BU adds Albie O'Connell as assistant coach, Scott Young as Director of Hockey Ops

Albie O'Connell will be returning to BU, his alma mater, to take the assistant's position vacated by the recent retirement of Buddy Powers.
— USHR (@USHRhockey) April 6, 2014

It was strongly rumored that a change in the BU hockey coaching staff was coming this off-season with many people reporting that assistant coach Buddy Powers is retiring and BU alum Albie O'Connell will be joining the staff in his place. It was also speculated that BU alum and NHL star Scott Young will be joining the staff as Director of Hockey operations after Pertti Hasanen left the position at the conclusion of the season. Both of these announcements were made official recently as coach David Quinn noted to the Free Press today.

O'Connell was rumored to be a candidate to join the staff last season but things never materialized and he remained the assistant coach at Harvard and was given a raise. Young was most recently the head hockey coach at St. Michael's high school, his alma mater.

Powers and Hasanen will be missed and it should be noted of all that they contributed as crucial members of the staff to transition the program from former coach Jack Parker to current coach David Quinn. Both guys were counted on heavily by Coach Quinn this season as was obvious by the fact that Hasanen was referred to interviews by Quinn as someone he would talk about games and strategy about throughout the season.

What college program has the best numbers in the NHL playoffs through Week 1?

The title of this post is a rhetorical question because there is only one real answer (unless I missed a Michigan alum which is very possible)

Former BU Hockey Players playing in the NHL playoffs through 4/24/2014

1. Kevin Shattenkirk 4GP, 1-4-5, +2, 15 SOG

2. Matt Nieto 3 GP , 1-3-4, +4, 5 SOG

3. Charlie Coyle 3 GP, 2-0-2, -2, 8 SOG

4. Alex Chiasson 4 GP, 1-1-2, -4, 9 SOG

5. Nick Bonino 4 GP, 0-1-1, 0 , 5 SOG

Totals- 18 GP, 5-10-15, 0, 42 SOG

Terrier Hockey Update-Captains etc

After attending the banquet this past weekend, there a few items to talk about.

                                                        Photo Credit to the Boston Globe
1. Congrats to Matt Grzelcyk on being named the captain next season. He will be the first junior captain since Chris Connolly in 2011. The A's are seniors Cason Hohmann and Evan Rodrigues. All three are leaders on the team in their own way and while we have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, the leadership of the team certainly appears to be in good hands for next season. Congrats to Matt, Cason and Evan.

                                                      Photo Credit to BU Hockey Blog

                     
2. Coach Quinn announced some of the highlights of the schedule next season but it is not finalized yet so we do not know the entire schedule. What we do know is below
- Michigan and Michigan State will visit Agganis in late October  
- BU will travel to Wisconsin(X2) in January
- Union will visit Agganis in January
- BU will play an exhibition game at Walter Brown Arena vs the USA U-20 team on December 19th. The U-20 team will train at BU for 5 days before heading to the WJC in Toronto/Montreal.
- 22 Hockey East conference games
-2 Beanpot game(Harvard, BC/NU)
- 1 game at RPI(12/13/14)

The 2014 Hockey East Departure Train.....

....brought to you by Eichelzilla

                                                It's funny because he is better than them

BU continues to dominate on the recruiting trails

The coaching staff of the BU hockey team continues to dominate on the recruiting trail. They have added two more recruits in the last week. Hank Crone was added for the 2016 or 2017 class earlier this week while Sean MacTavish was added for 2015 yesterday.

The Crone announcement was made via Twitter on Tuesday. Crone is an undersized playmaker from Texas currently playing with the U16 Stars program. He had 17 goals and 23 assists in 27 games for the Stars this past season. He was signed to a tender by the Omaha Lancers of the USHL earlier this week as well so it appears he will be heading there for the next 2-3 seasons until he arrives at BU. He will need that time to develop as he is undersized(as of now) at 5'8" 141lbs but he is only 16 years old so he will continue to develop and grow in his time in the USHL.  Crone was ranked as the third best skater at the Tier I Elite Showcase back in October. They describe him as a dynamic forward who creates offense in all types of situations. This is certainly a great get for BU as that 2016 class continues to grow stronger with USA U-17 bound Clayton Keller and Johnny McDermott.

Coughlin Commits to BU

via Caught in Southie

Former Catholic Memorial standout and current Vernon Viper Liam Coughlin has committed to BU, according to multiple reports. Coughlin was previously committed to UMass.

Liam, a native of South Boston, led CM in scoring his senior year with a 27-24-51 line in only 21 games played. The left shot forward landed on ESPN Boston's All-State Team and was one of four finalists for Massachusetts' Mr. Hockey award, in addition to being named Division 1 Player of the Year.

Continue reading for more on Coughlin, as well as some profiles and tweets...