Quinn completes his staff, naming Steve Greeley assistant coach

Reports in The Boston Hockey Blog (BHB) and U.S. Hockey Report have confirmed what has been rumored in hockey circles for the past several weeks: former Terrier forward Steve Greeley has been named an assistant coach on David Quinn’s staff, filling the slot left open when Associate Head Coach Mike Bavis departed.  A 32-year old Scituate, Mass., native, Greeley, who has been a pro scout for the Los Angeles Kings, played for BU from  2000 to 2004, followed by a season in the ECHL.

It is expected that BU will officially announce Greeley’s appointment next week, following Sunday’s NHL draft, Greeley told the Boston Hockey Blog that he’ll fly to Buffalo on Monday to scout USA Hockey’s Select 17 Development camp, where two current BU recruits, JJ Piccinich (2014) and Robert Carpenter (2015) will be in action. 

BHB also learned that Quinn had sought permission in April from the Kings to talk with Greeley, who later said: 

“As soon as I knew this was an opportunity, I knew in one night it was what I wanted to do. I think there’s something to be said for working with a college, and to BU is a pretty special place. I’ve made some great friendships here, and I want to be a part of it again."

Greeley, who will play an important role in recruiting for BU, spent seven seasons with the King, first as an amateur scout and more recently as a pro scout. He discussed his role with the Kings in a 2010 NHL.com interview , and, last July, after the Kings won their first NHL Championship, he brought the Stanley Cup home to Scituate for a day. (Photo credit: Robin Chan, GateHouse News Service).

Greeley’s resume also includes experience scouting the type of talent he’ll be seeking for the Terriers. Between 2009 and 2012, he served as Eastern Regional Scout for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program (NTDP). Earlier, he was a coach for Massachusetts Hockey during tryouts for USA National Festivals in 2006 and 2007. He also had a stint as assistant coach at Thayer Academy, where he had been a standout forward and served as captain in 1999-200.

Before joining the BU coaching staff, he was one of three former Terriers on the Kings’ scouting staff, along with 2003-04 captain Mark Mullen and Bob Crocker, the Dean of New England Hockey Scouts.

Commenting his colleague’s new position, Crocker, who was Jack Kelley’s assistant coach at BU and who spent considerable timing recruiting for the Terriers, said, “Steve will do an excellent job in the recruiting area. He knows the game has a lot of exposure and experience. Bottom line is that he knows talent and has a great personality, which is so important in recruiting, since winning over the parents and the players themselves is a must.”

● Boston Hockey Blog report

►Last weekend, the Third Annual Boston Whiffle Ball Challenge, benefiting the TravisRoy Foundation and the Franciscan Hospital for Children, was held at BU’s Nickerson field with the Terrier hockey team earning top spot in the competition.

NESN report and video

Catching Up

The Boston Globe’s Fluto Shinzawa tweeted that the Bruins Jay Pandolfo is leaning toward retirement. The former Terrier captain played 18 regular season games for Boston, but none in the playoffs.  The 38- year-old winger skated for the Terrier’s NCAA championship team in 1995 and played in the Frozen Four all four years at BU. In 1996, he scored 38 goals and 29 assists, earning Hockey East Player of the Year honors and was runner up for Hobey Baker Award. In the NHL, Pandolfo has played 899 regular season games, scoring 100 goals. He also played 131 playoff games all with the Devils, winning the Stanley Cup in 200 and 2003.

● Photo

Former Terrier defenseman Adam Clendening was recalled to Chicago after AHL Rockford’s season ended, but didn’t play in any Stanley Cup games.

Another BU connection to the Stanley Cup champions is Director of Amateur Scouting Mark Kelley, whose father Jack Kelley was an All-East defenseman at BU and later spent ten seasons as head coach, leading the Terriers to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1971 and 1972.

Former BU All-American Kevin Shattenkirk signed a four-year $17 million extension with St. Louis. Last season, the former Colorado 2007 first-round draft pick scored five goals and 18 assists for the Blues.

