Red Hot Hockey update; Schaeffer signs

Red Hot Hockey update
The Greater New York Alumni Club and the national organization are planning a three hour pre-game reception and pep rally prior to the BU-Cornell matchup at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 24. The venue is the Club Bar & Grill inside The Garden and, while details are still being finalized, we’ve learned that University President Robert Brown will attend the event along with former Terriers and 1980 Olympic gold-medal winners, Mike Eruzione, David Silk and Jack O’Callahan--all BU Athletics Hall of Fame members. The office of the Dean of Student is planning a post-game party as well, to complete a very full—and hopefully turkey-free—day.

Advance to the Reading railroad
Four-year starting defenseman Kevin Schaeffer has signed with the Reading Royals, the Los Angeles Kings’ ECHL affiliate. Schaeffer had been drafted by the Nashville Predators in 2004. Ex-Terrier Justin Maiser also is on the Royals’ pre-season roster.

Recruiting update

First the potentially bad news: 2009 commit Ethan Werek was headed to the Kingston Frontenacs (OHL) training camp last week but sprained a knee in an exhibition for the Junior A Stouffville Spirit for whom it was expected he would play the next two seasons. The Kingston Whig Standard’s news coverage gives the impression that Werek, ranked among the top 10 prospects for the 2009 NHL draft, had decided to pursue Major Junior rather than college hockey. However, as the Western College Hockey blog points out:

A number of other college prospects are currently attending OHL training camps. Two players that have committed to college, Minnesota's Sam Lofquist and Northeastern's Daniel Erhlich are attending London Knights camp. Other players like Kyle Quick, Corey Morbeck, and Zach Tatrn are also attending camps. They are allowed to skate in the camp, so long as they pay their own way, and don't play in any exhibition games. Note: Erhlich reportedly has received an offer from London.

We'll report on further developments.

USHR reports that BU, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Dakota are the leading contenders for highly regarded Salmon Arm/BCHL center Derek Lee, “an excellent puck distributor, the kind of pivot who makes everyone around him look like world beaters." Lee, who’s 5’9”, 150 lbs and played on last winter’s BC Under-17 Team, would be a 2008 recruit...

The same Web site reports that Choate junior forward Mark Goggin, who just returned from the Czech Republic where he played for the U.S. U18 Select Team, has BU along with UNH, Miami and Dartmouth on his list. A 2009 recruiting target, Goggin’s older brother committed last week to Dartmouth where their father played in the early ‘80s...

He’s a “smooth skating defenseman with good size from New Rochelle, N.Y, ” who has played junior hockey in New Jersey and has been a standout on Travis Howe’s East Coast Selects spring/summer tournament team. That would be incoming freshman Kevin Shattenkirk, right? Nope. That profile also fits 6’1” 190, Kevin Clare, a ’92 left-shot blueliner, who recently visited BU, BC, and UNH. Clare, who may also visit some Western schools, would be a 2010 recruit. He was a standout for the North Jersey Avalanche (AYHL) last season and moves up to the EJHL Jersey Hitman this season. Clare is expected to receive an invitation to NTDP tryout camp in the Spring, and so is his Avalanche and East Coast Selects teammate John Parker. He took home a "Best Forward" award at this summer's Jr. Chowder Cup, playing on the winning Brandywine team with 2009 recruiting target Kyle Palmieri who joins the NTDP U 17s this year. Parker is a 5-11, 170 center who will begin the coming season with the New Jersey Rockets, a program current Terrier Luke Popko played for. We've heard nothing to suggest he's on BU's recruiting radar, but with that name, he certainly ought to be.

TV game schedule; new radio outlet

We've received a preliminary television schedule for BU games that lists 16 telecasts on three outlets: CN8, NESN and CSTV. An additional game or two may be televised by opponents’ local carriers.

The nine CN8 games, which are Internet accessible at CN8 Online, are 10/19 UNH, 10/26 &27 @Michigan, 11/16 @ Vermont, 11/20 Harvard, 12/1 BC; 1/12 @ Maine, 2/16 Maine, and; 3/1 @UMass. Several of these games also will air on Comcast in the MidAtlantic region.

NESN will broadcast the 1/26 UNH, 2/15 Maine and 3/7 Providence games along with both Beanpot games. CSTV will air the 11/24 “Red Hot Hockey” matchup with Cornell at Madison Square Garden and the 11/30 game at B.C.

