2014 Heights Hockey Preview

the heights

hockey 20 Preview 14

built on the

blue line

Returning one of the strongest defenses in the country, Jerry york’s team must find a way to score points in the post-gaudreau era.

Q a

The heights sits down with york as he begins his 21st season As bc’S head coach, B4

[ ][ ][ ] EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

At just 17 years old, Noah Hanifin is on campus and ready for the big time, B8

JOHN QUACKENBOS / BC ATHLETICS

Alex Carpenter is back At BC and gunning for college hockey’s ultimate prize, B7

EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Oh captain, my captain: Michael matheson leads BC WitH consistency, B6

JOHN QUACKENBOS / BC ATHLETICS

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THE HEIGHTS| OCT. 9, 2014

2014 Men’s Hockey

first line

HOCKEY PREVIEW PROJECTED LINES

Projected Lines and pairings

zach Sanford

ryan fitzgerald

austin cangelosi

24

19

26

Games: 0 Goals: 0 Assists: 0 Points: 0

Freshman Height: 6’4” Weight: 191 Age: 19

Games: 40 Goals: 13 Assists: 16 Points: 29

Sophomore Height: 5’10” Weight: 177 Age: 19

Games: 40 Goals: 10 Assists: 16 Points 26

Sophomore Height: 5’7” Weight: 173 Age: 20

second line

Chris Calnan

11 Games: 37 Goals: 4 Assists: 9 Points: 13

Sophomore Height: 6’2” Weight: 209 Age: 20

Adam Gilmour

Alex Tuch

14

12 Games: 40 Goals: 7 Assists: 13 Points 20

Sophomore Height: 6’3” Weight: 193 Age: 20

Games: 0 Goals: 0 Assists: 0 Points: 0

Freshman Height: 6’4” Weight: 220 Age: 18

third line

Quinn Smith

Michael Sit

27 [a] Games: 110 Goals: 11 Assists: 17 Points: 28

Senior Height: 5’8” Weight: 165 Age: 22

Destry Straight

18 [a]

Games: 116 Goals: 5 Assists: 9 Points: 14

Senior Height: 5’11” Weight: 175 Age: 21

17 Games:101 Goals: 15 Assists: 21 Points: 36

Senior Height: 6’1” Weight: 182 Age: 21

fourth line

Cam Spiro

Matthew Gaudreau

Danny linell

15

21

10

Games: 24 Goals: 2 Assists: 2 Points: 4

Senior Height: 5’10” Weight: 199 Age: 22

Games: 9 Goals: 1 Assists: 0 Points: 1

Sophomore Height: 5’9” Weight: 145 Age: 19

Games: 112 Goals: 7 Assists: 24 Points: 31

Senior Height: 5’7” Weight: 181 Age: 22

defensive pairings

michael matheson

5 [c] Junior Height: 6’2” Weight: 194 Age: 20

Games: 74 Goals: 11 Assists: 35 Points: 46

6

3

Games: 35 Goals: 3 Assists: 8 Points: 11

Sophomore Height: 6’3” Weight: 218 Age: 19

noah hanifin

Freshman Height: 6’3” Weight: 205 Age: 17

Games: 35 Goals: 5 Assists: 8 Points: 13

teddy doherty

7

2 Games: 35 Goals: 4 Assists: 14 Points: 18

ian mccoshen

Sophomore Height: 6’2” Weight: 208 Age: 19

scott Savage

Sophomore Height: 6’1” Weight: 186 Age: 19

steve santini

4

Games: 0 Goals: 0 Assists: 0 Points: 0

Junior Height: 5’9” Weight: 173 Age: 20

Games: 66 Goals: 3 Assists: 28 Points: 31

goaltenders

Sophomore Height: 6’4” Weight: 195 Age: 18

thatcher demko

brian billett

brad barone

30

1

29

Games: 24 Save %: .919 GAA: 2.24 Record: 16-5-3

Senior Height: 6’0” Weight: 184 Age: 22

Games: 27 Save %: .913 GAA: 2.58 Record: 15-8-2

Senior Height: 5’10” Weight: 177 Age: 23

Games: 5 Save %: .938 GAA: 1.76 Record: 0-0-0

HOCKEY PREVIEW FEATURE

THE HEIGHTS| OCT. 9, 2014 3

BC

2014 Men’s Hockey

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For the last three Seasons Seasons, BC’s senior class class, sans Gaudreau Gaudreau, has played a bit part. now, as the seniors prepare for one more run, BC needs them to step up.

