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BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

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Re: BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

mookie1995 said:
good is relative.

i think we can all agree that offensive skills come before defensive. both fwd and dmen. playing defense that will keep you in the nhl is a skill that is learned, acquired. yes.

now, an 18 yo defensemen that is nhl ready goes straight there. think pronger, think bourque.

some may think they need time first. brian leetch was an outstanding defenseman while at bc. he probably could have gone straight, but wanted to play olympic hockey. you remember back then when we sent amateurs, right? ;)

so my point is young dmen still have a lot to learn and make mistakes. i try not to be too hard on them because the offensive skill set of the guys they are facing is generally further advanced than their skill set.
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18 year old forwards that are NHL ready go straight there as well. if you're ready, you're ready. if the point is that more 18 year old forwards make the jump compared to 18 year old dmen, yes, i bet the numbers reflect that.

i think the difference here is that i have learned to not place any expectations on any freshman, regardless of position.
 
J.D. said:
18 year old forwards that are NHL ready go straight there as well. if you're ready, you're ready. if the point is that more 18 year old forwards make the jump compared to 18 year old dmen, yes, i bet the numbers reflect that.

i think the difference here is that i have learned to not place any expectations on any freshman, regardless of position.
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I think that many 18 yo high end kids are ready offensively, but lack the skill in their own ends to play in the new NHL (defense first). They need to learn that as well whether it be NCAA or AHL
 
Re: BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

defkit said:
If I had to pick a freshman forward to make the biggest impact, it would either be Baillergeron (no idea how to spell it) or Roberto. I think Collier could take a little time. But it's not like I've been scouting these guys, so I could be way off.

I agree with BUoldtimer - Lane showed improvement over the tail end of the year, as did Kurker. But I think the ceiling is much higher for Kurker. I see Lane always being a 3rd liner who uses speed to be a pest and an effective PKer. Not sure he has the scoring touch to be a top-2 line guy. If he does have it, great, he could turn into a Dave Tomlinson type of player. Otherwise, he could be a Mark Mullen type with more speed and a little more potential for scoring.
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Agreed on Baillargeon, who, after 2 USHL seasons, is likely the most ready to contribute. If/when Kevin Duane (6-4, 220 RW) improves his foot speed, he could eventually be very effective, especially on the power play. Needs the Boyle magic that vastly improved Bonino's skating and Mike Pandolfo's. I'd expect Lane, who recently returned from Penguins development camp with Maguire, will grab one of the top two LWs slots and take a nice step up.

From a few conversations, it seems the coaches are confident about the two freshman Ds--Somerby and MacAfee--who will be starting. TJ Ryan will be the 7th defenseman after two EJHL seasons. About a month into last year's prep season, USHR reported:

Doyle Somerby, D, ’94 (Kimball Union/Boston University) — The New York Islanders (NHL) draft pick is the best player on the best team in New England. 6’4”, 210 lb. defender is just coming into his own. Will make the jump directly from prep hockey to BU next year.

Dalton MacAfee, D, ’94 (St. Sebastian’s/Boston University) — This summer, when BU committed to MacAfee, formerly committed to Notre Dame for lax, some were surprised. After watching him closely in the early going this season we think the Terriers have found themselves a good one. NHL scouts should be tracking the all-around athlete’s progress closely.

Somerby, who played a month in the USHL after the prep season, was KUA's shutdown defenseman last season. About 15 games into the season, he'd been on the ice for only one goal against (of course KUA was the class of prep hockey most of the year). MacAfee (4-14-18) was St. Seb's 2nd best D after BC 2015 super recruit Hanifan.
 
Re: BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

Either way, this is the first season in a while that Mookie is looking forward to see start. Usually he is all golf in the summer, but if the first game was tomorrow night he wouldn't be sad.
 
Re: BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

Rogie21 said:
Agreed on Baillargeon, who, after 2 USHL seasons, is likely the most ready to contribute. If/when Kevin Duane (6-4, 220 RW) improves his foot speed, he could eventually be very effective, especially on the power play. Needs the Boyle magic that vastly improved Bonino's skating and Mike Pandolfo's. I'd expect Lane, who recently returned from Penguins development camp with Maguire, will grab one of the top two LWs slots and take a nice step up.

From a few conversations, it seems the coaches are confident about the two freshman Ds--Somerby and MacAfee--who will be starting. TJ Ryan will be the 7th defenseman after two EJHL seasons. About a month into last year's prep season, USHR reported:

Doyle Somerby, D, ’94 (Kimball Union/Boston University) — The New York Islanders (NHL) draft pick is the best player on the best team in New England. 6’4”, 210 lb. defender is just coming into his own. Will make the jump directly from prep hockey to BU next year.

