Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

[Terrance]

For my money, the 3 best Americans all tournament have been Donato, Terry and Greenway. Imagine if they actually embraced sending college kids instead of these AHLers and NHL has-beens?

The 1988! chant would probably be alive and well.

 

[theprofromdover]

the captain WAS 25 y.o. at the time.

America’s Guest!

 

[chickod]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

McCarthy is singlehandedly losing this game for the US. I can't believe I just watched him skate past the bench after being out there for like 3+ mins.

To me this was lost when they blew a two-goal lead in the first game against Slovenia. This forced them to play two games in 24 hours and you could see they clearly were tired and had no extra jump.

As an aside, I just don't understand the shootout "philosophy." The new trend seems to be these guys just meander towards the net in a serpentine fashion, practically coming to a stop and then making 64 different fakes before shooting. To me it makes more sense to come in with speed, which cuts down the goalie's reaction time. They still didn't deserve to win the game, but the shootout performance was embarrassing.

 

[northeastern]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

or how about terry trying to dangle through 3 defenders by himself on 2-3 instances.. team had guys open. meanwhile the czechs put on a clinic in our zone at times.
he (terry) had a good tourney; those were not his best moments.

 

[chickod]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

or how about terry trying to dangle through 3 defenders by himself on 2-3 instances.. team had guys open. meanwhile the czechs put on a clinic in our zone at times.
he (terry) had a good tourney; those were not his best moments.

Agreed. In general, EVERYONE carried the puck too much. The new "latest" thing I have noticed are all these bad angle shots. I can't remember exactly when, but there was a three on one with the puck on the right wing. The center was coming down the slot and there was NOBODY near him and instead of passing to him for what would have been an easy tap-in goal, the winger just fired it right into the goalie (who obviously had moved over to cover him, since there was nothing else he could do). A pass to the center and there's no way the goalie gets back there. Seems to happen all the time now. I don't know if it's coaching, not having played together, or what. But it's very frustrating to watch.

 

[Sean Pickett]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

The college kids did pretty well in 1980, if memory serves me correctly.

the captain WAS 25 y.o. at the time.

The 1980 team actually had more players who had completed their college careers (11), then left college early to join the team (9). Of those nine, six join the Olympic team instead of playing what would have been their senior season.

Goaltenders
Jim Craig, 21 North Easton, MA (completed three eligible seasons at Boston University)
Steve Janaszak, 22 Saint Paul, MN (completed four seasons at Minnesota)
Defense
Bill Baker, 22 Grand Rapids, MN (completed four seasons at Minnesota)
Dave Christian, 20 Warroad, MN (completed two seasons at North Dakota)
Ken Morrow, 22 Flint, MI (completed four seasons at Bowling Green)
Jack O'Callahan, 22 Charlestown, MA (completed four seasons at Boston University)
Mike Ramsey, 19 Minneapolis, MN (completed one season at Minnesota)
Bob Suter, 22 Madison, WI (completed four seasons at Wisconsin)
Forwards
Neal Broten, 20 Roseau, MN (completed one season at Minnesota - returned for second season after Olympics)
Steve Christoff, 21 Richfield, MN (completed three seasons at Minnesota)
Mike Eruzione, 25 (Captain) Winthrop, MA (completed four seasons at Boston University)
John Harrington, 22 Virginia, MN (completed four seasons at Minnesota-Duluth)
Mark Johnson, 21 Madison, WI (completed three seasons at Wisconsin)
Rob McClanahan, 22 Saint Paul, MN (completed three seasons at Minnesota)
Mark Pavelich, 21 Eveleth, MN (completed three seasons at Minnesota-Duluth)
Buzz Schneider, 25 Babbitt, MN (completed three seasons at Minnesota)
Dave Silk, 21 Scituate, MA (completed three seasons at Boston University)
Eric Strobel, 21 Rochester, MN (completed three seasons at Minnesota)
Phil Verchota, 22 Duluth, MN (completed four seasons at Minnesota)
Mark Wells 21 St. Clair Shores, MI (completed four seasons at Bowling Green)

Could a team like that have been put together and been centralized for this year's Olympics?

Sean

 

[chickod]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

Could a team like that have been put together and been centralized for this year's Olympics?

Sean

When you have players who have been in the "minors" (basically defined as never having been in or no longer in the NHL), they have pretty much reached their potential. Although it remains to be seen with many of these collegians how far they will get, at least their potential upside would seemingly be higher than people you know are never going to get to that level. It just seemed obvious to me that too many players on the roster lacked top-level skills. It may very well be that the US does not have the depth that we may feel it does. So given that all the "best" players are already in the NHL, the question becomes is is riskier to take an "unproven" college kid or go with the "at least you know what you're going to get" choice? I imagine that will be debated in the near future.

But the problem is the fact that these players are leaving at a younger age for the NHL. Imagine this team with Eichel, McAvoy and others of that ilk. Twenty years ago they would still likely be in college (as you can see from the list above, almost ALL of those players - even though they left 'early' - stayed at least three years, which is a lot more than one!).

So, realistically, I don't know how you CAN assemble a team such as that, unless it would be comprised of "lesser" talented players who are still in college. And that's the point - you're not choosing between a top ten draft choice and a career minor leaguer - you're choosing between a "possible" NHL player and a career minor leaguer - because all the "can't miss" players are already in the NHL.

Put another way, just look at the BU players on that 1980 team. ALL of them would have been in the NHL if that era were today, so none of them could have been on the Olympic team.

