Senior Series Post #3- Ahti Oksanen

This is post #3 in the Senior Series. You can read Sean Maguire's here and Mike Moran's here.

Ahti Oksanen came to BU an unknown Finnish defenseman recruited to fill the void left by Colby Cohen signing a professional contract. He left as a fan favorite forward who lead the  NCAA in shots on goal as a senior. He is now one of the most sought after undrafted free agents in the NHL and will certainly have his choice of team when he feels ready to make his decision.

Oksanen continued to improve despite changes through his career. After his freshman year, the coaching staff was changed from legendary Jack Parker and associated head coach Mike Bavis(who recruited Ahti) to current head coach David Quinn. Quinn kept Ahti on defense for a full year before making the switch to have Oksanen play at forward for his junior and senior seasons. Oksanen was hesitant at first and even went as far as practicing on defense the entire summer before his junior season despite Coaches Quinn and Steve Greeley reinforcing to him that he would be a forward.

Terriers roll along in league and to Beanpot Final

The BU Terriers continue to roll along in the second half of the 2015-2016 season with a pair of wins this past weekend against Merrimack and vs Northeastern. The win vs Merrimack Friday night was a dominating effort from the Terriers as they beat up on a less skilled Merrimack team who has been struggling as of late. The Terriers jumped out to an 1-0 lead on a Robbie Baillargeon goal and really carried play from there. A Danny O'Regan shorthanded goal less than six minutes into the second really opened it up for BU. They would add goals from fellow seniors Matt Lane and Ahti Oksanen to secure the 4-0 victory.

The weirdest part of the game was that senior Sean Maguire did not get the win or the shutout despite starting and finishing the game without giving up a goal. Sophomore Connor LaCouvee had to come on for a five minute span in the first period due to a skate issue for Maguire. Maguire would return but not be eligible for the shutout or the win due to the missed time. It was really a weird set of circumstance which isn't surprising given the goalies involved #letsgetweird

Terriers throttle Maine

The BU Terriers did what they were supposed to do and destroyed the Maine Black Bears over the weekend. The Terriers took care of business 5-2 on Friday night before backing it up with an even stronger performance and a 6-1 win on Saturday night at Agganis Arena. Friday's night game was clearly the closer of the two as BU required some great saves from senior goalie Sean Maguire to stay tied and stay ahead later in the game. If BU had one flaw this weekend, it was being a little loose with the puck in their own zone. This lead to the benching of sophomore John Macleod in the middle of the game Friday night. The Terriers were able to take control of the game and eventually win the game because of their seniors. The senior class contributed to 4/5 goals and the win in net for the Terriers. Coach Quinn constantly says how important seniors are and this was the case Friday night in a hostile road environment.

The Terriers made the 4+ hour drive back to Boston after the game Friday to play the same terrible Maine team back at Agganis Arena. They jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals from Bobo Carpenter and Doyle Somerby on a wraparound and never looked back. BU played a complete game Saturday night which Coach Quinn noted after the game. Carpenter added another goal to get up to 7 on the year along with Matt Lane scoring goals # 12 and 13 on the season to tie him for the team lead with future Hobey Baker winner Ahti Oksanen. It  is certainly a great sign for this team to be getting scoring from so many different guys. None of the goal scorers from Friday night scored again on Saturday night yet the team put up 11 goals on the weekend. It is great to be getting scoring from the third line in Carpenter who has been a tear lately/finally getting some puck luck. It really has been underrated how important him and classmate Ryan Cloonan have been to this team. Both guys are playing top 9 roles on one of the best teams in the country as undrafted freshmen which is huge for the depth of scoring moving forward.

