Wednesday, May 21, 2025

UPDATED: Willander signs with Vancouver; Remembering Eliot Driben; Lawrence leads Muskegon to USHL title;

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After drawn-out contract negotiations, Tom Willander, the Canuck’s top draft pick in 2023, has agreed to a three-year, entry-level contract to begin next season. 
Instead of joining Vancouver or its AHL affiliate in Abbotsford after the Frozen Four, the smooth-skating defenseman returned to Sweden while his agent negotiated schedule A bonus terms, which had become a sticking point in the contract talks. Willander played several exhibition games for the Swedish National Team but was not rostered for the IIHF World Championships.
In two seasons on the BU blueline, Willander recorded 49 points (6G,43A) and in both seasons earned Hockey East 2nd team All-Star and New England first-team All-Star honors. He skated for Sweden in the last two World Junior Championships, helping his team to a silver medal in the 2024 tournament.
Following the signing, The Athletic asked “Will Tom Willander be the Canucks next star?
Willander isn’t going to blow you away with dynamic offensive chops or highlight-reel plays. A casual hockey fan might watch some of BU’s games and not even notice Willander as a standout player, if they aren’t paying particularly close attention to him.
What Willander perhaps lacks in flashy skill, he makes up for with rock-solid defensive play and a remarkably polished, efficient style of play. The 20-year-old right-shot defenceman was a go-to shutdown player for BU. He chewed up heavy top-four minutes, played on the first-unit penalty kill and was trusted in high-leverage defensive zone starts and late-game situations when his club was defending leads. He’s ultra-reliable because he rarely makes mistakes and consistently makes subtle plays to help tilt the ice in his team’s favour.

► Sad news to report. Eliot Driben, a fixture at BU athletic events for decades, passed away last Sunday at age 80. 
A funeral service will take place on Thursday, May 29, at Stanetsky Memorial Chapel in Canton starting at 10 a.m. followed by a burial ceremony at Sharon Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to BU Athletics (300 Babcock St.) or BU Hillel (215 Bay State Rd.). BU Athletics will host a celebration of Elliot's life at a later date.
A feature story in the New York Times in 2013 documented “The Mayor of Terrier Nation’s” dedication to BU sports teams and religious attendance despite his lifelong challenges with Celebral Palsey. The lobby of the Case Center gymnasium was named in his honor.
Jack Parker, who has known Driben throughout four decades of coaching men’s hockey, calls him B.U.’s greatest fan. To others, he is the mayor of Terrier Nation. Those are reasonable pronouncements because Driben has attended about 5,000 university sporting events.
The women’s soccer coach, Nancy Feldman, takes Driben to a kosher butcher shop and helps prepare his apartment for Passover. The women’s hockey coach, Brian Durocher, drives him to supermarkets and takes him for monthly haircuts. Rangers defenseman Matt Gilroy, soon after turning professional, bought him a new walker.
“He loves B.U. more than anyone I know, and B.U. athletes love him back,” said Gilroy, who played on the university’s 2009 N.C.A.A. championship team.

 ● GoTerriers.com Boston University Mourns the Passing of Eliot Driben 

● Bostonia: Helping the Mayor of Terrier Nation

Looking ahead

2026 recruit Tynan Lawrence scored his eighth post-season goal to help Muskegon to a 4-3 overtime win over Waterloo to clinch the Clark Cup championship. It was the first-ever league championship for the Lumberjacks. 

A 6’0” center from Fredricton, N.B., Lawrence led all playoff scorers with an 8-10-18 scoring line and earned playoff MVP honors. He had 25 goals and 29 assists in the regular season to become a USHL rookie of the year finalist and also helped Canada White win silver at the World U17 Challenge with six points in five games. 

Lawrence's 18 points also set a new record for most playoff points by a 16 year old, two more than Taylor Cammarota and six more than Kieffer Bellows. 

Brandon Svoboda was a member of the 2024 Clark Cup champion Fargo Force and also skated for the 2023 champion Youngstown Phantoms, with Shane Lachance as team captain.
►With the World U18s completed and the 2025 NHL Entry Draft just over a month away, we're seeing more final draft projections. TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button has issued his top 80. It includes: #28 Sascha Boumedienne, #32 Jack Murtagh, #50 Charlie Trethewey, #57 Carter Amico, #71 Conrad Fondrk and #74 Haoxi Simon Wang (a 2026 recruit). A Swedish defenseman, Malte Vasse, whom internet rumors have linked to BU is #64.
 
Looking back
Stanley Cup Playoffs
AJ Greer scored his second playoff goal and Evan Rodrigues recorded two assists as Florida defeated Carolina, 5-2, in the opening game of the Eastern Conference finals.        
Jake Oettinger and the Dallas Stars take on Edmonton in the Western Conference final beginning tonight in Dallas.
Oettinger, 26, is 8-5 with a 2.47 goals-against average and .919 save percentage through 13 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The No. 26 pick in the 2017 NHL Draft is 149-66-27 with a 2.52 GAA, .912 save percentage and 12 shutouts in 251 regular-season games (242 starts), and 31-27 with a 2.47 GAA, .917 save percentage and two shutouts in 60 postseason games (58 starts).
"He has that aura to him, really, that calm Zen, and then when we go on the ice, it's that quiet competitiveness, that quiet confidence," said Connor LaCouvee, Oettinger's teammate at Boston University. "He's definitely still very intense, but being able to, I don't want to say mask that but being able to kind of present it with a calm demeanor if that makes sense, which is such a deadly combination in goaltending."
UPDATE: Oettinger stopped 24 Edmonton shots as Dallas rallied from a 3-1 deficit to score five unanswered goals in the third period to take a 6-3 win in game 1 of the Western Conference finals. He has a seven-game home winning streak with a 1.92 GAA in that span.
IIHF Men’s Worlds
Macklin Celebrini scored his third goal in Canada’s 5-3 win over Sweden. He has six points and is +9 in seven tournament games.            

Team USA advanced to the quarterfinals with a 5-2 win over Czechia. Captain Clayton Keller had an assist and is second is scoring for the U.S. with a 2-7-9 line. The U.S. will take on Finland on Thursday in a 10:20 a.m. ET start that will air on NHL Network. Former Terrier fan favorite Ahti Oksanen skates for Team Finland.

Chiasson served as volunteer assistant for the Terriers while completing his degree.

Luke Tuch scored his first playoff goal fifteen seconds into Laval's 4-1 win over Rochester in the Calder Cup playoffs. He had 14 points in his first full professional season.


 

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