BU's Courtnall signs with Bruins

Reports are coming out this afternoon that BU forward Justin Courtnall has signed an entry level deal with the Bruins. This comes only a week before classes begin and no time for that roster spot to be filled by any scholarship player. I would expect a walk-on to be added for depth but it is going to be tough to get a kid enrolled in school in less than a week. We will update this post as more information comes out. It was first reported by Scott McLaughlin of CHN.


We wish Justin the best of luck as he wore an A for the Terriers last season and single handely turned around game 3 of the HE QF against UNH with his physical play. He will certainly be a physical force at the next level and will be fun to watch in Providence(AHL) this coming season along with former Terriers Colby Cohen and Dave Warsofsky. The timing on it sucks but the team has enough forward depth to overcome this and will allow more ice time for some younger players to grow and develop. Courtnall posted 13 points(7g, 6 a) in his BU career to go along with 104 penalty minutes in 3 seasons.

Terriers Freshmen Preview Part 3

This is the third part of the freshman preview I have been working the past couple of weeks. Today I will preview the two incoming goalies and a Finnish defensemen. Since my last preview, the school has finally officially released the 9 man incoming class officially with quotes from Coach Parker on each player. You can find the link to that here. I will try not to repeat anything from there besides the quotes from Coach Parker.

7. Sean Maguire, G- Powell River, B.C. (Powell River Kings(BCHL) 17-12-1, 2.33 GAA, .913 s %) 6-2, 202lbs, left shot

- Maguire is one of two incoming goalies this year and would be my pick of the two as more likely to become the primary starter in the second half of the year. We are still very far away from there but the 4th round pick in this year's draft is a good one, according to reports throughout North America. I would expect Maguire to end up with about 20-25 starts this year and be able to post respectable stats somewhere around 2.7 GAA. His success will depend highly on the defensive effort in front of him as former Terrier Kieran Millan posted a 1.94 GAA his freshman year on his way to a 29-2-3 record but every single dman who played in front of him regularly is atleast in the AHL right now.

Coach Parker on  Maguire "Maguire's a big guy who fills a lot of the net and he's got a lot of talent. He had a real good junior career in Canada. We've known him for a couple of years and really like him. We knew we were coming to this point where we were losing two senior goalies and we were very fortunate to get him."

Freshman Preview Part 2

This is part 2 of 3 parts previewing the incoming freshman class. I covered the 3 US U-18 recruits last week. Each part will have 3 recruits mentioned as BU announced its 9 member class last week with the addition of Finnish dman Ahti Oksanen to the other 8 recruits that had been previously announced. Today, I am going to cover 3 forwards with Mike Moran, Wes Myron, and Sam Kurker.

4. Mike Moran,F - Marshfield,MA (Victoria Grizzlies(BCHL)(39 GP, 18-28-46, 22 pms) 6-1, 200lbs  left shot

- Moran is a graduate of the Taft School in Watertown,CT where he was a 3 sport athlete before he spent the last season in the BCHL with the Victoria Grizzlies. Moran posted solid numbers and wore an A for the squad. He played on a line with classmate Wes Myron and recent Merrimack de-committ Wade Murphy. Moran is an older,bigger recruit who seems like he will be in a fight for a spot in the lineup each game. Fun fact about Moran is that he is associate coach Mike Bavis' nephew. He led the Taft school in scoring his senior year and then put up over a point a game in the BCHL last season. He went undrafted so he should be a solid 4 year player for the Terriers as he continues to develop. Moran will see action at some point this season for sure and I would expect somewhere from 5-15 points for the freshman.
Here is a blurb from USHR about Moran
-"One of Myron’s teammates at Victoria is fellow Terrier recruit Mike Moran, who is 11th in league scoring with an 11-9-20 line in 14 games played. Moran, the nephew of BU assistant coach Mike Bavis, is a 2011 Taft graduate."

5. Wes Myron, F - Victoria, BC(Canada) (Victoria Grizzlies(BCHL) (26 GP, 17-25-42, 18 PMs) 6-2, 190lbs, left shot

Buccigross Barked Up the Wrong Tree

So Monday night, John Buccigross (@Buccigross) tweeted out a message about needing some questions for his mailbag he does for the NHL portion of ESPN.com. Accordingly, I emailed him a question about college hockey or 'cawlidge hawkey' as he likes to say it on twitter. The question was an early prediction, on his part, for the 2013 Frozen Four. Obviously, I was looking for a positive response (GO BU) since last year he predicted BU in the championship game against Miami of Ohio when the brackets were announced.

BUT Bucci as his fans call him did the complete opposite:
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Hey, John!

The question for you is: Which teams will make the 2013 Frozen Four?

Long Island

Boston College, Western Michigan, Minnesota and North Dakota.

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Freshmen Preview part 1

This is the first of 3 number of previews on the incoming 2012 class for BU hockey. While there have been rumors of another dman being added(perhaps an international recruit), I will only preview the freshman who we know will be on campus this fall.  There are currently 8 incoming freshmen if I can count correctly which isn't always the case.

