Honoring a friend

This weekend, approximately 50 members of the BU hockey alumni will gather on Cape Cod to honor Bob Crocker (image). Now the “Dean of NHL Scouts in New England,” working for the Los Angeles Kings, Crocker, who was BU assistant coach and also freshman hockey coach under the legendary Jack Kelley from 1963 to 1972, was Kelley’s key recruiter and helped bring many standout players to Commonwealth Avenue.  He also served as BU’s head baseball coach. 

Following his tenure at BU, Crocker was head hockey coach at the University of Pennsylvania, then assistant General Manager of the New England Whalers, before becoming an NHL scout with a number of teams. Crocker also has coached numerous prospect teams in the Beantown Classic during the past several years.

In his current assignment with the Kings, Crocker is reunited with Jack Ferriera, specialist assistant to general manager Dean Lombardi. Ferreira was an All-American goalie at BU and led the Terriers to the Final Four in 1966.  Two other ex-Terriers on the Kings staff are 2003-04 captain Mark Mullen and Steve Greeley.

The three-day event honoring Crocker will include golf and a dinner as well as non-stop stories and great memories.

Looking back

College Hockey Weekly has posted its list of the top college hockey teams of the 2000s and the 2008-09 NCAA Champion Terriers were its choice for #1.  Earlier this spring, CHW had posted the top 25 teams of all time, ranking the 2008-09 BU squad #6.  BU’s 2005-06 Hockey East champs were #18 among the teams of the 2000s.

CHW also identified its choices for the top ten games of the decade and two BU NCAA games made the list:

● In March 2000, BU and St. Lawrence made history playing the longest NCAA tournament game ever. BU came out on the short end, 3-2 infour overtimes. Freshman goalie Rick DiPietro made  77 saves. Box score.

● Nine years later in April 2009, BU was in overtime again, winning the national championship, 4-3, against Miami in an epic comeback that saw BU rally from two goals down with a minute and a half left to tie and then win in the extra session on Colby Cohen's slapper.  Box score.

Looking ahead
College Hockey Perspective has been rolling out its profiles of the top 60 college hockey prospects for the 2012 NHL draft. BU's 2013 recruit Kevin Duane, a 6-4, 214 winger is #38 in the rankings. Previously, CHP had ranked 2013 recruit Doyle Somerby at #48. 2012 recruits Matthew Lane and Daniel O'Regan were #54 and #55 respectively; however their rankings were posted before both were standouts in the World U18 championships.