BU Freshman Class Preview - Forwards Part 1

This is Part 1 of a 3 Part Preview of this year's freshman class. The other two parts will come out in the coming weeks as the class is finalized and the season approaches.

                                        -Brendan Collier -photo credit- Jason Mastrodonato-Boston Globe


1. Brendan Collier, F, 5'9", 185-Charlestown,MA #8-(Valley Junior Warriors, EJHL, 15-33-48, 49 GP)


Collier is a local product who was a star on his high school team at Malden Catholic for 4 years. He played last year for the Valley Junior Warriors of the EJHL and posted a solid 48 point line in 49 games. This was after he posted 64 points and 27 goals in 22 games as a senior in high school. That includes the game winning goal in the Super 8 Championship game.

 There was also a Boston Globe article about Collier from last October which details his success at the high school level and the transition to the junior level. Collier's junior coach, Andy Heinze, is quoted in the article as saying "He's just such a smart player, and he is talented enough to score at this level, I would expect him to do the same at BU. He is that good."

From everything you read on Collier, he seems ready for the college game due to his vision and feel for the game. He just seems like a hockey player that should contribute from the get-go this year. He could even sneak into the top 6 forwards with only 3 of the top 6 returning from last year's BU squad. I would expect seventh round draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2012 to become a fan favorite rather quickly for the gritty way he plays the game and put up between 20-30 points this season.

Here is a scout's take from a Carolina Hurricane prospect website's profile of Collier
"We hear this about him, he’s just a pure hockey player. Goal line to goal line, he works so hard, got a good compete level. I think he’s going to be a great college player. He’s got some potential because he just works so hard.” 

Peter Chiarelli’s(Bruins GM) take: “A couple of interesting one’s, the Collier kid, [he is] kind of under the radar a little bit, but a real gritty kid.”

MWWs 2013 NFL Pick 'Em: Week 1

Welcome back to another edition of the MWWs NFL Pick 'Em. Some of the older readers know how I pick the games but for the new readers I select games to pick based on multiple factors. The factors being quarterback matchups, standings, playoff reasons. I always pick Jets, Pats, Giants games. I pick games straight up winner/loser. I don't do the O/U or parlay bets or even prop bets. (If you want that tweet at the blog's twitter account and ask QuackQuack. Pretty sure he has multiple parlays going this weekend). So let's roll onto the picks.

Jets vs. Bucs- taking the Bucs cause I want the Jets to suck this year so we can get Clowney (but as some NY fans know, the Jets will somehow win the last 3 games to lose that 1st pick anyway). Revis will have a pick 6 and will have 3 INTs. Bucs 28- Jets 13

Pats vs. Bills- I like this matchup for the Bills based on Mario Williams. Time and time again Tom Brady cannot deal with pressure and I think pressure results in a bad game for Brady yet I think the Pats run the ball often and effectively to win the game. Pats 27- Bills 14

Giants vs. Cowboys- I hate the Cowboys. I think they suck. I like the Giants. I think they are playoff bound this year. So Giants win cause I said so. GMen 35- Cowboys 27

Ravens vs. Broncos- Taking the Broncos cause I have Manning as quarterback in fantasy football also the fact I think the lose of clubhouse guys (Lewis, Reed) hurt the defense and won't be able to handle Peyton and the Broncos offense. Broncos 24- Ravens 17

BC Scandal Top 10- Brought to You by @BurntBoats

Editor's Note-Over the past two weeks, the twitter account @BurntBoats has been counting down the top 10 Boston College athletic scandals of all time and we would not be fulfilling our duties to all BU fans if we didn't post it for all to see. Feel free to leave comments as we have been getting some real gems from BC trolls lately. BC sucks!

                                                         -Photo Credit to flickr magsmab


10. Andrew Bryant charged with assault for entering a bar(he was 18) and starting a brawl. He was not punished in any form by BC #WeAreBC

9. Jermaine Watson assaults girl at a BC party, jumps out the window to avoid getting beaten by her friend #WeAreBC #ThankYouFlynnFund

8. SUV with Wey,Samuelsson, Milner and open container of alcohol(rubinoff to be exact) collides with the T(green line). Players flee the scene before the police arrive #WeAreBC

7. Bryant(1st repeat on the list) and Ryan Sidney got in a gun fight with Bryant's drug dealer, convicted felon Adamu Tallen #WeAreBC

BSRS Pre-Season Poll

This is the time of year where journalists and fans start posting their projections for each conference. We took the time to decide on our pre-season rankings as a blog. We realize we are early by a month but we have a Pre-season Hockey Least team to decide in the next month. Pre-season polls mean absolutely nothing as the defending champion is almost always the consensus #1 both nationally and in each conference no matter how much they lost from the year before. Exhibit A here. That 09 BU team was picked to finish 2nd behind BC. They went on to post 35 wins and a National title while BC went on to post 18 and miss the tournament all together.

Feel free to disagree with any of our selections besides the #1 because that is as obvious as it comes.

1. BU(5)- While the general public drool over Gillies, Hellebuyck, and Demko , O'Connor and Maguire are returning from a season where they both got real hot for stretches and both posted save percentages over .910. While PC and Lowell may have one great goalie, BU has two great ones. The rest of lineup will fall into place with big jumps coming from Lane and Kurker up front.

2. Lowell-Someone has to finish 2nd to BU and it is tough to pick against Lowell is returning both goalies(even though Carr is only good at flopping now) and a majority of their lineup from last year's team that made it to the Frozen Four before choking against Yale.

BU picks up 97' recruit Charlie McAvoy

New BU coach David Quinn and his staff picked up a top recruit for down the road today as they received a verbal commitment from Charlie McAvoy. McAvoy is a offensive defenseman currently playing for US NTDP U17 team. He is a right shot and considered one of the top defensemen in the 97' class. He will arrive at BU in 2015 most likely. He would become the second member of that class along with forward Bobo Carpenter and is a big get for the staff. He is considered to be one of the top dmen out there for that class. If I had to anticipate what Quinn's recruiting pitch was, it would be "You get to pass to Jack Eichel(2014 recruit) and he is going to score a lot of goals".

They won't be stopping here as they continue to build their classes for the future and look to fill out this year's team with 2-3 more forwards.

Proud to announce my commitment to Boston University. A big thanks to everyone who has helped me get to this point #GOTERRIERS
— Charlie McAvoy (@CMcAvoy44) August 13, 2013