Senior Series: Nick Roberto

This is the second part series of a three part senior series on BU hockey senior class. (Post on captain Doyle Somerby to come) Part 1- Tommy Kelley


Nick Roberto was the first recruit of the David Quinn era at BU and much like his classmates, he will leave Comm Ave with quite the story to explain his college career. Roberto amassed 44 points over 113 career games for the Terriers including 6 NCAA tournament games. The points were not always the prettiest thing in the world but Roberto always played hard and found ways to produce for his team(see below). That presence will certainly be missed next year.

via GIPHY

BU's 18 year olds crush Sacred Heart's 24 year olds

Sacred Heart's coaches hope their 24 year olds can beat BU. BU's knows their 18 year olds can beat anyone in the country #factsonly https://t.co/bBHaDMYMSY

— BayState RoadSports (@bsrs_blog) October 21, 2016

The BU Terriers get back on the winning track in their regular season opener with a convincing 7-0 victory over Sacred Heart. BU got goals from 7 different players including the first collegiate goals for freshmen Dante Fabbro and Chad Krys. The Terriers were lead by Jordan Greenway and Nick Roberto(sucks to suck NCAA) who each had a goal and two assists while freshman Jake Oettinger recorded his first career shutout in net.

BU dominated play for the majority of the game outshooting the Pioneers 40-24 with only the second period being close in shots(13-12) and that was mostly due to BU having to kill off two 5 on 3 powerplays. BU did what a Hockey East team should do to an Atlantic Hockey team despite the league's 1-3-2 record against Atlantic hockey teams before last night.

Roberto suspended for remainder of season

BU junior forward  Nick Roberto has officially been suspended for the remainder of the season. Roberto is reportedly serving a suspension for being involved in gambling activity by CHN. He will not play for the reminder of this season and I would guess his future at BU is very much in doubt. However, as reported by WEEI reporter Scott McLaughlin, Roberto remains a member of the team at this time. First, I want to say that this was a great job of reporting by Mike McMahon and Adam Wodon at CHN. They remain one of roughly three stories to correctly have identified Roberto as suspended and not kicked off the team. Kudos to them for responsibly reporting the story without fueling the speculation and rumors being spread by others on the internet.

The rest of what I'm about to say shouldn't be misinterpreted as defending Nick Roberto. What he did was obviously wrong and he is now serving the penalty for those actions. I have no issue with players gambling but the NCAA obviously does so if you are going to do it, you can't let your debt or the allegations get this serious and not expect conequences. Roberto messed up which I'm sure he is very well aware of. I hope he is able to come back from this at BU or somewhere else to finish his hockey career. He did nothing malicious and is becoming the forefront of this story because BU self reported his violation to the NCAA as they should have. BU handled this 100% correctly. They sat out Roberto while the investigation was taking place and turned over everything to the NCAA. If you are transparent and forthright with the NCAA, then they usually do not punish the program. The coverups are what are punished severely.  David Quinn and the athletic department certainly handled this correctly so props to them for that. Just another example of why Quinn is the best in the business.

Weekend Recap: Terriers take home piece of hardware with RHH win over Cornell

The BU Terriers fought through adversity and found a way to remain undefeated at the biannual Red Hot Hockey event at Madison Square Garden vs the Cornell Big Red with a 3-2 victory Saturday night. Despite being outshot 39-11 and being on the wrong end of some bad officiating, the Terriers gutted out the victory behind goals from Mike Moran, Robbie Baillargeon and Nick Roberto. Matt O'Connor stopped 35 of 37 shots he faced.

Despite the shot totals, I thought the Terriers played well defensively and were great on the penalty kill as Cornell was 0 for 7 while BU was 1 for 2. You would like to seem more sustained zone time offensively and obviously more shots on net but they made the most of their opportunities. Danny O'Regan made a sweet pass for Mike Moran's tap in goal with 2:10 left in the first. The Terriers would extend that lead with goals from Robbie Baillargeon off a great centering pass from Evan Rodrigues and a Nick Roberto powerplay goal off a nice pass from Kevin Duane. The freshmen are starting to score regularly and produce which is no coincidence as BU is now 3-0-1 in their last 4 and 7-6-1 overall.

Weekend Recap- Terriers win,tie vs North Dakota

                                           

The Terriers welcomed the North Dakota {Redacted}  this weekend to Agganis Arena  for a pair of nonleague games and came out with a win and a tie. The Terriers were lead by sophomore goalie Matt O'Connor who made 92 saves on 96 shots over the weekend. Friday night he made 37 saves on 38 shots as he frustrated North Dakota all night long. BU got on the board in the first period off of a 2 on 1 rush where Cason Hohmann froze the lone defender and NoDak goalie Clarke Saunders before ripping a wrister low short-side. Hohmann, who is typically a pass-first guy, used that to his advantage as everyone in the rink though he was going to try to feed O'Regan who was flying to the far post. BU would make it 2-0 before the end of the first on a greasy ,power-play  O'Regan goal that just got tucked in the near post off a deflected pass from Noonan. BU had a goal called back early in the second as it was ruled that Mike Moran tipped the Doyle Somerby wrister with a high stick. I honestly couldn't tell if he did or didn't but there certainly didn't seem like there was enough evidence there to overturn it but the refs, Benedetto and Miller, disagreed with me.