 The line of Greenway-Lane-Oksanen is one that nobody in the country can match up with. Even when they know what's coming, they can't stop it. What's usually happening with this line on the ice is Greenway or Oksanen winning a battle along the boards and feeding Lane in the slot for a one timer unless Ahti finds a way to shoot first #Ahti4Hobey

The BU wagon rolls along: sweep pair with Harvard and UMass

The BU Terriers swept their first two games of the second half of the season with 6-5 and 7-2 wins over Harvard and UMass. The first period of the Harvard game was their worst period of hockey this season but they got some very good play out of senior goalie Sean Maguire to keep the deficit to 1-0. The Terriers would begin to play better in the second as they got two goals from senior Matt Lane but unfortunately they were matched by two goals from Harvard's Sean Malone. The Terriers were forced to fight back from two separate two goal deficits in the third period but they found a way to continue to battle and fight back. The Terriers scored three goals in just over two minutes late in the third to come out a 6-5 victor against another top ECAC team on the road. Their last win of the first semester was a road win at Quinnipiac who is still the #1 team in the country with their only loss coming to BU.

Weekend Recap: Terriers tie twice with PC, continue to improve

The BU Terriers continue to improve as the season rolls along battling to two ties with the #1 ranked Providence College Friars this past weekend. The Terriers fought back from deficits in the third periods of both games as they failed to score in either of the first two periods of either night. The Terriers knotted it up on a late Ahti Oksanen goal Friday night after trailing 1-0 for over a period of hockey with a majority of that spent short handed because the refs got a little whistle happy. BU freshman Charlie McAvoy was thrown out(and later suspended) for a hit on Brandon Tanev midway through the third. BU killed the two 5 on 3 powerplays though and gave themselves a chance to tie the game which Oksanen eventually did for them. They show an unbelievable amount of fight just to stay in the game down two skaters as Nik Olsson left the contest with an upper body injury. It was definitely a hard earned tie for the Terriers who even had chances to win OT as well.

On to the McAvoy hit, it was definitely a borderline hit and most likely a (minor)penalty. However, I do not think it was warranting of a major penalty. It appeared that Tanev dropped his head at the last moment, most likely when McAvoy was already committed to the hit. The major point of contact appeared to the be the shoulder and body but since Nate Leaman whined about it after the game, the conference felt obliged to respond and handed down the suspension. Leaman really is becoming more unlikeable the longer he is in the league.. Take the national championship game last season out of this and he is still creeping up there as whiny as all the other annoying coaches in the league(York, Dennehy, Sneddon etc). You aren't allowed to call a borderline hit "one of the worst I have seen" when your guys are taking cheap shot swings after the whistle all night long. Regardless of whether you are getting away with it or not, you are certainly not in a position to criticize a kid like McAvoy for trying to play hard and physical between the whistles while your goons are waiting to take their shots until after the play ends.

With that said, I felt like Quinn would have benched McAvoy on Saturday for a few reasons anyway. First, McAvoy is a 17 year old freshman and sometimes they can benefit from watching a game from the stands. I know AJ Greer said this just last year when he was a healthy scratch for a game. Second, he took a bad penalty before the hit that got him thrown out while responding to a cheap shot from a PC player(one of many). You still have to keep your cool there and can't take a penalty to go down 5 on 3 for a full two minutes even if it was referee assisted. Third, Brien Diffley definitely has earned the right to get some ice time with his play last year and earlier this season. There are going to be injuries throughout the year and Diffley needs to be ready to play.

Guest Post from @BurntBoats

Editor's Note: This is a guest post from @burntboats on twitter and you should take the time to read it if you are a BU hockey fan or if you root for another college team and want to become depressed.


If you’ve been following @BurntBoats for any period of time you know by now that possession stats have proven to be a valuable tool when evaluating hockey teams (if you haven’t and you want to learn, tweet at me and I’ll send you links to things written by people smarter than me). Obviously Eichel is a generational talent and comparing what he did to the prior year’s team is beyond unfair, so I have been comparing this season’s 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lines to the prior year’s entire roster on twitter all season, this is my final comparison:

BU 2013-14 possession [5v5 Corsi] (35 games): 44.8%

Now who were the key players from 2013-14 who weren’t on the lines 2-4 in 2014-15?