The CSTV All Access service will again provide online coverage of Terrier home games, combining the video feed from the Agganis Arena scoreboard and the BU radio broadcasts featuring Bernie Corbett and Tom Ryan. Last season, a full season All Access pass cost $20. And speaking of "The Voice of Terrier Hockey" and his learned sidekick, their game broadcasts reportedly will move to AM1510, The Zone

Some additional media news: An enhanced BU athletics Web site, hosted by CSTV, will debut during the next few weeks. CSTV’s gametracker service also has been significantly upgraded with new graphics, links to player photos and bios, and more games details.

Roche invited to Avs camp; NTDP reunion in Ann Arbor

Ken Roche, one of 30 college hockey free agent on the INCH list posted here last week, has been invited to the Colorado Avs rookie camp in early September. Roche was a third-round draft choice of the New York Rangers in 2003 and had an amateur tryout with the Hartford Wolfpack last April. The invitation extends the Terrier-Avs connection which includes 2005 draft choice Brandon Yip, 2007 draft choices Kevin Shattenkirk and Colby Cohen, and the new head coach of Avs’ AHL Lake Erie affiliate, Joe Sacco.

The National Team Development Program (NTDP) celebrates its 10th anniversary this weekend with a reunion event in Ann Arbor that includes an alumni game and a golf tournament. BU sophomores Brian Strait and Luke Popko are heading to Michigan for event. We’ll be checking to see which other Terrier alums participate.

Fifteen NTDP program participants have gone on to play for BU (or will this season). Let’s see if anyone can list them all. 2008 recruit David Warsofsky, just back from competing with team USA in Ivan Hlinka Memorial in Slovakia, who will become the 16th, suits up for the NTDP U18s next month. He’ll be coached by John Hynes, one of two former Terriers who have coached in the NTDP program; the other is former assists coach John Lilley.

The U18s' schedule kicks off in less than a month with a September 15 game against the USHL Chicago Steel. Hynes' squad will face 21 NCAA opponents, sixteen of them Division 1, including a Dec. 8 matchup with the Terriers at Agganis Arena.

Hynes, of course, also is head coach of the 2007 U.S. Junior National Team. He discussed the recent evaluation camp in a Hockeysfuture.com podcast. In addition to the comments from the RinkRat and NHL.com blogs we posted last week, our own source reports good performances by all four Terriers with Brian Strait and Colin Wilson the most likely to earn roster spots. Final decision won’t be made until early December, so first semester play will guide Hynes’ choices.

Mike Eruzione, forever USA hockey’s gold-medal captain, has been on the banquet circuit for 27 years and on the weight-loss commercial circuit one year. The former Terrier co-captain recently spoke at youth hockey fundraiser in Waterloo, Iowa, providing a nice break from all those politicians who have been traipsing through the Hawkeye state.

An online sidebar to Fluto Shinzawa’s Sunday hockey column in the Boston Globe listed some of the future NHL talent that will be freshmen in Hockey East and the ECAC this season. Four new Terriers, Cohen, Shattenkirk, Wilson and Nick Bonino, made the list.

Friday Linkorama

INCH’s annual “College Hockey A to Z” series took a look at sophomore blueliner Eric Gryba this week. With three four-year defensemen having graduated in May, Gryba’s ability to make that big second-year jump to a larger role will be critical for the Terriers. INCH reports that Coach Parker expects Gryba’s penalty minutes, which dropped in the second semester, to continue to decrease with fewer stick penalties. The Saskatoon native and 2005 Canada Midget AAA Defensive Player of the Year was drafed by Ottawa Senators in the third round in 2006.

“Gator” Zancanaro

Former Terrier buzzbomb Brad Zancanaro has re-upped with the Florida Everblades for a second ECHL season. The 5’6” center, who put up 51 points for the Everblades last year following 15 games with a pair of AHL teams, has been working out this summer with BU strength and conditioning guru Mike Boyle.

Where’s the ice?

