A place where Haters Gonna Hate and Skaters Gonna Skate. Bringing you biased reports on Boston University hockey and other nonsense. We blog a thorough game of hockey. E-mail us at baystateroadsports@gmail.com or follow us on twitter @bsrs_blog
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This is post #4 in the Senior Series. You can find the first three posts here. (Danny O'Regan, Matt Lane,Ahti Oksanen, Sean Maguire, and Mike Moran)
Senior Captain Matt Grzelcyk was the one of the few two year BU captain in history joining the likes of Jack O'Callahan in the late 1970's. Grzelcyk, like O'Callahan, was a local kid who grew up playing Charlestown just a few miles from Boston University and seemed to enjoy every second of playing at the school from a fan's perspective and from everything he has said to the media the last four years.
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.
The BU Terriers swept the Northeastern Huskies in a weekend of conference play. The Terriers took an exciting 5-4 win Friday night to remain undefeated at Agganis Arena this year followed by a more convincing 4-1 win at Matthews Arena on Saturday night. Friday night was a game of streaks as BU held a 2-0 and 3-2 lead only to relinquish it to Northeastern due to four period second goals. That was easily the worst period of the weekend as both the defense and goaltending looked shaky. Luckily for BU fans, the Terriers only allowed one goal the rest of the weekend and it was in garbage time on Saturday night. The Terriers would scramble to hold on 5-4 as Northeastern had plenty of chances late in the game but Connor LaCouvee stayed strong in net for the Terriers. The return of captain Matt Grzelcyk was a huge factor on the weekend as he committed a penalty on his first shift and then scored the first goal of the game which was eerily similar to his goal in the OT of the Beanpot final against the same little brothers of Boston. Different goalie but besides that it's basically the same goal.
Fortunato also continued to score from the point as he notches his third of the year for the Terriers. Ryan Cloonan added his fourth on a breakway goal while Brandon Hickey scored his fourth of the year to tie the game at four on a sick set up by Ahti Oksanen and Danny O'Regan. The game winner was the captain at it again as Grizz made a slick pass to Oksanen who pounded home the shot on a mostly open net. On a night where Northeastern had 8 powerplays(Thanks for nothing Goeff Miller), you have to be thankful to get a win.
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.
We are a little late this week with the Wednesday night game so we apologize as we know many people plan this weeks around this post...
Greg Jennings Award- given to the Terrier who best exemplifies the qualities of Greg Jennings through doin' shit and putting the team on his back. (YOU CAN'T STOP HIM) Winner- Cason Hohmann, F- Hohmann has potted goals in his first two games since returning from a first half shoulder injury. He certainly makes a difference in this offense as he has posted 2-1-3 in the first two games of the second half. Hohmann may not be the biggest guy on the team but he certainly knows to put the puck in the net even with a bad shoulder. He is just like Greg Jennings except he has a broken shoulder instead of a broken leg but still finds a way to put the team on his back. Joe Pereira Trophy- Given to the Terrier who, through grit, hard work, and determination helps the team to victory on and off the scoresheet. Just like Joey did. (Interview can be read here)
Greg Jennings Award-given to the Terrier who best exemplifies the qualities of Greg Jennings through doin' shit and putting the team on his back. (YOU CAN'T STOP HIM)
Winner- Matt Grzelcyk- Grzelcyk had the best weekend of the season for the Terriers as he contributed a goal Friday night and produced numerous other quality chances with his superior skating ability. Grzelcyk knew when to jump into the rush and his teammates did a great job of covering his back when he did. If Grizz continues this type of play, good things are going to happen for both BU and the USA WJC team.
Joe Pereira Trophy-Given to the Terrier who, through grit, hard work, and determination helps the team to victory on and off the scoresheet. Just like Joey did. (Interview can be read here)
Winner- Matt Ronan,F- Ronan started off Friday night on defense with captain Garrett Noonan out and made a nice pinch and recorded his first point of the season on Tommy Kelley's goal in the second period. Ronan continued his hard skating game and continues to prove his versatility and value to the Terriers. The BOD(Best Offensive Defenseman) has been in the lineup as of late and skating hard every shift which lands him the Joey P this week.
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.
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.
The first game recap of the 2012-13 season comes to you from guest blogger and BSRS correspondent HatTrick Swayze. Enjoy...
Well, that was interesting. In a game that most will
remember as an absolute circus that certainly got most of the Dog Pound riled
up and chanting, there actually were some important things to take away from
the 3 hour party that was held on the Agganis ice Sunday afternoon. Let’s break
it down by pros, cons and a few words on the FNGs.
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 ConnollyLink to the rest of the article and interview with Grzelyck is right here from New England Hockey Journal.
Last night's first round of the 2012 NHL draft was quiet on the college hockey front as a whole and that held true with BU as no current or future Terriers were drafted in the first round. Rounds 2-7 today were a different story as 8 future Terriers were drafted. That was 40% of the players taken from Hockey East schools and 12% of overall collegians or recruits drafted. That isn't a bad indicator for the quality of the classes that Coach Parker has coming in the next few years. Another cool fact is 6 of the 8 are Massholes which is always nice to have a local touch to the recruiting classes. Here are the recruits that were drafted.
Round- (Overall) 2- 56- Sam Kurker- Stl- Kurker will be arriving here this coming fall and figures to make an impact right away with his size and skill. Kurker will be joining the Blues, who currently have former Terrier Kevin Shattenkirk on their roster and will for years to come with the production he has put up thus far.
3-85-Matt Grzelcyk -Bos- The Charlestown,MA native d-man was drafted by the Bruins in the third round and called it "a dream come true". He will also be arriving at BU this fall and has drawn comparisons to David Warsofsky, who is a former Terrier in the Bruins system. Grzelcyk is now the third Bruin prospect with ties to BU as the Bruins also have former Terrier Colby Cohen in their system.
4- 113- Sean MacGuire-Pitt- The incoming goalie, who will compete with the undrafted Matt O'Connor, was drafted by Penguins. They obviously drafted MacGuire because they have deemed former Northeastern goalie Brad Thiessen as incompetent, which he is.
5-125- Doyle Somerby- NYI- Somerby is a 2013 recruit but seems to be a Gryba-like big defenseman who will hopefully start laying guys out as soon as he arrives on campus next fall. Here is a video from him after he was drafted.
5-136- Robbie Baillargeon-Ott- Another 2013 recruit here who was ranked higher than where he was drafted. Former Terriers with the Sens now are Eric Gryba and Matt Gilroy. Gilroy is a UFA as of July 1st and I believe Gryba is entering the last year of his deal with the franchise.
5-138- Danny O'Regan- SJ- O'Regan joins current Terrier Matt Nieto as a Sharks prospect and former Terrier and captain John McCarthy who is playing with their AHL affiliate in Worcester,MA.
6-177 -Wesley Myron- Van - Tough luck for Myron getting drafted by the 2nd worse franchise in the NHL besides Montreal but I guess it is still nice to get drafted. He should stay at BU for all 4 years and then not sign so he can be a free agent and never play those losers up in Vancouver.
7-189- Brendan Collier-Car- The 2013 recruit was drafted late in the draft but that seems to be the MO on this kid as people continue to doubt him because of his smaller size but he has continued to produce. Let's hope that continues at BU and he continues his hard work ethic.