Half of Baillargeon (Mono)
Half of Ahti (split 14-15 on 1st and 2nd lines)
O’Regan (1st line all of 14-15)
Noonan (graduation)
Half of Rodrigues (split 14-15 on 1st and 2nd lines)
Grzelcyk is a wash as he missed almost half of 2013-14 with an injury and likely spent about half of his 2014-15 with the 1st line.

So this year’s 2nd-4th line lost 3.5 of the best players from last year’s team, they and a handful of role players were replaced by a rotation of four freshman forwards and four more freshman defensemen. This year’s group had the advantage of playing against easier opponents than last year, as this year’s 1st line took up the majority of other teams’ top unit’s ice time. They had the disadvantage of score effects from playing with a lead most of the time, instead of from behind.

All these factors work to somewhat counterbalance each other, my rough educated guess is their net effect on possession is slightly positive, but under 2%.  So if this year BU’s 2nd-4th lines were around 46% that would be equivalent to last year, if they were at 48% that would represent a substantial but reasonable improvement, anything over that would be quite the turnaround.

Weekend Recap- Terriers sweep opening weekend

                                         -It is funny because UMass sucks


The Terriers started the Quinn era the ideal way this weekend, earning victories over UMass and Holy Cross at Agganis Arena. Friday night, the Terriers got out to a 3-0 lead during a 7 minute span in the second period thanks to goals from Garrett Noonan, Tommy Kelley(his first collegiate goal) , and Evan Rodrigues. The Terriers were badly outshot in the game and Coach Quinn was clearly not thrilled(presser below) with the team's play overall. He certainly seemed relived to get the victory. The older guys carried the team with the freshman chipping in such as Kelley's powerplay goal which was a great shot from the slot. Captain Garrett Noonan had gotten the scoring started on a nice pass from sophomore blue liner Ahti Oksanen(+3, 4 assists on the weekend). Noonan beat UMass goalie Steve Mastarlez high blocker which is where all three goals beat him on Friday night. Kelley's powerplay goal gave BU a two goal cushion that they would not give up. Evan Rodrigues added the third goal in a seven minute span with a sweet toe drag and top shelf snipe which reminded everyone how dangerous of a scorer he can be for this team. The third period was mostly uneventful as Maguire made save after save(39 in all). Maguire certainly made it easy on his freshmen defensemen(Somerby and MacAfee) on Friday night.




Saturday night saw changes to the lineup as Coach Quinn wanted to see all of his guys in real game action. Defenseman TJ Ryan came in for fellow freshman Doyle Somerby who was a late scratch after being real good Friday night against UMass. It appears to be a lower body injury for Somerby and hopefully he will be ready to go for this weekend against two ranked teams. Ryan was joined by forwards Mike Moran and Keith Duane in their first action of the season and both looked quite good for the Terriers. Duane had his first collegiate point with a second period assist on Nick Roberto's first collegiate goal for the Terriers in the second period. It will be huge if Roberto and Kelley can regularly contribute scoring from the third line for the Terriers.

The Terriers first goal of the night was on a great stretch pass from Noonan to sophomore Danny O'Regan who got in and made Holy Cross goalie Matt Ginn look silly as he crossed him up and easily scored. Cason Hohmann added the third goal on the powerplay which was good to see that those top 6 forwards are ready to contribute in a big way. Sam Kurker struggled Friday night but I thought he was much better Saturday night. He was at the top of the crease multiple times working hard and drew a penalty with his strong play. While he didn't register a point, he certainly improved from Friday to Saturday night. Matt Lane also played better Saturday night with an assist on Hohman's goal along with being one of your best if not the best penalty killing forward you have. Matt O'Connor was very good in net as well making 21 saves on 23 shots. It is great to see both goalie start their season strong as they will each have a stiff test in RPI and Wisconsin this weekend.




3 stars of the weekend
1. Garrett Noonan 1-2-3 , +2 - Noonan was the force defensively and offensively that this team needed
2. Ahti Oksanen 0-4-4, +3- Ahti was passing the puck well and has improved in his own zone as well which could make him one of the best two way dmen in the league by the year's end.
3. OC/Maguire- The goalies were all you could have asked for in the opening weekend for a young team. They are a comfort to have back there for sure.

