Down to the wire

Heading into the final weekend of regular season conference action, BU, which still needs one point to guarantee home ice for the Hockey East playoffs, can finish anywhere from second to fifth. The Boston Hockey Blog’s Scott McLauglin breaks down all the possibilities and offers his predictions on how it will play out.

Kieran Millan was named Hockey East Goalie of the Month for February after posting a 5-0-1 conference record and 5-2-1 overall.

Hockeysfuture.com has rated sophomore forward Alex Chiasson as the #3 prospect for the Dalllas Stars. He was the Stars #2 draft choice in 2009.

Looking back—What Brown Did for BU
Decades before it became the advertising tag line for package delivery service reinventing itself, finding out “what Brown can do for you” was one of Coach Jack Kelley’s best experiences during a magical 1970-71 season.

Bob Brown, a gangly sophomore defenseman from Scarboro, Ontario in his first varsity season, put up a 17-43-60 scoring line (in 31 games) to set a record for BU blueliners. He earned All New England, All East and All-American honors, quarterbacked a power play that clicked at a mind-boggling 40% clip, anchored a defense that held opponents to just under two goals a game and was named ECAC Rookie of the Year. A poised and confident performer, he was paired with another hard-hitting, high scoring blueliner, Ric Jordan, to give BU the best and most prolific defensive tandem in college hockey. Oh yes, he also helped lead the Terriers to a 28-2-1 record and their first ever National Championship.

A sixth round draft choice of the Montreal Canadians, Brown’s second varsity was almost a rerun of the first. Fifty points, repeating All New England, All East and All-American recognition while adding ECAC Player of the Year honors as a key cog for the 26-4-1 Terriers who became the first Eastern school to repeat as National Champions.

With no freshman eligibility at the time, Brown has spent his first year at BU on the frosh team, scoring 33 points in 18 games. Over three seasons, his BU teams had a cumulative 70-8-2 record. His 79 assists in two varsity seasons ranked him sixth all-time among Terriers, at the time.

What made Brown such a dynamic and effective player? Says Kelley: “Bobby Brown had it all. He could skate-shoot-and see all of the ice. Bobby seldom made a bad play as he always played with his head up. Teamed up with Ric Jordan, an equally gifted teammate, Bobby was one of college hockey's all time defensemen.”

Selected to be a co-captain in his senior season, Brown instead followed Kelley to the new World Hockey Association, playing two seasons in the pros. He later returned to BU and completed his degree.

He was elected to the BU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991 and this year, forty seasons after arriving with a bang on the Division I college hockey scene, Brown has received one more honor, being named to the ECAC’s all-time Top 50 performers. He joins former Terriers Rick Meagher, Vic Stanfield and Jack O'Callahan on the ECAC list, for which 40 members have been announced thus far.

• Sean Sullivan scored his 12th goal of the season—league high for defensemen in AHL Worcester’s 6-2 loss to Portland.

Women's team
The Terriers will host the semifinals and finals of the Hockey East tournament this weekend. Top seed BU takes on Northeastern in Saturday's early game starting at Noon, followed by BC-Providence.

Lots of honors for members of the women’s team. Junior Jenn Wakefield was named Hockey East Player of the Month after scoring 8 goals and 2 assists in 8 games. Marie-Philip Poulin and Kerrin Sperry were both named to the conference all rookie team. Poulin, who scored 44 points in just 24 games was a unanimous choice. Catherine Ward was named the conference’s top defenseman, captain Holly Lorms the top defensive forward and Sperry the top goalie.

The Daily Free Press examines the coaching career of Brian Durocher, who launched the BU women’s program six years ago and the freshman season of Kaleigh Fratkin, who played for boys teams in British Columbia before joining the Terriers this season.