An innovative “Micro Ice” training facility in North Andover, Mass., designed to aid in teaching hockey skills to small groups of players, has a distinct Terrier flavor to its operation. The ice surface in this rink is just 41’ by 50’. Former Terrier captain and BU Hall of Famer Jay Pandolfo and his longtime N.J. Devils teammate Scott Gomez are partners in the ownership headed by Jay’s uncle, Dick Pandolfo, who hopes to franchise the concept. The staff at Micro Ice Training Center includes Mike Boyle, BU’s strength and conditioning coach and cofounder of “Body by Boyle,” Terrier goalie coach Mike Geragosian and Hockey East Director and former Harvard goalie Joe Bertagna.

Curry-ing favor in Pittsburgh

All-American goalie John Curry, who recently signed a two-year contract with the Penguins, was featured in an NHL.com overview of top prospects in Pittsburgh’s system. Pens assistant General Manager Chuck Fletcher said:

Here's another kid from Minnesota playing in Boston, a walk-on who beat out a scholarship goalie. John became the starter and he had a remarkable record in wins, save percentage and goals-against average. He had one of the highest save percentages in the history of the Beanpot Tournament. That's important. One of the things that we really liked about John was that as the games rose in importance, his play seemed to get better and better. The bigger the game, the better he played. John Curry is a competitive kid with good quickness in his hands and feet. We thought, here's an undrafted goalie who had a terrific collegiate career, so it made sense to sign him and get some depth in our system. We just have to see how he adjusts to pro hockey. He should be OK. We got good reports from our scouts Kevin Stevens and Jimmy Madigan, who watched him for a long time.

Curry's 13 career shutouts tie him with another All-American netminder, Jack Ferreira (now Director of Player Personnel for the Atlanta Thrashers), for the school record, while his career marks of 2.07 (GAA) and .923 (sv %) are the best in program history.

Freedom’s just another word…

So wrote Kris Kristofferson, and often freedom brings with it opportunity. For three recently graduated Terriers not signed by their NHL draft teams--Ken Roche (Rangers), Tom Morrow (Sabres) and Kevin Schaeffer (Predators)--free agency comes with much uncertainty. The trio is among the 30 college players gaining that status this month. Some other pretty fair college players—such as Matt Christie, JD Corbin Brett Hemmingway and Dylan Reese—also are on the list compiled by INCH. We’ll keep an eye out for where the ex-Terriers land.

A Monday BU-ffet of news

Much to cover today, Terrier fans…Last week, Joe DiPenta re-upped with the NHL champion Anaheim Ducks and also brought the Cup to Halifax and his hometown of Cole Harbour to share with family and friends. Joe and Stanley made a well-received hospital visit, too. The Nova Scotia native, who played for BU during the 97-98 and 98-99 seasons, became the sixth Terrier to hoist the Cup (video) ...

Terrier goalie coach Mike Geragosian has had a new scholarship endowed in his name by an anonymous donor. The $500,000 scholarship fund is for goalies on BU Women’s Ice Hockey team, now entering its third varsity season under former BU netminder Brian Durocher…Durocher shared goaltending duties with Jim Craig on the 1977-78 Terrier NCAA championship team (30-2) that defeated BC, 5-3, in the only head-to-head national title game between the Comm. Ave. rivals (page122). The team's 30th anniversary will be celebrated during the upcoming season. We’ll post details when they become available…

A DVD of BU’s most recent Terrier NCAA championship game win, the 1995 6-2 victory against Maine (page 123), is available from Amazon.com, according to one of our readers. The 8-7 triple overtime loss to Northern Michigan in the 1991 final also is available on DVD...

2008 recruit David Warsofsky (3/14 entry) is in Slovakia with the U.S. Under 18 Select team that begins the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament tomorrow with a game against Russia. He scored the game-tying goal late in yesterday’s exhibition game against the Czechs, eventually won by the U.S. Warsofsky, USHR’s Prep Defenseman of the Year for 2006-2007 and a standout at the recent Select 17 national tournament, will play for John Hynes’ NTDP U18 team next season. The U18s visit Agganis Arena for a Dec. 8 exhibition against the Terriers. In an interview just before leaving for Europe, Warsofsky noted he’ll be joined in Ann Arbor next year by his “best friend” and Cushing teammate, Ryan Bourque who will skate for the U17s...