First Half Review- Defensmen and Goalies

Dmen

1. Matt Grzelcyk(2-10-12,15 GP)- The freshman Bruins draft pick has exceeded expectations as he performed extremely well in his first semester of college hockey action. He has settled into a defensive pairing with classmate Ahti Oksanen and they both are seeing plenty of ice time. Both of his goals this year came against BC, which makes it even better. Grzelcyk will miss the Terriers' next game on 12/29 at Denver due to being away at the WJC with team USA. He will be missed for sure but if he helps beat those fraudulent Canadians, it will be worth it.

2. Garrett Noonan(3-7-10, 15 GP)- The freshly appointed assistant captain has had a solid first half for the Terriers even if his goal total is not quite as high as last year. Noonan finished last year with a 16-11-27 line in 38 games. He isn't quite on pace to reach that goal total again but his assists have gone up which is a positive sign. Teams have actually somewhat covered him on the backdoor powerplay this year which was the source of a majority of his goals last season. He has been nothing short of solid defensively He will need to have a solid second half for this team as he is a crucial defenseman and sees large amounts of ice time. He is on a similar pace for penalty minutes from last year. This would be nice to cut down on but penalties happen when you play with as much passion and emotion as he does.

Monday Polls posted on a Tuesday- BU stays #11, Grzelcyk wins HE Rookie of the Week

                                          - photo credit to nhl.bruins.com


After BU's split with Merrimack and BC over the weekend, they stayed exactly where they were last week in the meaningless polls. They remain #11 in the USCHO poll with their 5-3 record going into another weekend with 2 HE foes on the schedule. BC remains #1  and UNH jumped up to #5 from #9. No one else in the league is ranked because the rest of Hockey East sucks so far this year. Literally every team from 4-9 are more or less even and Maine sucks worse than the rest. Here is my breakdown of the rest of the poll and HE weekly awards.

1. BC(50)- This is right where you want BC. Let them claim their national title in November and get their winning streak out of the way now. They will suck by March. One and done in the NCAAs here they come.
2. Denver- Going to be another tough test for BU when they travel out there in late December
3. Minnesota- Easily have the most talent in the nation, but the results aren't showing that thus far. They'll click eventually. They have a big winning streak in them.
4. Miami
5. UNH- Big test coming into Agganis on  Sunday. BU needs to hold serve and beat them at home. I hate how all 6 games against BC and UNH are in the first semester but then again BU might not lose in the second semester because of that.

Preview Week 1 PC @BU, NCAA screws Oksanen

Here we go for the first game of the regular season this year. First off, we have some negative news. According to multiple sources including the Boston Hockey Blog,  Finnish freshman dman Ahti Oksanen has been suspended or forced to "sit out" two games for playing two games with a professional player while in Finland. He was never paid but his teammate was so he is forced to sit out.  The rule is one of the many bullshit rules the NCAA decided to enforce on its players. They haven't had a good week as the NCAA also suspended incoming freshman forward Nic Kerdiles of Wisconsin for interactions with an agent. Kerdiles was suspended for the year however and is most likely heading for the CHL even though he wants to play college hockey,  which is just a shame. The NCAA sucks and needs to get it together before the product on the ice is diminished and disrupted more.

Now, on to the game. BU opens the regular season Saturday night at home against Providence College. Providence finished last season 14-20-4 (10-14-3). They are replacing their goaltender as is BU. PC landed big time recruit Jon Gillies after he decomitted from Northeastern. Gillies will be the starter right away. Their leading returning forwards are Ross Mauremann(10-15), Derek Army(11-11-22), and Tim Schaller. Schaller(14-7-21) led the team in points per game. The defensive corps is lead by senior captain Myles Harvery (7-10-17). Second year coach Nate Leahman has really changed the culture down in PC and it is certainly a program heading in the right direction.

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."