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Boston University Terriers 2026 Offseason Thread

Going back to the hometown of the players discussion…my perspective was/is that BU typically had some kids who had real grit…while it’s true you could be gritty and from Beverly Hills…it was historically guys from blue collar towns who grew up playing tough and were the kind of guys who wouldn’t sleepwalk through games, accept defeat and/or let their stars get pushed around.

That isn’t the same as saying only local players can serve that function. The point, at least my point, was the team needs to have some instigators, some locker room presence etc and if too many guys are just killing time until they go pro the team can look and play soft.
 
BUalum said:
Going back to the hometown of the players discussion…my perspective was/is that BU typically had some kids who had real grit…while it’s true you could be gritty and from Beverly Hills…it was historically guys from blue collar towns who grew up playing tough and were the kind of guys who wouldn’t sleepwalk through games, accept defeat and/or let their stars get pushed around.

That isn’t the same as saying only local players can serve that function. The point, at least my point, was the team needs to have some instigators, some locker room presence etc and if too many guys are just killing time until they go pro the team can look and play soft.
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imo we wont be able to tell until the games are being played, but a few of the returning guys fit that bill and were rewarded for it late in the season with extra playing time. if you want guys from blue collar towns, Svoboda is from Pittsburgh. though id temper how much the location matters considering that Boisvert was from Trois-Rivières, one of the most important industrial centers in Canada. you can be from a blue collar town all you want, but if the right lessons aren't taken to heart it won't mean much when the going gets tough.

for some of the highly drafted guys- i can personally vouch that Haoxi Wang does not take shit lying down either in defense of himself or teammates, and that is a lot of human to deal with. Malhotra also has a lot of physical presence and uses it smartly esp for his age, kinda like Lawrence. speaking of, despite being a returning player, Lawrence has more to show in the physical play department. a whole offseason of health will help plenty there
 
Are we to assume that Matt Gilroy is now officially on staff based on the Men's Hockey social media accounts showing a picture of him with the national championship trophy but no copy? I got scared for a moment.
 
BUalum said:
Going back to the hometown of the players discussion…my perspective was/is that BU typically had some kids who had real grit…while it’s true you could be gritty and from Beverly Hills…it was historically guys from blue collar towns who grew up playing tough and were the kind of guys who wouldn’t sleepwalk through games, accept defeat and/or let their stars get pushed around.

That isn’t the same as saying only local players can serve that function. The point, at least my point, was the team needs to have some instigators, some locker room presence etc and if too many guys are just killing time until they go pro the team can look and play soft.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you're referring to the days of kids from the hardscrabble streets of Charlestown and Southie who had to battle their 5 siblings for scraps at dinner and played pond and street hockey with hand-me-down wooden sticks. Loved those days, loved those players. Unfortunately, I think the era/players you're longing for here are bygone and never to return. The kids who still grow up in these circumstances just can't afford to play hockey anymore. It's a rich man's sport and I don't see it going back the other way.

ALTHOUGH...there are new programs, including the one BU does in Harlem (I think?) trying to introduce hockey to new audiences/communities. These are awesome and valiant efforts, I'm just jaded and skeptical of the widespread and long-term impact these will have. I'm all for it and I hope it works, but...

Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a treatise on the state of youth sports. Ok, yes I did.

:-\
 
How much of this is the coach and/or simply the era?

I could be way off base, but I often feel that in general, BU played a more chippy / hardnose brand of hockey under Parker than under any of his successors.

Or maybe as time has gone by it my memory is altered a bit from what it was really like?
 
To my knowledge, nobody said only local kids play hard etc…as the team struggled last year they appeared “soft”, that was a common observation and it was manifest in multiple games and situations. The team lacked fight, the point being made was that typically BU had fight because there were usually a few guys who came from a background of municipal rinks in small towns, public high school teams etc.

Could those same types of players have come from Lexington MA or Lexington, KY ? sure. Could guys from Dorchester, Charlestown, South Boston have been finesse players, sure. When North Dakota was good were all of their players from South Boston, no.

It is a sad simplification to suggest the point being made was that only local players can play hard…historically the team was more heavily weighted towards east coast and New England players so the guys who were the least likely to sleep walk through a 3-0 loss, let somebody hit the goalie, let somebody deck a smaller player were guys who typically came from some of the stereotypically “tough” Boston suburbs and neighborhoods. Parker didn’t have 24 of those guys, but he didn’t have only 1-2 either.

In an era where many BU players are paid, have resided on elite teams for years and have come up through travel programs since age 6 etc there are fewer guys who appear to have a chip on their shoulder…doesn’t matter if they are from Beverly or Beverly Hills, a successful hockey team needs a few guys who can change the momentum of a game, dig in corners, knock somebody on their ass, fire up a locker room and never quit.

And Boisvert could have grown up on the same block as Mike Tyson but he wasn’t tough…he did get tossed for fighting but that was more petulance than grit.
 
smyler3 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you're referring to the days of kids from the hardscrabble streets of Charlestown and Southie who had to battle their 5 siblings for scraps at dinner and played pond and street hockey with hand-me-down wooden sticks. Loved those days, loved those players. Unfortunately, I think the era/players you're longing for here are bygone and never to return. The kids who still grow up in these circumstances just can't afford to play hockey anymore. It's a rich man's sport and I don't see it going back the other way.

ALTHOUGH...there are new programs, including the one BU does in Harlem (I think?) trying to introduce hockey to new audiences/communities. These are awesome and valiant efforts, I'm just jaded and skeptical of the widespread and long-term impact these will have. I'm all for it and I hope it works, but...

Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a treatise on the state of youth sports. Ok, yes I did.

:-\
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I get your point but there was another team on the ice every time one of us commented on BU looking timid, losing puck battles, taking lazy penalties etc.

Anybody in St Louis saw the difference…and Denver last year wasnt a gritty team per se but they never quit, they finished checks and every line played like it mattered.

So, I’m not looking for foil on the knuckles, just build a team that has some toughness, leadership and fight…that will create the space and freedom for top draft picks to do what they do.
 
BUalum said:
I get your point but there was another team on the ice every time one of us commented on BU looking timid, losing puck battles, taking lazy penalties etc.

Anybody in St Louis saw the difference…and Denver last year wasnt a gritty team per se but they never quit, they finished checks and every line played like it mattered.

So, I’m not looking for foil on the knuckles, just build a team that has some toughness, leadership and fight…that will create the space and freedom for top draft picks to do what they do.
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Totally agree. My interpretation of you mentioning the hometown discussion related to the grittiness of the team took me where I went there. I'm sure it's up to my own biases and my desire to rail on about the deteriorated state of youth sports/development "these days."
oldmanyellsatcloud.png
 
smyler3 said:
Totally agree. My interpretation of you mentioning the hometown discussion related to the grittiness of the team took me where I went there. I'm sure it's up to my own biases and my desire to rail on about the deteriorated state of youth sports/development "these days."
oldmanyellsatcloud.png
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Indeed. Money and travel teams can create very talented groups of primadonnas who flinch when a team isn't impressed by fancy uniforms, creative passing and range rovers.

Last year’s opener against LIU foreshadowed the season…maybe a few of those guys could have walked on at BU but they took the fight to the terriers and outworked them the entire game.

Whereas the year before the team got its self together after the Beanpot, last years squad never did…it was one long exhibition season.
 
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