Weekend Recap- BU takes care of business against UConn

BU played at Maine Friday night. They lost. End of Maine recap.

 No members of BSRS were in attendance for this one because we are saving our vacation days for Philly in April. The last game no member of BSRS attended was last year at Denver(6-1 loss)...so basically we can't miss anymore games ever. This loss falls on us. Feel free to destroy us in the comment section.

On Sunday, UConn faced BU for the first time ever. BU played well for the first 40 minutes to jump out to a 3-0 lead through 2 and held on for a 4-1 win. With the win, BU improves to 5-6-0 on the year.  The first period went scoreless but BU dictated the pace of play after goalie Matt O'Connor made a few huge saves early in the game. They also out shot UConn 17-8 in the first which Coach Quinn has to be happy with with after a few weeks of stressing more of a shooter's mentality.

BSRS Weekly Awards 11/12

It was a rough weekend for Terrier fans but we all survived and it's time to entertain you by making fun of the rest of the conference. We take some responsibility for the loss Friday just like Coach Quinn did. We have to blog better, chirp better. Sometimes you just have to look yourself in the mirror and admit that you weren't offensive enough on Internet the last week.

The 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- Nick Roberto, F- There are weeks when it's easy to pick the GJA and other weeks when it's real tough. This is one of the tough weeks but we have to go with Roberto for scoring a goal in his first career game against BC. That is one way to win us over quickly as big fans. 


The 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- Kevin Duane,F-Duane may not be the fastest guy on the ice but he worked his tail off to fight for position in front of the BC net on numerous ocassions and seems to have found his role on the power play as the net front guy. He is playing the role Ryan Santana played so well last season except he is bigger so he is an even better fit for the role. Duane has a great stick and wins more 1x1 battles than he loses.

The Buddy Powers Award- given to the best BU coach of the weekend

Winner-Steve Greeley- While there wasn't much to be happy with on the ice this week, Greeley certainly can't be mad at the recruiting record that he is quickly tallying up. BU picked up two top 30 uncommitted prospects for 2015 last week. Every other school might as well give up if there is a guy out there that Greeley and Quinn want because they're just going to go get him. The two recruits were forward Maxim Letunov and defenseman Vasili Kolias. Both are scheduled to arrive in BU for the 2015 season. 
UPDATE: He picked up Chase Phelps for 2014 this week as well.

Hungover Recap- BU beats SFX 2-1 in exhibition game

The BU Terriers took a 2-1 victory in an exhibition game(highlights) against St. Francis-Xavier last night at Agganis Arena in front of 3,627 fans.  Nick Roberto got the scoring started off with a rebound PP goal in the first period and Tommy Kelley scored the game winner on a deflected slapper with less than 3 minutes remaining.

Every player on the roster got into the action last night and helped contribute to the 2-1 win. In net, Sean Maguire, Anthony Moccia, and Matt O'Connor each took a period. Maguire gave up the lone goal on a rebound that he should have controlled better but that was the only blemish defensively. Moccia saw his first career playing action and was perfect with the help of the crossbar and some great defense in front of him. O'Connor was solid in the third making 16 saves to get the win. I am a big fan of his new pads as well(white with red at the bottom of the pad).

BU Freshman Preview Part 2 Forwards- Roberto, Lawrence, Kelley

This part 2 of the 3 part preview of the incoming freshman class. Part 1 on Brendan Collier, Robbie Baillargeon, and Kevin Duane can be read here.

Photo Credit to overtheboards.com

4. Nick Roberto, F , 5'9", 173- Wakefield, MA #15 (Kimball Union Academy- 23-25-48, 28 GP)

Roberto is another local product that played for Malden Catholic before transferring to Kimball Union two years ago where he played with fellow freshman, Doyle Somerby. Roberto was originally committed to Maine for 2014 before he decommitted last fall.  His commitment to the Terriers was the first big get for 1st year head coach David Quinn and he should to be able to contribute right away judging on his success last season. Roberto is a quick,flashy player who could help score goals right away. I would expect top 6 minutes and 30+ points from Roberto right away in his freshman season.

Over the Boards highlighted Roberto in previewing BU's freshman class preview "  the speedy forward brings an explosive shade of offense that should help the Terriers quite a bit very soon."

Freshman class officially announced- Roster set for 2013-2014 season

The BU Terriers Men's Ice Hockey official roster was released yesterday with the announcement of the incoming freshman class. The class includes 9 freshmen and a junior transfer. 8 of the 9 freshmen come from New England with the 9th coming from Toronto,Canada. The full roster with line projections(my first attempt is posted here) after the jump.