1. Matthew Grzelcyk, D- Charlestown, MA (USNTDP- 56 GP, 2-20-22, 20 PMs) 5-9, 170lbs left shot

-Grzelcyk has been compared to former Terrier David Warsofsky due to his smaller size but expert puck-moving ability. He has put on 20lbs since leaving Belmont Hill for the USNTP and continues to work with BU strength and conditioning coach Mike Boyle over the course of the summer. I would expect "Grizzy" to put similar numbers to Warsofsky and Adam Clendening's freshman years. Warsofsky posted a 3-20-23 line in 08-09 on a National championship team while Clendening posted a 5-21-26 line in 10-11. According to our poll thus far, fans are excited to watch Grzelcyk play this season. He is a local kid and a draft pick of the Bruins, which really is the perfect storm for me anyway to pull for the kid. I could see him reaching as high as the second d-pair this coming season and would expect him to see extensive special team ice time, especially on the power play. Here is what other website have thought of Grzelcyk

" Excellent skater. Has superb first few steps and explodes from a standstill or glide in just a few, effortless strides. Has top gear and the lateral, four-way agility that is ideal for position. Changes direction quickly and able to prevent opponents from attacking his net with speed. Very good passer and puck-mover with a deft touch on the puck. Advances the biscuit confidently and has the stick skills to elude checkers and lug it out of the defensive zone on his own. Has superb offensive and defensive hockey sense; sees the ice beautifully and inherently understands when to attack and when to stay home. Very good in puck retrieval; will take a hit to make the play. Plays with tremendous passion and desire. Grew up in the shadow of the Boston Garden and FleetCenter/TD Garden dreaming of being a Boston Bruin, so he will exert the utmost effort to be a player even with the physical limitations. A respected and popular teammate." -Kirk Luedeke and Jesse Connolly Link to the rest of the article and interview with Grzelyck is right here from New England Hockey Journal.

Question of the Day

So I was listening to the local sports radio today in New York and the radio personality came up with a question.

Q: Would you rather be a Super Bowl Head Coach that is 3 for 3 or a Super Bowl Head Coach that is 2 for 6? The question can pertain to whatever sport you would like soccer, basketball, hockey, college hockey etc. Leave us a comment or tweet at us if that's your thing.

Trivino News and His Future as a NY Islander

So if you haven't heard Trivino made a guilty plea today in court if you want the whole story head here or there. I decided to cover his future move into the NHL or AHL or maybe another league since he used to play for BU and his draft rights are with my favorite NHL team, NY Islanders. Trivino was drafted by the New York Islanders a few years ago (2008) as center or forward. He was drafted by the Islanders when they were in rebuilding mode and still are in rebuilding mode. Since his draft, the Islanders drafted better players in that position for Bridgeport(AHL) and have better players that have moved into the center position in NHL from the AHL.

The top 4 lines for the Islanders are taken at center. John Tavares, Frans Nielsen, Ryan Strome, and Josh Bailey have laid claim to center in each line. Maybe Josh Bailey is traded (some rumors) or is moved to AHL since he is very streaky player. If Bailey is sent down most likely David Ullstrom takes over the 4th line. In the AHL, he could start no problem. Probably the 3rd or 4th line, which in my opinion is where he should be in career. Depending on possible trades, Trivino could move to the 1st or 2nd line in the AHL (rumor has it Islanders are still thinking about Bobby Ryan but would give up most of their talent in the center position). If Trivino could move his position from C to the RW, since the LW is taken on all levels. The RW has an opening on the 4th line in the NHL and maybe the quickest way to see him make it to the NHL but personally I think he doesn't have enough speed to play in the NHL or rather keep that speed constant throughout a game. So if he stays with the Islanders, I could not see him in the NHL unless he changes position and become an AHL lifer.

2012 Hate Index- How much you should hate the rest of Hockey East

I get bored in the real world pretty easily now so I am going to keep writing blog posts just to entertain myself. This post is going to focus on which teams I hate most in the conference and why. This may differ for other BU fans and probably will even with my fellow bloggers but that's why we have the comment function. However, my guess is that all BU fans will agree on who is going to lead the pack on my hatredmeter...

9th most hated team(or least hated team in the conference)- UMass- This was a fairly easy decision for me. Their fans may flip me off and yell at me when I'm in Mullins but I fully expect that and respect that from opposing fans. Former coach Toot Cahoon was a BU guy who coached and played for the Terriers. Also former Terrier captain Joe Pereira's younger brother Mike plays for the Minutemen. Combine this with the fact that they have played BC in the HE QF each of the last 3 years and I have been pulling for this program more than any other in Hockey East therefore they get least hated. Please don't mistake this for me being a fan of their program. It just means someone has to come in 2nd to BU in the conference this year and if I had to pick, it would be UMass.

Personal Top Ten Sports Moments By Mr. WorldWide

Probably like most of you, I grew up with SportsCenter on the TV every morning from grade school to post grad life. Despite how the format changed from reporting sports to putting their own personal spin on a sport a la Tebowmania or Tom Brady this Tom Brady that and my personal favorite lets interview Stephen A Smith and let him tell us it is a race thing, I still watch for the Top Ten Plays and on Fridays the Not Top Ten. So I decided to make a Top Ten of my favorite sporting moments that happen in my life. I'll tell you what happened and how it impacted me as a sports lover.