 

[Bomber]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

I just saw a tweet from the University of Denver that Troy Terry is a "game time decision" for this weekends games. Be interested to see if we get a similar post/tweet on Jordan Greenway.

 

[BU Fan 84]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

Could a team like that have been put together and been centralized for this year's Olympics?

Sean

It certainly could have been and it was something I was hoping would have happened. They do it for the women's team, no reason they couldn't have done it for the men's. It is something I imagine would have happened for 2022 if it wasn't for the fact that NHL players will most likely be back in the Olympics.

 

[BU Fan 84]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

When you have players who have been in the "minors" (basically defined as never having been in or no longer in the NHL), they have pretty much reached their potential. Although it remains to be seen with many of these collegians how far they will get, at least their potential upside would seemingly be higher than people you know are never going to get to that level. It just seemed obvious to me that too many players on the roster lacked top-level skills. It may very well be that the US does not have the depth that we may feel it does. So given that all the "best" players are already in the NHL, the question becomes is is riskier to take an "unproven" college kid or go with the "at least you know what you're going to get" choice? I imagine that will be debated in the near future.

But the problem is the fact that these players are leaving at a younger age for the NHL. Imagine this team with Eichel, McAvoy and others of that ilk. Twenty years ago they would still likely be in college (as you can see from the list above, almost ALL of those players - even though they left 'early' - stayed at least three years, which is a lot more than one!).

So, realistically, I don't know how you CAN assemble a team such as that, unless it would be comprised of "lesser" talented players who are still in college. And that's the point - you're not choosing between a top ten draft choice and a career minor leaguer - you're choosing between a "possible" NHL player and a career minor leaguer - because all the "can't miss" players are already in the NHL.

Put another way, just look at the BU players on that 1980 team. ALL of them would have been in the NHL if that era were today, so none of them could have been on the Olympic team.

I think you are over-glorifying the 1980 players. Most of them were not particularly great players. They all had great college careers and most never amounted to much at the NHL level. In fact, a lot of those players had comparable NHL careers to the guys who played for us at the Olympics this year - the difference being these guys had their NHL careers prior to these Olympics, rather than after, like the 1980'ers.

 

[chickod]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

I think you are over-glorifying the 1980 players. Most of them were not particularly great players. They all had great college careers and most never amounted to much at the NHL level. In fact, a lot of those players had comparable NHL careers to the guys who played for us at the Olympics this year - the difference being these guys had their NHL careers prior to these Olympics, rather than after, like the 1980'ers.

Well, you're probably right; however, they amounted to much in ONE sense. They won a gold medal!!!

 

[brassbonanza]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

I just saw a tweet from the University of Denver that Troy Terry is a "game time decision" for this weekends games. Be interested to see if we get a similar post/tweet on Jordan Greenway.

I imagine it'd be similar. If he got a nonstop flight, it's still ~14 hours from South Korea to Boston, not to mention the major time zone adjustment and him coming off multiple games this week. Perhaps we see him for Saturday's game. I imagine Harper's status would impact that decision a bit as well.

 

[Scarlet]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

Billy Jaffe tweeted that Greenway will be in the lineup on Friday.

 

[Rover]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

Billy Jaffe tweeted that Greenway will be in the lineup on Friday.

To pack his bags for Minny?

 

[Friend_of_BU_Hockey]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

It certainly could have been and it was something I was hoping would have happened. They do it for the women's team, no reason they couldn't have done it for the men's. It is something I imagine would have happened for 2022 if it wasn't for the fact that NHL players will most likely be back in the Olympics.

That was the norm prior to inclusion of the NHL in 1998. I think if the NHL had decided earlier that it would back out of this year's Games, USA Hockey may have had the opportunity to hold a centralized camp to select the team. I think if that had occurred, more college players may have been given stronger consideration.

Hypothetically speaking, if the NHL had made its decision before the end of 2016 that it would not allow its players to participate in this Olympics, it could have significantly impacted early college departures as well as signing of ELCs from Seniors following last season. It would've opened the doors for players like Keller, McAvoy, Boeser, Butcher, Bjork, Colin White, Cal Petersen and others...

 

[mookie1995]

That was the norm prior to inclusion of the NHL in 1998. I think if the NHL had decided earlier that it would back out of this year's Games, USA Hockey may have had the opportunity to hold a centralized camp to select the team. I think if that had occurred, more college players may have been given stronger consideration.

Hypothetically speaking, if the NHL had made its decision before the end of 2016 that it would not allow its players to participate in this Olympics, it could have significantly impacted early college departures as well as signing of ELCs from Seniors following last season. It would've opened the doors for players like Keller, McAvoy, Boeser, Butcher, Bjork, Colin White, Cal Petersen and others...

Kids used to stay out of the nhl for the intent of playing olympics. Tkachuk for one wouldn’t have gone to bu for a year if not for team USA

 

[mookie1995]

I imagine it'd be similar. If he got a nonstop flight, it's still ~14 hours from South Korea to Boston, not to mention the major time zone adjustment and him coming off multiple games this week. Perhaps we see him for Saturday's game. I imagine Harper's status would impact that decision a bit as well.

Dude can sleep in the plane. Mookie is lights out before wheels up . Never fails

 

[brassbonanza]

Re: Boston University 17-18 - thread El Segundo

Dude can sleep in the plane. Mookie is lights out before wheels up . Never fails

Are you 6'5?

 

[mookie1995]

Are you 6'5?

Is the air too thin to sleep way up there??

 

[mookie1995]

Or

Are you 6'5?

No, but mookie did sleep at a holiday inn express last night