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Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

Lemonade said:
Totally agree. Its great getting stud blue chippers but its proving very tough to plan when they leave and still balance a roster/scholarships. Its a balancing act for sure. Do you want a team of freshman (and a lot of true freshman) and sophomores every year? If so that is proving to be less than desirable.
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I think the coaching staff sufficiently recognizes that the path to success in college is not loading up on one-year blue chippers. I've heard Albie state multiple times that they want to shift the focus of their recruiting to balancing the Eichel/Keller/Tkachuk types with slightly older and four-year recruits like a Pat Curry, Matt Lane, etc. That said, that's not something that can change overnight or in one year. It takes any program a couple of recruiting cycles to fully make this shift.

I think a lot of this also has to do with the fact that the talent being produced in the US is now higher than it's ever been and the top programs initially just loaded up on these high-talent kids thinking that would work. Clearly, it's not a silver bullet solution so these programs will have to adjust their roster construction. It's still a relatively new phenomenon over the past ~5-7 years so we're still in the period of time where the adjustment based on results is taking place.
 
Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

Lemonade said:
Totally agree. Its great getting stud blue chippers but its proving very tough to plan when they leave and still balance a roster/scholarships. Its a balancing act for sure. Do you want a team of freshman (and a lot of true freshman) and sophomores every year? If so that is proving to be less than desirable.
Click to expand...

The recruiting philosophy the past few years has been akin to "feeding the monster". Once you start getting the blue-chippers, you keep feeding to sustain that portion of the roster, while not feeding enough into building and developing enough 4-year players that improve year-after-year. Quinn was fortunate to inherit and develop some good/excellent 4-year players like Rodrigues, Hohmann, Grzelcyk, O'Regan, Lane, Oksanen. I think if Albie can recruit and develop more of those players (add Hickey, Bobo to that list too), I think the path forward should be OK.
 
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Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

Rogie21 said:
Someone mentioned the possibility of a grad transfer goalie. I understand this option is being strongly pursued with a few candidates.
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Meanwhile, BC is bringing in a stud goalie and BU's riding with a kid who was a mid-year scramble who has no back-up. Uhhhh..... this is kind of a coaching fail, yes? What am I missing here? This program is still BU, right?

BU Hockey: Gonna Get Worse Before it Gets Better
 
Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

Bomber said:
This program is still BU, right?
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To US, yeah. But this is not your father's BU. The landscape has changed. Competition for top players has dramatically increased. WE have a loyalty to BU, so naturally we feel as though everyone should want to come here. But to a kid coming in, who is only thinking about getting to the next level, the "reputation" and "tradition" doesn't mean a thing.

You can't market the program by focusing on a winning tradition and championships if a kid only wants to stay a year. He's looking at it as a steppingstone and if he's good enough, he already has one foot out the door the first day.

Which is why you need the older, perhaps less-skilled player to be the glue that provides continuity, leadership and to help hold the program together.
 
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Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

Bomber said:
Meanwhile, BC is bringing in a stud goalie and BU's riding with a kid who was a mid-year scramble who has no back-up. Uhhhh..... this is kind of a coaching fail, yes? What am I missing here? This program is still BU, right?

BU Hockey: Gonna Get Worse Before it Gets Better
Click to expand...


Let's exercise some patience and wait til early Summer before we find out what next season's goaltending situation will be for BU. With the recent trend of graduate transfers, it's expected BU goes that path for G help.

As dire as some may think the state of BU hockey is, BU isn't gonna finish 12th in HE... ;)
 
Bomber said:
Meanwhile, BC is bringing in a stud goalie and BU's riding with a kid who was a mid-year scramble who has no back-up. Uhhhh..... this is kind of a coaching fail, yes? What am I missing here? This program is still BU, right?

BU Hockey: Gonna Get Worse Before it Gets Better
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Yes but you can compensate by scoring more goals and still play good defense

BU is again bringing in high end talent
 
Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

chickod said:
To US, yeah. But this is not your father's BU. The landscape has changed. Competition for top players has dramatically increased. WE have a loyalty to BU, so naturally we feel as though everyone should want to come here. But to a kid coming in, who is only thinking about getting to the next level, the "reputation" and "tradition" doesn't mean a thing.

