Parker, Young, Smith named to USHHOF; Draft Week begins UPDATED

Legendary Terrier Coach Jack Parker, along with Scott Young and Ben Smith, have been named to the five-member 2017 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Class with a decidedly BU flavor.

Parker, who spent 40 seasons behind the BU bench, had a hand in all five Terrier national championship teams, serving as an assistant in 1971 and 1972 and as head coach in 1978, 1995 and 2009. He is the third winningest college hockey coach and holds the mark for most wins at a single school (897).

Young, who played two seasons at BU before turning pro, spent 17 seasons in the NHL, amassing 757 points, winning the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh (1991) and Colorado (1996), and earning a gold medal with Team USA in the World Cup of Hockey (1996).  He returned to BU as Director of Hockey Operations and now serves as an assistant coach for David Quinn.

Smith, who starred at Harvard in the late 1960s, was an assistant to Parker for nine seasons (1981 to 1990), during which BU reached the NCAA tournament three times and won four Beanpot titles. He later became head coach at Dartmouth and Northeastern and coached the U.S. Women’s Olympic Hockey Team in three Winter Games, leading the squad to gold in 1998.  

● US Hockey Hall of Fame report and bios

● Boston Hockey Blog report

►Johnny McDermott, who played in 14 games for BU last season, has returned to junior hockey and was at the USHL Tri-City Storm’s camp in Las Vegas. A Tweet from the Providence Journal’s Mark Divver noted that, according to a source, he may return to BU in 2018-19. 

NHL Draft Week

As many as five Terriers are expected to hear their names called at this week’s NHL Entry Draft in Chicago, but one current Terrier was involved in early draft-related activity. 2017-18 captain Brandon Hickey had his draft rights traded by Calgary to Arizona in a deal involving veteran goalie Mike Smith.

● NHL.com report

TSN’s Bob McKenzie revealed his final top 93 draft rankings which have goalie Jake Oettinger at #26, Shane Bowers at #32, David Farrance at #60 and Cameron Crotty at #87. Kasper Kotsankalo received honorable mention.

TSN:

●McKenzie rankings

●Oettinger draft profile and video report

●Bowers draft profile and video report

● Farrance profile

FinnProspects.comhttps://finnprospects.com/ranking/prospects-ranking-final-2016-17/'s profiles of the top 20 Finnish draft prospects includes #15 Kotkansalo.

Looking back

► Pittsburgh Post-Gazette  Mike Sullivan and the Penguins got some help from the Patriots this season;  How did Mike Sullivan get here anyway?