● Shattenkirk video highlights
● St.Louis Post-Dispatch report

Colby Cohen, also a former Avs pick in 2007, has signed on with the Ässät Aces in the Finnish elite league, SM-liiga. Cohen spent most of last season with Providence Bruins, but missed numerous games due to injury. In 2009-10, his final season at BU , Cohen was named to the Hockey East First Star team and the NCAA East First All-American Team as he led the teams defense with 30 points in 36 games, scoring 14 goals which were the most scored in a single season by a BU defenseman in over 30 years.

Cohen and 2013 graduate Ben Rosen are on the U.S. hockey roster for the 2013 Maccabi Games in Israel, beginning July 17.

Former BU captain Sean Sullivan has signed a contract for 2013-14 with Modo of the Swedish Elite League. A Hockey East first team all-star in his 2006-07 senior season, Sullivan played for AHL Lake Erie last season after previous stints in the Phoenix, San Jose and Florida systems. In 2009-10, he made the AHL All-Star game and scored 49 points.

Corey Trivino was acquired by the ECHL Stockton Thunder from the Florida Everblades. The former Terrier was Florida’s top rookie scorer with 51 points, third best overall on the team. The trade completed a March  2013 transaction the brought goalie Cody Reichard to the Everblade.

There’s a bit of irony here since Reichard was the goalie for Miami in BU’s 4-3 OT win in the 2009 national championship game and it was Trivino’s forecheck on a Redhawks defenseman that freed up the puck, which eventually reached Colby Cohen, whose deflected slap shot looped over Reichard’s shoulder for the title-winning goal.

Former Terrier standout Shawn Bates, who recently was named head hockey coach of his high school alma mater, Medford High, put his other athletic talents on display at the Mass. D1 North Quarterfinal baseball game, throwing out the first pitch. Bates, who scored 144 points in his four years at BU before beginning a long NHL career, was a star pitcher and shortstop for the Mustangs as well as an All-Scholastic hockey player.

Coaches draw a crowd in New York City

►A large crowd of New York City area alums turned out for a Meet & Greet with Men’s Hockey Coach David Quinn, Women’s Hockey Coach Brian Durocher and other BU coaches at Stout NYC Wednesday night. Also on hand at the  Manhattan watering hole—just two blocks from Madison Square Garden, where BU will meet Cornell for Red Hot Hockey IV on Nov. 30—were Jack Parker, Mike Eruzione and athletic director Mike Lynch.

Photo:  David Quinn (lower right) chats with Tony Ruvolo, manager of BU’s 1978 national championship team.

Another Meet & Greet with the coaches is set for Tia’s in Boston next Wednesday evening, June 12.

►Three BU sophomores, forwards Danny O’Regan and Matt Lane, and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, have been invited to USA Hockey’s evaluation camp for the 2014 U.S. Junior National Team. Grzelcyk attended last summer’s camp and was the last player cut from the roster prior to the WJC tournament in Russia.  He and O’Regan, who led all Hockey East freshmen in scoring in league games, were named to the conference All-Rookie team last season.  All three have previously represented the United States in international play, as members of the 2012 gold-medal winning World U18 Championships team. Lane and Grzelcyk both played two seasons with the NTDP program in Ann Arbor.                                                           

● United States of Hockey report
● Evaluation camp roster

►BU’s third game of 2013-2014 is a home tilt with Rensselaer on October 18. The Engineers’ fan blog—Without A Peer—offers an early preview of the Terriers.

If you haven’t noticed, The Terrier Hockey Fan Blog is now on Twitter and we’ve added a Twitter box to the sidebar. This will allow us to bring you Terrier hockey news on a more timely basis, presenting the topline information even before a detailed blogpost is added.

Looking ahead

New England Hockey Journal spoke with 2016 recruit Cam Askew about his commitment to BU and his 2013-14 plans which will take the Cushing Academy standout to the Indiana Ice of the USHL. The 6-2 forward from South Boston scored 35 points in 29 games helping to lead the Penguins to the New England Prep large school championship.

