Associate head coach Bavis departs

USHR reports that associate head coach Mike Bavis has resigned after fifteen seasons as an assistant to now-retired head coach Jack Parker. Bavis had been one of five finalists to succeed Parker. That position was awarded to David Quinn.

A standout forward at Catholic Memorial High School, Bavis was a four-year letterman at BU,  playing on teams that had a combined winning record of 123-42-15 for a .667 winning percentage, including three appearances in the Final Four—1988-90, 1990-91 and 1992-93.

In both 1992 and 1993, he was voted New England's Top Defensive Forward Award by the New England Hockey Writers Association. In addition, both years he was voted the Bennett McInnis Award for team spirit. 

After playing in the Buffalo Sabres organization for two seasons, Bavis was an agent for Global Hockey Consultants before joining the Terrier coaching staff in 1998. He became associate head coach in 2009.  Bavis also has been involved with USA Hockey, working as a coach for the Mass/USA Hockey Satellite Training Program and serving as head coach or assistant the USA Hockey Select 15, 16 or 17 festivals.

Bavis and his family founded and lead the Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation, named for Mike’s twin brother and Terrier teammate who died on United Airlines flight 175 on Sept. 11, 2001. The foundation awards scholarships of $3,500 to $5,000 to Massachusetts high school students who have made a difference in their communities or demonstrated leadership at their schools.

● Boston Hockey Blog report

Looking ahead 

2013 recruit Jarrid Privitera finished his USHL career on a winning note as the Dubuque Saints won the Clark Cup championship, sweeping Fargo in three games. Privitera scored 26 regular-season points in 56 games for Dubuque, adding six points in eleven playoff games. Previously, he played for The Gunnery School, totaling 81 points in two seasons, and the North Jersey Avalanche.

 

2013-14 schedule taking shape

The Terriers’ expanded out-of-conference schedule (14 games) appears to be complete with Dartmouth’s announcement of a game at Agganis Arena on January 8, three days prior to the BU-Maine Frozen Fenway game.

The rest of the non-conference games—with those dates available at this time: Holy Cross (10/12), Rensselaer (10/18), Wisconsin (10/19), North Dakota (11/22&23), Cornell (11/30), Harvard ), 1/4) BC-Beanpot (2/3), Northeastern or Harvard-Beanpot (2/10), Michigan, Michigan State, Bentley and Connecticut.

2013-14 schedules for all Division 1 teams are being posted on this site with regular updates as dates are finalized. BU’s official schedule for next season is expected to be announced in the next two weeks.

►There’s a new addition to our list of sidebar links, College Hockey Inc.’s College Commitments, which lists, chronologically commitments to D-1 schools. At the bottom of the page, you can link a “depth chart” of current players—and those in the pipeline--for each team by class.  Note that BU’s chart lists goalie Shane Starrett as a 2013-14 recruit, but he’s scheduled to arrive a year later.

►Coached by former Terrier Joe Sacco, Team USA reached the semifinals of the IIHF World Championships in Helsinki after drubbing Russia, 8-3.  Team USA, which has now won six of its seven games, meets Switzerland in the semifinal which airs lives on NBC Sports Network on Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT. The victor will meet the team that emerges from the Finland vs. Sweden semifinal for the World Championship title.

Firepower for the Future--UPDATED

               

BU’s newest recruit comes with an NHL pedigree, and, according to several sources, a “laser” of a shot. 

 16 year old Bobo Carpenter is the son of Bobby Carpenter, a one-time first round NHL draft choice, the first American-born player to scored 50 goals in an NHL season and the first U.S. hockey player featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated--with the headline "The Can't Miss Kid," no less.

A sophomore at Austin Prep, the 5-10, 185 lb. right-shot center from North Reading was second in team scoring (one point behind the leader) with a 16-14-30 scoring line in 24 games. He helped lead the Cougars to the 2013 Super 8 championship game at TD Garden, where they lost to Malden Catholic, after assisting on the game winning goal in the semifinal that eliminated his father’s alma mater, St. John’s Prep.

According to The Boston Hockey Blog, the soonest he’d arrive at BU is for the 2015-16 season. Other pursuers included Boston College, New Hampshire and Providence College. Carpenter’s sister, Alex, a sophomore at BC, led Hockey East in scoring and earned All-America honors this past season.

CNH reporter and editor of The Mack Report Mike McMahon, who tweeted about Carpenter’s verbal earlier today, also added in a tweet, “Carpenter, from what I saw, had one of the quickest releases I saw last year ... HEA included, not just HS hockey. He has a laser."

Austin Prep Head Coach Louis Finocchiaro recently told the Eagle Tribune that “"Bobo’s relentless...He’s got one of the hardest shots I’ve seen from a schoolboy."

Valley Junior Warriors’ director of program development Steve McAdams added:

“He’s also a great faceoff man  I’m sure his father taught him that skill, since he was great at that. Just a great kid, a coach’s dream. Always doing the extra work and skates forever. He’s a great teammate as well. Never negative. He’s what you look for. A very determined kid who has a great disposition.”

Finocchiaro, pointing out that Carpenter will be a captain as a junior next season, told the BHB:

"His work ethic is phenomenal. His positiveness on the ice, off the ice, in the locker room is impeccable ... He is a phenomenal hockey player.  [Quinn] is going to be extremely, extremely happy with his choice of Bobo Carpenter when it is all said and done. I think he has got a diamond in the rough."

Prior to Austin Prep’s winter season, Carpenter played for the Middlesex Islanders U18s in the New England Prep League. Evaluating the league’s top players, USHR wrote: “Good bloodlines, we’d say. Bobo can really fire the puck. Plays with a lot of energy and is as tenacious as they come."

● Boston Hockey Blog report    

                                                                                                 

● Eagle-Tribune feature on Carpenter

►Rising senior defenseman Garrett Noonan talked with WTBU Sports about his goals for next year, his decision to return for his senior season and his relationship with now-retired Coach Jack Parker.

►Thanks to the blog reader who points out that former Terrier Adam Clendening was recalled to Chicago for the Stanley Cup playoffs following a standout rookie season at AHL Rockford.  The blueliner earned second team All-AHL honors  after putting up nine goals and 37 assists. The 37 assists and his 46 points both established new records for first-year IceDogs.