{"id":29626,"date":"2022-01-21T14:18:55","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T19:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=29626"},"modified":"2022-01-22T11:09:26","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T16:09:26","slug":"mens-hockey-drew-commesso-ready-to-represent-bu-usa-at-2022-beijing-winter-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2022\/01\/21\/mens-hockey-drew-commesso-ready-to-represent-bu-usa-at-2022-beijing-winter-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Men’s Hockey: Drew Commesso Ready to Represent BU, USA at 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Carolyn Mooney<\/em><\/p>\n

He was in his dorm room when he got the call. His emotions were already high as he was watching fellow American hockey player Matt Boldy make his NHL Debut for the Minnesota Wild.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ecstatic about the news that came from the other end of the phone, he called his mother to let her know. She started crying and ran down the stairs to tell his father the great news.<\/span><\/p>\n

At 19-years-old, Drew Commesso, a sophomore goaltender for the Boston University men\u2019s hockey team, was going to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am just so excited, you know,\u201d said Commesso. \u201cTo represent BU, to represent my family and friends, and most importantly to represent this amazing country is something that I really can\u2019t wait for.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On Dec. 22 of last year, the National Hockey League announced that its players will not participate overseas. The decision was made because the regular-season schedule had seen a series of disruptions due to an increase in COVID-19 cases as well as a rising number of postponed games.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the NHL\u2019s decision, national federations will look to other leagues outside the NHL to fill their roster for the men\u2019s hockey competition.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so Commesso got his chance.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was competing at the World Juniors when the news of the NHL pulling their players from the Olympics was announced.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my best friends, [North Dakota defenseman] Jake Sanderson, and I were on the bus,\u201d said Commesso. \u201cWe kind of looked at each other, and some of the news came out, and we\u2019re like \u2018Man\u2026this, you know, this could be a possibility for us.\u2019 We were kind of keeping our fingers crossed that we\u2019d be able to play with each other again just because he\u2019s one of my best friends and we\u2019ve gone through so much together\u2026I felt really confident in my game, and I\u2019m thankful for USA Hockey for allowing me to have another opportunity to represent the country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A native of Norwell, Mass., Commesso is one of five players from the state to represent the United States. Fellow South Shore teammates, former Terrier David Warsofsky (Marshfield) and Michigan’s Matty Beniers (Hingham), will skate alongside Commesso, as well as Boston College’s Marc McLaughlin (North Billerica) and Harvard’s Sean Farrell (Hopkinton)<\/span><\/p>\n

Playing at the Olympic level is no easy feat, and requires a childhood full of hard work and sacrifice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a kid, Commesso said in an <\/span>Instagram post<\/span><\/a> that he \u201calways watched the Olympics and dreamed of skating on the same ice as those huge hockey players on T.V.\u201d He continued, saying that it is a \u201ctrue blessing to have the opportunity [to] fulfill these dreams and represent the USA.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If given the opportunity to tell his younger self about his future accomplishments, Commesso said he would probably have been shocked to see that the sacrifices he had to make would lead to a great opportunity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had to sacrifice a lot of free time and a lot of hangouts with friends to make the right decisions for my hockey career,” Commesso said. “It\u2019s definitely been very busy in the offseason, but, you know, I just trust the people I work with and trust my friends, my family, and my coaches. That trust has really been paying off and I\u2019ll continue to work as hard as I can.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The second-year netminder has put up a 2.59 goals-against average and .909 save percentage with the Terriers this season. He was also the Chicago Blackhawks\u2019 second-round draft pick (46th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft.<\/span><\/p>\n

Communication-wise, Commesso said that the Hawks have been amazing at giving input and advice for the big stage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[I\u2019m] so grateful for the amount of people from the Hawks organization that reached out to congratulate me and to always be three for me,\u201d said Commesso. \u201cAfter any game, there are always people texting me and I\u2019m very grateful for that because it shows that they really care. I owe so much to them, and I\u2019m gonna do everything I can to make them better in the future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But for now, it\u2019s Commesso\u2019s time to shine between the pipes for the red, white, and blue. Sure, he\u2019s a little bummed about missing this season\u2019s Beanpot back in Boston, but he knows that this decision was definitely the right one especially when he has everyone in the hockey world telling him that this opportunity only comes around once.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very hard to turn down any opportunity to play for the USA, to represent the country, and do it on such a great stage like the Olympics,\u201d said Commesso.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the opening ceremony is Feb. 4, you\u2019ll have to wait a couple of days to see Commesso and Team USA play as they don\u2019t face the People\u2019s Republic of China until the preliminary round on Feb 10 at 9:10 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Feature image by Carolyn Mooney<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Carolyn Mooney He was in his dorm room when he got the call. His emotions were already high as he was watching fellow American hockey player Matt Boldy make his NHL Debut for the Minnesota Wild. Ecstatic about the news that came from the other end of the phone, he called his mother to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18584,"featured_media":29627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1026,1028,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29626"}],"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\/18584"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29628,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29626\/revisions\/29628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}