Dalton MacAfee, D, ’94 (St. Sebastian’s/Boston University) — This summer, when BU committed to MacAfee, formerly committed to Notre Dame for lax, some were surprised. After watching him closely in the early going this season we think the Terriers have found themselves a good one. NHL scouts should be tracking the all-around athlete’s progress closely.

Somerby, who played a month in the USHL after the prep season, was KUA's shutdown defenseman last season. About 15 games into the season, he'd been on the ice for only one goal against (of course KUA was the class of prep hockey most of the year). MacAfee (4-14-18) was St. Seb's 2nd best D after BC 2015 super recruit Hanifan.
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I am optimistic about the forwards and goaltending. However, after Noonan and Grizz, I think we have four below average hockey east defensemen.
 
Re: BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

mookie1995 said:
Either way, this is the first season in a while that Mookie is looking forward to see start. Usually he is all golf in the summer, but if the first game was tomorrow night he wouldn't be sad.
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Don't let go of summer yet!
 
Re: BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

Agganis said:
*Note: It is written by a BC follower.
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I actually thought it was pretty good, so I'm not sure what this would have to do with anything? I liked how it stressed that they've gone out and gotten some of the players from the best high school program in Massachusetts. Next to Minnesota, those Malden Catholic teams were ridiculous and probably could've taken some of those Minnesota teams. BU went and got the best kid from the best local high school. What more could you want there?

So I'm not really sure what you're getting at?
 
Re: BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

Humanoid said:
I actually thought it was pretty good, so I'm not sure what this would have to do with anything? I liked how it stressed that they've gone out and gotten some of the players from the best high school program in Massachusetts. Next to Minnesota, those Malden Catholic teams were ridiculous and probably could've taken some of those Minnesota teams. BU went and got the best kid from the best local high school. What more could you want there?

So I'm not really sure what you're getting at?
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Serious question: Are you the author?
 
Re: BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

Agganis said:
Serious question: Are you the author?
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Serious answer: nope. He is under handle excsports over on the Bentley board if you go check that out. I've gotten to know him over the past couple of years, though, since he's our resident blogger and radio guy, in the interest of full disclosure.
 
Re: BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

Agganis said:
*Note: It is written by a BC follower.
Click to expand...

I thought for sure the Pinheads would have been on her already going nuts over this sentence.

"Despite its lack of national championships in the last 20 years, BU is Boston's NCAA team."

And now you tell me this was written by a BC guy!? #Can'tCompute
 
Re: BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

Bomber said:
"Despite its lack of national championships in the last 20 years"
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And here I was thinking we had won a couple of national championships in the past 20 years.

Silly me, I guess I'll have to go back and check the record books.
 
Re: BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

mookie1995 said:
The article was not negative, at all
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I think the author found a narrative of a down period and now everything is changing because Quinn brought in local guys and dismissed everything that didn't support it.

"The 2009 national championship team had just eight out of 27 roster players from its hometown state. But that national title, ... stood in stark contrast to the multi-time national champions up the street at Boston College. Nine Mass natives won the title for BC in 2008..."

What?

This year's team will have double digit MA kids on it but A. Who really cares? B. Only Roberto will have been brought in under The Quinn Revolution.
 
Re: BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

ericredaxe said:
And here I was thinking we had won a couple of national championships in the past 20 years.

Silly me, I guess I'll have to go back and check the record books.
Click to expand...

Yeah, an interesting statement. All I can think of is that he is comparing it to the 4 that BC has won during that time. Because otherwise, 2 in 20 is not bad at all.
 
Re: BU 2013 Offseason Thread - Bring on the Mighty Quinn

zomg, guys, we had 8 players on our championship team from MA, and BC had nine, 10, and 11! HUGE DIFFERENCE.
 
mookie1995 said:
The article was not negative, at all
Click to expand...

Agreed. Thought it was a pretty good article. i think the author's point is that despite nor hsving the same level of success as BC the past 15 years & the off-ice issues in recent years, BU still is a marquee program whose success is enhanced when its roster contains a good # of local talent.

The irony I find about this article is that when Quinn was hired as AC in 2004, he was lauded for hos connections & recruiting prowess in parts of N. America that BU hadn't mined deeply. Prior to Quinn BU was relying heavily on local talent whose pool had dwindled. In the years Quinn was an AC the program was barely recruiting in MA, as reflected in only 3 MA players on the roster 2 years ago.

Now that the pool of elite local talent seems to be rising again, BU should be primed to reload w/ some of the best locals. Between O'Regan, Grzelcyk, Kurker, Collier, Roberto, Somerby, then (hopefully) Eichel, Doherty, Carpenter & Donato, its good to see the elite MA talent committing to BU again.

Let's hope this translates into sustained on-ice success going fwd.
 
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