austin tedesco | Heights editor One thing you’ll never be able to take away from the seven Boston College men’s hockey seniors on the 2014 roster is their absurd level of success during three years in Chestnut Hill. The numbers stand on their own: 122 wins, six NCAA tournament victories, three Beanpots, two regular-season Hockey East championships (the Bertagna Trophy, as head coach Jerry York calls it), one Hockey East Tournament title, and, of course, the 2012 National Championship that was the culmination of a crazy 19-game winning streak. Those are enough accomplishments for a few hockey lifetimes. Looking at that all at once, you can convince yourself that any of the seven of them—Goalies Brian Billett and Brad Barone as well as forwards Danny Linell, Cam Spiro, Destry Straight, Michael Sit, and Quinn Smith—could leave Conte Forum behind without notching another win or another point and tie a pretty bow over their maroon and gold careers.

But they have one more ride left, and for the first time, they’re being bumped from the passenger seat into a spot directly behind the wheel. Gone is the class’ lone superstar.

Johnny Gaudreau has shipped his Hobey Baker-winning 80 points out to Calgary for his first NHL season. No longer do any older giants loom above them on the roster, and only one proven star, captain Michael Matheson,

skates in the class below these vets. If you’re looking for the ceiling of this year’s BC hockey team, don’t go any farther than the crew chasing degrees in May. Yes, the Eagles will need Ryan Fitzgerald and Austin Cangelosi to take leaps in their sophomore seasons and, of course, it would be a boost if new defenseman Noah Hanifan could echo Matheson’s freshman campaign. Those young players still exhibit near limitless potential. These seniors are past that point. York just needs them to be productive—and he needs it badly.

First, a brief history.

Six of the seniors saw the ice during the 2011-12 title run. Barone was the only holdout, but he didn’t miss out on much.

Billett appeared in eight games, spelling Parker Milner during a brutal winter’s darkest timeline where no goalie could consistently get the job done. He went 3-4-1, giving up more than two-and-a-half goals a game with a .907 save percentage. Then Milner squeezed every ounce of talent he had into 19 dominant games, forcing Billett onto the bench.

The five forwards? They combined for 23 points that season. Gaudreau notched 44 on his own. That team was loaded, and these guys were only freshmen, but this turned out to be more of a trend than a slow start.

Even though Chris Kreider, Barry Almeida, and Paul Carey left following that season,

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it didn’t quite pave the way for the then-sophomores. Barone played in one game, and Billett played in two, but Milner’s shiny championship essentially cemented his place between the pipes. While Matheson joined Gaudreau and a few juniors and seniors as commanding forces on the ice, the rest of the class squeaked out spots as grinders. They provided necessary tough, aggressive play when the top lines needed breaks. Straight, the most-heralded scorer of the class behind Gaudreau, increased his point total from 10 to 15. Smith’s jumped from four to 13. They started to emerge as important role players—Smith pushed BC into the Beanpot final with his first two-goal game since his days in the USHL—though they rarely stood out as more than that. That status was further solidified last year, as one of the most heralded freshman classes in school history arrived.

The five forwards’ numbers hardly shifted in 2013-14. Freshmen like Fitzgerald, Cangelosi, and Adam Gilmour rose up the team’s points leaderboard as well as the lineups.

While Billett started the opener and contended with rookie sensation Thatcher Demko for the starting goalie spot early in the year, he eventually lost that battle. The juniors were role players yet again.

For BC to be successful this year—especially when success in only measured by

trophies—it can’t afford a similarly relegated status in its seniors’ final run. The five forwards filled the first two lines in this year’s exhibition against New Brunswick. Barone looked strong in net during the second period.