Joe Bracken, a Boston Advantage coach and USHL scout evaluating Askew, says: “He’s got a high skill level. He’s got a good mind for the game, good offensive instinct. You can run the power play through him. It takes a special player to run a power play at the level he is at. He scores goals, makes passes and has the ability to make plays all over the ice.”

One of the goalies that Askew will face next season is future BU teammate Shane Starrett, a 2014 recruit, who will be suiting up for Sioux Falls next season. Reporting on the Stampede's recent tryout camp, SB Nation's Chris Dilks noted that Starrett is the front-runner for the Sioux Falls starting job and that the 6'5" netminder "has some amazing quickness for a player his size." 

Starrett had also drawn interest from several BCHL teams, including the Powell River Kings, which was Terrier netminder Sean Maguire's junior team.

Women’s Team

Jillian Kirchner, a forward who scored 32 points for BU’s 2010-11 squad that reached the national championship game, has been named an assistant coach at Brown University. The Illinois native spent last season as an assistant at Division 3 St. Norbert’s in Wisconsin.

Priviteras and BU part ways

USHR and The Boston Hockey Blog report that Alexx Privitera will not return to BU for his junior season and that his younger brother, Jarrid, has elected to decommit from the 2013 recruit class.  Alexx had been suspended for the final 13 games of the season following several on-ice incidents, including kneeing a Harvard player during the Beanpot.  BHH indicated that Privitera had completed the Spring semester and is currently taking summer school courses at BU.

Jarrid Privitera, who spent the past season as a member of the USHL Clark Cup champion Dubuque Saints, where he scored 26 points in 56 games, was quoted by the Boston Hockey Blog as saying that leaving BU was his brother’s decision and  that “[decommitting] was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make.  "I wish the BU hockey program the best of luck in the future."

●Boston Hockey Blog report & Privitera statements

Looking ahead

2014 recruit Jack Eichel who played for the USA Hockey NTDP U17 and U18 squads this past season will return to the USA Hockey program next season, ending speculation that he would sign with the QMJHL Halifax Mooseheads. Halifax has now forfeited its draft rights to the 6-1, right-shot center from Chelmsford, Mass.  Eichel, who had an 18-15-33 line in 37 games for the U17s and 10-8-18 in 22 games with the U18s, has been projected as an early first-round pick in the 2015 NHL draft.

Looking back

While speculation continues that former Terrier Steve Greeley will replace Mike Bavis on the BU coaching staff—as recently tweeted by USHR, another ex-BU forward has secured a Division 1 assistant coaching position. Joe Pereira, a member of the Terriers’ 2009 NCAA championship team and the captain of the 2010-11 BU squad, was picked to assist new UConn Coach Mike Cavanaugh, according to a report in the Hartford Courant.  Following his BU career that saw him score a team-high 15 goals as a senior in 2010-11, Pereira, a West Haven, Ct., native, played a handful of games in the AHL and spent a season in the ECHL, primarily with the South Carolina Stingray.

Former BU All-American Colin Wilson is recovering from off-season shoulder surgery according to The Tennessean. SB Nation’s report on the Predators called Wilson the team’s MVP in the first half of the season before his injury and gave his 7-12-19 in 25 games performance an “A” rating.  Here he demonstrates a power move to the net in a Predators’ win against Edmonton.

Hockeysfuture.com’s review of San Jose prospects ranked former Terrier Matt Nieto as the organization’s fastest skater and top left wing prospect.

Nieto has excellent four-step acceleration, and is usually first to the puck in most battles. Very few players at the college level could match his quickness, and even in his short stint with the Worcester Sharks there were times when he looked too fast to catch.

Nieto’s speed is one of his biggest assets, and he utilizes it well, even with the puck to generate scoring chances. The way he shoots in stride at such high speeds is reminiscent of Joe Sakic. This ability makes it very difficult for defenders and goaltenders alike, and will give him the ability at the pro level to be a scorer.

SB Nation’s Anaheim Ducks report card gave former BU standout Nick Bonino high marks and projects he’ll nail down the #2 center spot next season. Bonino’s season, shortened like Wilson’s due to an injury, was highlighted by a hattrick against defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles.