{"id":19094,"date":"2019-10-04T14:44:18","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T18:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sportswtbu.com\/?p=19094"},"modified":"2020-01-09T17:18:09","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T22:18:09","slug":"mens-hockey-new-look-terriers-look-to-bounce-back-from-subpar-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2019\/10\/04\/mens-hockey-new-look-terriers-look-to-bounce-back-from-subpar-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Men’s Hockey: New-look Terriers look to bounce back from subpar season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2019-20 BU men\u2019s hockey season begins Saturday, Oct. 5 at Union College, but head coach Albie O\u2019Connell has been actively preparing for this weekend since late March, when his team lost in the Hockey East semifinals.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers lost a lot more than just that game, though, as all six of that team\u2019s starters turned pro, leaving a second-year head coach to rebuild a team that just posted its first losing record since 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell is very comfortable with the upperclassman foundation of his team, even though he\u2019s dealing with a mostly different group. Four new players will be skating with letters on their jerseys this year \u2013 senior Patrick Curry will wear the C with classmate Patrick Harper and juniors Logan Cockerill and Cam Crotty serving as assistant captains.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about understanding all the great players that have come before us,\u201d Curry said. \u201cYou have the ability to set the tone for the team. … And I\u2019m making sure I do everything in my power to make sure we’re successful this year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

An important part in setting the tone is making sure there\u2019s a clear, consistent message being sent by the team leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think with all the new guys coming in, no one’s really trying to reinvent the wheel here,\u201d Harper said. \u201cThe biggest message we’re trying to preach is just to take care of our daily process and to work toward getting better every day. Because really, when you look in the mirror, there’s no reason that you can’t be better tomorrow than you were today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll the new guys\u201d are the 11 freshman (six of whom were <\/span>drafted into the NHL<\/span><\/a> this past June) and three transfers that BU gained this offseason. There\u2019s a lot of talent in that group, headlined by No. 9 overall pick Trevor Zegras, and it registered as <\/span>Neutral Zone<\/span><\/i>\u2019s top-ranked recruiting class<\/a> of 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

But with so many new faces on the team, can they really expect to compete this year? As always, Coach O\u2019Connell thinks so.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of new pieces,\u201d the coach said, \u201cbut it\u2019s the same goal every year: We want to win. We want to win Hockey East, and we want to win the whole thing. Do we have a team that can do it? Yeah, if it comes together the right way. We\u2019ve got a lot of talent, and we\u2019re hoping for a bounce-back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As with every team, there are bound to be obstacles to overcome. For this year\u2019s Terriers, they\u2019ll be playing the entire season without junior Ty Amonte, who centered the line with Curry and Harper last season. The role of top-line center now falls to Zegras, who\u2019s been taking those reps for most of the offseason.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith Zegras on our line,\u201d Curry said, \u201cit\u2019s exciting to work with him every day and see the mindset he brings to the ice. … It\u2019s important to make sure that [the freshmen] understand that they\u2019re going to be here this year and the importance of staying in the moment and building a winning culture that will last.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Curry alluded to some of the distractions that they team may face this season. With all of the raw talent on this roster, it\u2019s understandable for some of the players to want to look past this season and onto what may lay ahead for them in the professional circuit.<\/span><\/p>\n

But their captain doesn\u2019t want to hear any of that. And neither does their does. The only season that matters is this one, and the only team that matters is Boston University.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[Our main message] is for everyone to have two feet in,\u201d O\u2019Connell said. \u201cWorry about BU. Worry about this season. Focus on playing for this team. It\u2019s not about who scores and who doesn\u2019t. It\u2019s not about who\u2019s getting the glory or the outside noise. It\u2019s about winning hockey games and doing it as a group.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2019-20 BU men\u2019s hockey season begins Saturday, Oct. 5 at Union College, but head coach Albie O\u2019Connell has been actively preparing for this weekend since late March, when his team lost in the Hockey East semifinals. The Terriers lost a lot more than just that game, though, as all six of that team\u2019s starters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17192,"featured_media":18157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1028],"tags":[1053,1064,1262,1369,1413,1414,1487],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19094"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20919,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19094\/revisions\/20919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}