This crew’s value has to go beyond leadership, intangibles, or minor roles.

It starts with Sit, Straight, and Smith.

York refers to their line, which he’d like to keep together, as the three “S”s. The name couldn’t be more fitting When you hear the Super Line—the nickname for Gaudreau, Bill Arnold, and Kevin Hayes’ devastating trio from last year—you think of three Avengers running train all over helpless defenses, creating heaps of unstoppable, relentless scoring chances. When you hear the three “S”s you think of an annoying grammar rule that will sneakily bite you in the ass. York needs points from his three “S”s, and it doesn’t matter how they come. It won’t be dazzling like Gaudreau, or brutish like Hayes, or smooth like Arnold, or beautiful like the three of them working together, but the points will count all the same. Even if defenses and opposing fans are compelled to call “garbage goal” as the puck careens into the net, they’ll still be doing it over goal horns for what will likely be BC’s third line.

In an interesting twist, Spiro and Linell will be wingers alongside their former classmate’s

JOHN QUACKENBOS / BC ATHLETICS

younger brother, Matty Gaudreau, who has been moved to center. This was nominally the second line in the scrimmage, but it should be bumped lower once the real games start on Friday. Spiro’s biggest strengths are his speed and hands, while Linell boasts solid puck skills. It’s a combination that is unlikely to score often, but has the potential to swing a few games with timely opportunities that most other team’s fourth lines can’t create.

They’re your X-factor.

Don’t expect to see much of Billett this year? Think again. Demko should only improve in his sophomore season, but as New England winters roll in, so do BC goalie skids. It’s nearly scientific at this point. Will it ever turn into an actual position battle?

No, but Billett can make Demko stronger by pushing him during the pre-Beanpot dregs of January if he has to.

With the Eagles’ top four forwards off to the pros, offense has become BC’s biggest question mark, especially scoring depth. For three years, production from this group has been a welcome bonus—a penalty kill here, a stand-in goaltending performance there—but not a necessity. They’ve been hard-working grinders—the kind of players a team needs to fill out a good roster—and now they need to be more. 

In one of the highlights of his career, Quinn Smith scored two goals to help propel the Eagles past Harvard and into the Beanpot final against Northeastern.

It was the first multi-goal game of Smith’s collegiate career.

EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR | GRAHAM BECK / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

After sitting out a large portion of the 201314 season, Destry Straight is back in the lineup as the the right wing on the three “S”s line. Tall and strong, he adds muscle to the undersized line. Straight has always had potential, now he must put it together.

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THE HEIGHTS| OCT. 9, 2014

2014 Men’s Hockey

HOCKEY PREVIEW Q&A

here we go Again

THE HEIGHTS| OCT. 9, 2014 5

words: connor mellas Photos: emily fahey

A flying mass of preseason energy cloaked in maroon and gold bursts into fourth gear and meets a promised pass with the blade of his stick—the clatter of frozen rubber stinging composite echoes around an empty Conte Forum. Head up, legs pumping, he rockets toward the goal as two teammates join the color-coordinated assault on the lonely goaltender. The shot’s on—stick back, eyes locked, he fires away and snaps a ripper at the net.

The puck strays wide and slams into the boards with a cacophonous boom, skirting away harmlessly.

Another skater breaks the blue line and guns for the net—the drill loops on again, and again, and again.

All the while, Boston College men’s hockey coach Jerry York watches quietly, observing every miss, save, and

“... Good Defense is going to propel you a very long way. I think defensively we feel very, very solid— now we’ve got to fInd some offense.” goal. Sporting skates, a black BC jacket, a maroon ball cap, and athletic glasses, York eyes his team, surveying his latest challenge, his newest project. Finally, he stops the drill—and for a moment, peace descends on Kelley Rink.

