Greeley departs for position in NY Rangers' inner circle

After two seasons as BU’s associate head coach, Steve Greeley is returning to pro hockey as Assistant Director of Player Personnel for the New York Rangers. In those two seasons, Greeley’s talent evaluation and recruiting skills helped the Terriers develop one of the best pipelines of talent in all of college hockey. Last season, he was joined by former Terrier captain Albie O’Connell to give BU an unmatched tandem of assistants and recruiters.

Greeley tweeted:

Absolutely thrilled to be joining the New York Rangers in their pursuit of the Stanley Cup.

Incredible memories from the past two seasons for my family and I at @TerrierHockey .So lucky to have been worked at such a great University

Prior to returning to his alma mater in 2013, Greeley, a BU forward from 2000 to 2004,  spent seven seasons scouting for the Los Angeles Kings, the last four as a professional scout, evaluating pro players in order to help the team make trades and sign free agents. The Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and again in 2014

 

At a recent BU fan gathering, it was noted that Kings' Special Assistant to the GM Jack Ferriera, a longtime NHL exec and former BU All-American goalie had declared that there is no better talent evaluator in hockey than Steve Greeley.

While no replacement for Greeley has been named, several reports indicate that Director of Hockey Operations Scott Young is the likely pick. A 17-year NHL standout with two Stanley Cup rings and three Olympic appearances on his resume, Young returned to BU as DHO in 2014.

Best of luck to Coach Greeley. Thanks for all you’ve done for our program. Proud to call you a Terrier! https://t.co/AYAZnEaHVq

— BU Men's Hockey (@TerrierHockey) August 13, 2015

● Daily Free Press report

● Today’s Slapshot report

● Bios: Greeley, Young

Former Terrier skater, assistant coach and longtime NHL scout Bob Crocker has been named as a recipient of the 2015 Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to hockey in the United States. He’ll receive the award on December 17 in Boston during the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame induction dinner. Earlier this month, former BU All-American and NHL standout Chris Drury was announced as a member of the 2015 HOF class. Commenting on the Patrick Trophy announcement, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said:

As a coach, a scout and a hockey executive, Bob Crocker has devoted decades to the development of young American players.

Crocker was an assistant coach under legendary coach Jack Kelley, as well as freshman coach and recruiter, helping to build the BU squads that won back-to-back NCAA championships in 1971 and 1972.  He later was head coach at Pennsylvania before rejoining Kelley as assistant GM of the New England Whalers for 15 seasons. He continued his hockey career scouting for the New York Rangers and the Los Angeles Kings (working with Steve Greeley), earning the title “Dean of New England Scouts,” and being part of three Stanley Cup championships.

In 2007, between the periods of a BU-BC game, the Friends of BU Hockey organized a special tribute to Crocker that included a video feature shown on the scoreboard. (THFB  and USHR reports).

Coach Crocker displays rings from two Stanley Cups, a Calder Cup (Hartford), and an NCAA title.

● NHL.com report

● USA Hockey report

► Thanks to the blog reader who alerted us to this NHL.com story about Brandon Hickey’s strong performance at Canada’s World Junior Championship team evaluation camp.

Hickey was ranked #85 in ESPN's Top 100 Hockey Prospects.  Jack Eichel was #2. The Sabres #1 draft pick has signed a sponsorship deal with Bauer Hockey.
● The Hockey News report on Eichel's deal with Bauer

Women's Team

2015 graduate Shannon Doyle has signed on with the Connecticut Whale of the new NWHL. After transferring to BU from Colgate, she helped the Terriers win two of their four consecutive Hockey East titles and was named Hockey East First Team All-Star as a junior.