keep Eichel at BU for another year. The other benefit would be having an additional year of Eichel in his prime before he can hit unrestricted free agency.  It will certainly be an interesting storyline to follow this summer but the future is looking bright for Terrier hockey regardless of what happens this summer.

Thanks to everyone for reading/following us on Twitter this season. It was certainly a fun year and will be a fun summer. If you aren't already excited about next year's team, then you should go get your brain checked out.