Meanwhile, Kit Sitterley, a member of USA U17 Select team, playing later this month in the Five Nations’ tournament in the Czech Republic, has identified BU as a team that has shown interest in him for 2009. Sitterley, a 5-10 left wing who rang up six goals in the Select 16 Festival in June, hails from Mooresvill, N.C., and skates for Culver Military Academy, where incoming freshman Victor Saponari forward played (as did his 2008 recruiting target brother Vinny)...

Jason Lawrence continues to fill the nets in the Hub City Summer Pro league. The league’s top scorer, Jason buried it eight times this past week. Yes, it’s only summer hockey, but Terrier prospects for next season will markedly improve if he takes a step up from his 5-13-18 numbers of last year…

Two good reads from the NHL. First is piece from the Avalanche on its first two choices in June’s draft, incoming freshmen and roommates Kevin Shattenkirk and Colby Cohen. Then, reaching back in time, there’s the tale of how World Hockey Association forgot to order a trophy for its first championship team, which almost was left empty-handed. The article focuses on New England Whalers owner Howard Baldwin whose 1972-73 club was coached to the AVCO Cup title by former Terrier mentor Jack Kelley following his back-to-back NCAA championship teams of 70-71 and 71-72. Kelley wasn’t the only Terrier with three straight titles. BU All-American forward Jake Danby and all-star defenseman Ric Jordan played on all three winners. Another BU All-American, Mike Hyndman played part of the season for the Whalers.

Making Waves at Lake Placid

Reports from National Junior Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid indicate that coach John Hynes will face some difficult decisions when he pares down the 45-man roster. Several of the Terriers at the camp have been among the standouts. In Monday’s second intrasquad game, won by the White team, 4-3, both Brian Strait (White) and Kevin Shattenkirk (Blue) had assists when rebounds of their slapshots were converted by teammates. On Tuesday, Shattenkirk’s second period slapper gave USA Blue a 3-2 lead over Finland in a game that USA won 5-4, with Luke Popko assisting on the game-winner. Colin Wilson (pictured) had a pair of goals and and an assist during the first four days of play.

Several bloggers are providing reports on the camp and exhibition games, including NHL.com’s Shawn Roarke, USA Hockey’s Chris Peters, and Elliott Olshansky, CSTV’s Rink Rat. Olshanky (excerpts below) reports a highlight-video hit by Colin Wilson and voices confidence that incoming freshman Shattenkirk will make the final roster. With Strait also impressing at camp, Hynes very well might have a BU pairing on the Junior National Team blueline.

Olshansky on USA Blue-Finland, 8-7-07:

A couple of future BU Terriers also impressed me in the first period. Colin Wilson had a nice hit to knock a Finnish player off the puck, and wound up hitting him so hard that Wilson's own helmet came off. For a moment, it looked like Wilson was ready to go "old time hockey" and keep playing, but then thought better of it and headed for the bench. Kevin Shattenkirk looks as good as I've been hearing about, and had a really nice move with the puck late in the period to elude a Finnish defender and create a U.S. scoring chance.

I don't know who's going to be the seventh defenseman for BU this year, but whomever it is will be quite annoyed that BU isn't playing a holiday tournament this year. That's one game less that Kevin Shattenkirk's WJC-imposed absence will open up a spot in the lineup. Shattenkirk is one of the three most impressive players on the ice for the U.S. along with Mike Carman and Pat Kane, and you can definitely plan on him being part of this team.

Olshansky on USA White-Sweden, 8-7-07:

BU's Brian Strait has looked pretty solid for the U.S., playing good positional defense and shutting down a couple of would-be scoring opportunities for the Swedes.

Hockey photographer par excellence Melissa Wade has posted on USCHO a pictorial look at the camp (several groups of photos) with several Terriers included.

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Go further west, young man
We recently reported that the Quad City Mallards, for whom Matt Radoslovich played the past two seasons, were disbanded when the Calgary Flames moved their AHL affiliate to that city. Rad, one of only a few unrecruited walk-ons in recent memory to play for the Terriers, now has a new hockey home. He’s still “for the birds” but this season it will be in California as a member of the Fresno Falcons of the ECHL. Radoslovich, a former New Jersey high school Player of the Year at Bergen Catholic, was recommended to Jack Parker by a former BU football player whose identify never was determined.

Speaking of the now-defunct Mallards, Rad’s teammate, ex-BU goalie Jason Tapp, ignited a mini-brawl last season between the Mallards and Rockford Icehogs last season, which has been posted to YouTube (below).

Books 'n skates

2008 recruit Andrew Glass, whose participation at Washington Caps development camp was featured here last month (video interview included), was profiled recently by his hometown newspaper (it somehow sneaked past us last month). As Glass prepares for his senior season at Noble & Greenough School, he talks about his coaches--his dad and Nobles’ Brian Day-- the importance he places on academics and his goal of reaching the NHL after playing at BU.

Monday musings

BU was featured last week in College Hockey News’ series of profile of all 59 D1 teams. While the assessment seems to be fair, if somewhat superficial, and predicts BU will finish between 2nd and 5th in Hockey East, there are some obvious errors. The writer indicated just four incoming recruits, when the number is seven, with five expected to make the lineup from the get-go. He also managed to omit second team All-American Matt Gilroy from the list of key returnees... CSTV’s “Rink Rat” Elliott Olshansky doesn’t ignore Gilroy and has included him in his list of pre-season Hobey hopefuls.

Matt Gilroy, D, Boston University: It's hard to be very far under the radar when you play on Commonwealth Avenue, but as an unheralded walk-on, Gilroy came close. So much of the talk about BU in 2006-07 centered on either the brilliant play of John Curry or the inconsistency of the top offensive performers, that the steady forward-turned-blueliner was mostly recognized by the BU fans who grew to love him and the coaches who had to deal with him. At the end of the season, Gilroy had earned All-American status. Can he go further in 2007-08? Quite possibly.

In the first intra-squad game at National Jr. Team evaluation camp, Colin Wilson had a goal and an assist for the Blue team, while Kevin Shattenkirk added an assist, but the White team eeked out a 7-6. The teams play each other again today before beginning games with Sweden and Finland. A National Jr. camp blog reports some trading of players between the teams. One brings UNH recruit James Van Riemsdyk to the Blue team. Should be interesting to see if plays on a line with Wilson and Patrick Kane today. That has the potential to be a powerhouse line...The Globe reported that ex-Terrier and Bruin Dan LaCouture, who spent most of last season in Lowell with the Devils organization, has signed a two-way deal with the Ducks, “effectively leaving him to compete for the spot left open when Thornton signed with the Bruins.”

Four compete for Jr. National Team

Four Terriers have headed West to the U.S. Junior National Team evaluation camp that begins tomorrow in Lake Placid. Sophomores Brian Strait and Luke Popko (both in photo) and freshmen Kevin Shattenkirk and Colin Wilson—all products of the U.S. NTDP program—are among the 45 players in camp which will conclude with intra-squad games and contests with teams from Sweden and Finland. Shattenkirk and Strait were the past two captains of the NTDP U18 teams. Former Terrier forward and graduate assistant coach, and current NTDP U18 coach John Hynes will be behind the bench when the Junior National Team aims for a gold medal at the World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic next winter.

Unlike previous years when a Jr. National team berth meant missing more than a few games, those Terriers who make this year’s squad are likely to miss only a Dec. 30 home game vs. Merrimack and an early January away tilt with Vermont.

Back in New England, freshman Nick Bonino is again participating in the 2007 Chowder Cup Tournament run by ProAm Hockey. Once again, he is representing the Northern Connecticut Wings in the tournament that began today with games in Walpole, Foxboro and Canton. A sixth round draft choice of the Sharks in the 2007 draft, Bonino now has his own player profile page on the Sharks site, although no information has been posted yet, so keep checking.

Summer reading
College Hockey News is helping to fill the off-season void by looking at each of the 59 Division I programs and their prospects for next season, beginning with defending champion Michigan State. The first Hockey East team profiled is Maine... Meanwhile, Inside College Hockey is again presenting it’s INCH A to Z series, profiling individual players. The Bs include Yale’s Sean Backman, son of ex-NHLer Mike Backman, who led the Eli in scoring as a freshman.

The Merrimack blog, Warrior Rink Rat, reports that former ‘Mack netminder Joe Exter has been named goalie coach for the NTDP program and will work with both U18s and U17s. Exter, whose college career was cut short due to a serious head injury suffered in a collision with BC’s Pat Eaves, previously held the Cedar Rapids Roughriders assistant’s job that Mark Mullen has now filled.