It’s early October, and BC is working through its eighth practice of the preseason. Thatcher Demko glides around aimlessly near the blue line, goalie mask resting on top of his head, taking pot shots at Brad Barone. York calls his team over to the area in front of BC’s bench and pulls out a whiteboard—the shot stopper-turned-sniper and his teammates heed their coach’s call. In eight days, BC opens against UMass Lowell, and with the way BC ended the River Hawks’ season in Worcester, Lowell will be out for revenge. And maybe Ryan Fitzgerald’s head on a platter—BC will find no peace at the Tsongas Center.

Of the many sports writing cliches that have been mercilessly ridden to death, thoughtlessly resurrected, re-saddled, and driven into the grave time and time again, the trope “reloading not rebuilding” rears its hacky head around season preview time like poinsettia-filled flower pots around Christmas. If the 2014 edition of BC men’s hockey fell into either of these alleged ultimatums, it would be tempting to cast the Eagles into Yin or Yang, and be done with the matter.

That’s not the case, though. Appreciating the effects of a dominant stretch of recruiting, York’s team hasn’t really had to rebuild in years. But for the first time in multiple seasons, the Eagles aren’t exactly rich in offensive ammunition. Captain Michael Matheson, a defenseman, enters the season as BC’s leading scorer.

BC is led by an enviable defense and goaltender, a stable of still-developing, young forwards, and a senior class, which, sans Johnny Gaudreau, chronically underperformed for three seasons.

Success breeds success, but it also fuels exponential expectations. For BC, reaching those ridiculously lofty expectations means that nothing short of a trip to the Frozen Four and a run at the National Championship will suffice. The nation’s top two point scorers, Gaudreau, and Kevin Hayes, are gone, as is BC’s rock at center, Bill Arnold, who finished last season tied for fifth in points, nationally. York heads into his 21st season in Chestnut Hill with a team in transition, but the degree of struggle wrought by the ongoing transformation has yet to be determined. So, before BC embarks on another go at a sixth star, The Heights sat down with York for an in-depth look at BC in the post-Super Line era.

First of all, personnel wise, how close are you to getting the lines set?

I think they’re always fluid, the lines, especially over the course of the season, but we’re set for the exhibition game with our lineup.

Are any pairs jumping out at you?

I think the senior line, of Sit, Straight, and Smith has been terrific. They’re gonna have to carry a lot of us early, because at the forward positions we lost four key forwards for us. So, I think that line right now has impressed me.

It’s our 10th practice—or our eighth practice today—so it’s a small sample size, but they’ve meshed pretty well together, I like that. The three “S”s.

For the most part they had a quieter role last year, how much are you expecting them to step up in their last season?

I think that it would be terrific to see that. They’ve kind of paid their dues over the four years, and for them to step forward and be leaders for us—we expect it, and it would be a terrific boost for our team.

Last year you had Ryan [Fitzgerald] and Austin [Cangelosi] on the same line together, are you going to try and keep them together this year?

We’re going to start off that way for sure. Like I said, it’s a little bit fluid, so as we get game situations, we’ll look at that. But I think those two, they’ve had some chemistry, so it would be kind of neat.

Are you keeping Ryan on the wing? Or moving him to the middle?

No, moving him to center. Austin on the right, and right now we have a freshman, Zach Sanford, on that left side.

As far as the defense goes, are you doing what you did last year, you know like Matheson with Scott [Savage]?

We’ll be mixing and matching a lot early in the season.

We’ve got five veterans back, and we’ve got Travis Jeke trying to get into the lineup with Peter McMullen, and we have a freshman, Noah Hanifin, who will certainly play an awful lot for us this year.

Obviously there’s been a ton of hype on Noah, how game ready would you say he is?

Still with the context that he’s 17 years old.

That’s crazy. It’s really unusual, he might be the youngest freshman in the school, he turns 18 in I think January. But I think he’s really shown the qualities we expected. He skates very well, he’s got good size, he anticipated the plays very well. But it’s still going to be a learning process given his age and the jump year. He’ll probably play in the first exhibition game—and Lowell too—some 25-year-old players. That’s gonna be a heck of an environment, I think they’ll be out looking for revenge. They’ll be eight years older, some of those guys.

