Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours
Any other flight risks? (We knew Greenway was gone.) Fabbro? (I think he should stay.)
I like our forward core next year, but will need at least one freshmen to contribute.
Tier One:
Bobo
Harper
Cockerill
Bowers
Tier Two:
Curry
Tkachuck
Amonte
Nowhere to go but up
Crone
Chabot
Witkowski
Time to transfer:
Cloonan
On Defense I really liked the way Farrance moved the puck these last four games. They're losing three Seniors, but only one that played regularly. Fabbro and Krys anchoring things as Juniors would be nice. Krys really cut down on his turnovers these last four games.
Our goalie isn't going anywhere. I'd like to see Max get a few more games early in the year.
BU Hockey: Onward and Upward
Fabbro is realistically the only other meaningful flight risk. Someone could draft Brady and think he should develop in the AHL, but that'd be a bad move for him. He needs to add muscle to his frame and further develop his raw talent in a more practice-focused setting.
It'd be great to see the D corps headed up by experienced upperclassmen in Krys and Fabbro as well as Kasper, Crotty, and Farrance having gotten a lot of solid experience under their belt this year. That way the D corps wouldn't at all be heavily reliant on freshmen.
The forward core looks very solid as well and also wouldn't be reliant on freshmen to be heavy contributors. Bowers, Bobo, Cockerill, Tkachuk, and Harper on the top two lines bring a lot of experience and skill. I'd love to see Pat Curry improve his skating enough to fill the sixth spot there, he's always been the hardest working guy on the ice but as the year progressed he started to show a knack for sniffing out where a play was going and positioning himself well. If not, he'd be a great anchor for a third line, and perhaps one of the freshman can move into a top-6 slot. I think a lot of what will drive how far the 18-19 squad goes will be dictated by how much of an improvement this year's freshman class make as sophomores. There won't be much in the way of hot shot freshmen coming in who'll demand top line minutes, it seems Farabee is the only one who'd potentially fit into that category. So this year's freshman have every opportunity to continue to earn their minutes next season, especially on defense. I agree on Cloonan probably being a candidate for transfer, especially if he's able to graduate and grad transfer. I'd love to see him excel as he's got elite speed for this level, but he's too much of an offensive liability to continue getting regular minutes.
It appears there could be some really good balance of talent next season with a good dose of experienced upperclassmen, matured sophomores, and talented freshmen who won't be relied upon to carry the majority of the load. Hopefully Jake can continue his late-season hot streak without the pressure of the WJC and having just been drafted. I was also very encouraged by the discipline with which they played down the stretch in not taking costly penalties that doomed us earlier in the season. Additionally, the coaching staff finally was able to nail down in-game adjustments against all of BC, PC, Cornell, and Michigan - particularly in the breakout scheme and the power play zone entry. They ran into an excellent Michigan team yesterday and the bounces went the other way, but there's a lot to be encouraged about heading into next season.