You can't market the program by focusing on a winning tradition and championships if a kid only wants to stay a year. He's looking at it as a steppingstone and if he's good enough, he already has one foot out the door the first day.

Which is why you need the older, perhaps less-skilled player to be the glue that provides continuity, leadership and to help hold the program together.
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Nor is it any of our father's BC, Michigan, Michigan St., Wisconsin, Minnesota, NoDak...

It's not just college hockey trending older, but the growth of the sport at lower levels throughout the U.S. and additional HS/Prep/Junior programs and leagues feeding the NCAA have resulted in far greater exposure to college hockey plus competition for comparable talent.

The facilities, urban campus (for some), academics, connections to BU Hockey, and influence of former recent BU stars now in the NHL are largely the driving factors towards a kid's likely interest in BU. The Beanpot, the 1971, 1972, 1978 or 1995 titles don't resonate as much. Agganis Arena; players like Eichel, McAvoy, Keller who loved their BU experience and are doing great in the NHL are more influential than the uber-rich tradition of generations past.
 
Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

Bomber said:
Meanwhile, BC is bringing in a stud goalie and BU's riding with a kid who was a mid-year scramble who has no back-up. Uhhhh..... this is kind of a coaching fail, yes? What am I missing here? This program is still BU, right?

BU Hockey: Gonna Get Worse Before it Gets Better
Click to expand...

We have a stud goalie recruit coming in the fall of 2020 so really not much of a fail. Purpura was already slated to come to BU in the fall of 2019, his addition this year wasn't a mid-year scramble to find a warm body, but rather a realization that Prawdzik was not a serviceable backup this season for Jake. Therefore, they excelled his enrollment at BU.
 
Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

Rogie21 said:
Someone mentioned the possibility of a grad transfer goalie. I understand this option is being strongly pursued with a few candidates.
Click to expand...

http://twitter.com/jeffcoxsports/status/1110976808130875393?s=21

Assuming this is accurate, the three Hockey East goalies I can see matching this description (unless I’m missing something) are (with their 2018-19 stats):

Stefanos Lekkas, UVM (34 GP, 2.27 GAA, .930 SV%)

Tyler Wall, UM-L (22 GP, 2.09 GAA, .921 SV%)

Adam Huska, UConn (21 GP, 3.34 GAA, .896 SV%)

Francis Marotte, Robert Morris (40 GP, 2.85 GAA, .908 SV%)
 
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Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

SMW_Bu21 said:
https://twitter.com/jeffcoxsports/status/1110976808130875393?s=21

Assuming this is accurate, the three Hockey East goalies I can see matching this description (unless I’m missing something) are (with their 2018-19 stats):

Stefanos Lekkas, UVM (34 GP, 2.27 GAA, .930 SV%)

Tyler Wall, UM-L (22 GP, 2.09 GAA, .921 SV%)

Adam Huska, UConn (21 GP, 3.34 GAA, .896 SV%)

Francis Marotte, Robert Morris (40 GP, 2.85 GAA, .908 SV%)
Click to expand...

Huska signed with the Rangers. Tyler Wall is not a grad transfer candidate unless he is graduating from UML in three years. Same with Lekkas.
 
Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

Rogie21 said:
Someone mentioned the possibility of a grad transfer goalie. I understand this option is being strongly pursued with a few candidates.
Click to expand...

"Look for quite a few grad transfers among goalies with one year of college eligibility left. Robert Morris junior Francis Marotte is a big name. 3 goalies from Hockey East and additional ones from ECAC Hockey and WCHA." - Jeff Cox, via twitter

As far as I can tell on the Hockey East ones, Lekkas from UVM and Tyler Wall from Lowell seem like the most likely ones with any significant amount of actual starting experience.
 
Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

Bringing in older people doesn’t necessarily mean they will stay.... old will mean they weren’t drafted and be able to sign as free agents to whomever wants them, buffet style.

Unless of course they are not good.... which leaves us back to where we stand now
 
Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

A couple of other observations:
1. What is the big draw at BU other than reputation and a great facility? It used to be the excitement of a great home game or a bean-pot game where we drastically outnumbered the other fans. The rink is a mausoleum most evenings and the student participation is for crap.
2. It's been a while since I've brought up the snobbish point that college hockey ought to have to abide by the same age/post-HS rules that the other NCAA sports do. The two-year gap gives an advantage to age over skill.
 
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