The narrative going around now is you know, last year, best offense in the country, this year—obviously you gotta play the games—but poised to be one of the best defenses in the country. Do you see that happening, or what kind of balance are you expecting?

As we look at it, we think we’re going to be very solid there. Last year, we benefited from a terrific offense because we had the puck an awful lot. It’s easier to play defense for 15 seconds a shift rather than 45 seconds a shift because we’d have the puck down in the other end. But I think—they’re not veterans cause Santini, McCoshen, and Savage are still young kids, sophomores, but I think that they have a whole year under their belt, so we’re expecting them to be pretty solid this year. So, our depth is certainly on defense.

But on the flip side, are you concerned about offensive depth at all?

The bash brothers BC’s two most bruising blue liners, Ian McCoshen (No. 3) and Steve Santini (No. 6) return more seasoned and stronger than ever for their sophomore campaigns. At 6-foot-3, 218 pounds and 6-foot-2, 208 pounds, respectively, McCoshen and Santini will undoubtedly supply a lot of muscle for one of the highest-quality defensive units in the nation.

The super line is gone, but with expectations as high as ever, jerry york’s team is focused on the future.

We feel that we have the potential to become a better offensive team as the year goes on, but we’re going to have certainly different roles for our players. All of a sudden, they’re going to step into power plays, they’re going to step into 4-on-4s that maybe Johnny, Kevin, and Billy Arnold, and Patrick Brown had last year. So, it will be a learning curve for those group of forwards, but if we can ever get production from Sit’s line, that would really help us.

I won’t hold you too much longer, can I just grab one more question—just two more questions, I promise. Any injury concerns as of now?

We’re getting ready for New Brunswick—like Bill Belichick said, we’re getting ready for Cincinnati.

Did you hear his press conference? Oh, you gotta hear it, every question was, “Oh, we’re getting ready for Cincinnati.”

Speaking of Gaudreau, how much are you expecting to see from Matt this year?

I think he showed flashes last year that he can play at this level. He’s right in our top four lines now.

But, I want to save him from any comparisons to the brother, that’s not fair to anybody.

Didn’t he answer Cincinnati like five times?

Yeah. But what was your question?

Yeah, no, that’s tough. As of now, what would you say you think your biggest strength is heading into the season?

Talking to the captains, terrific team—(Asst. Coach Greg Brown declares that it’s “coaching,” from the other side of the room)—there’s been terrific team unity early in the season, so I think that’s gotta be a strength for us. But I think that blue line back is right now our strength, and we’ll build on that.

Most of us talk—coaches in all sports—it’s the Celtics or Bruins or Patriots, good defense is going to propel you a very long way. I think defensively we feel very, very solid—now we’ve got to find some offense.

Yeah, and I guess kind of transitioning to special teams a little bit if you want to talk about that, do you see Noah hopping right in on maybe that second power play?

He’ll have power play time for sure. Greg Brown runs our power play units, so he’ll watch. Right now he’s looking at a lot of different combinations, because who really knows what it’s going to be like in November or January. But right now, we’re looking to get some cohesiveness and hopefully get two units right now.

Any injury concerns as of now?

Right now, just Brendan Silk has a concussion, so we’re waiting to see if he can be eligible or not.

Last question, who and what are you most excited to see out there?

I think what’s exciting me the most is just the enthusiasm of our players. They’re actually running down to the rink to practice. They want to chase trophies, and that’s terrific for all of us.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for clarity. 

history hit

On the first one, you think Matheson on point?

Right now, we’ve got two pretty good units. We haven’t gone to our five best players and put them on one unit. Right now, Noah’s playing with Mike Matheson, and we’ve got Teddy Doherty with McCoshen. But, Scott Savage could get in that group also. From those five will probably come the four defenseman.

And we saw back in Philly, Santini can rip one from pretty far out.

Yes, he can, yeah.

I remember that shot.

(Chuckles) Yeah, that was a good shot.

You’ve got three freshmen this year, but a lot of sophomores. So, that balance is toward the younger part of the team. And, with a senior class that, aside from Johnny, was a pretty quiet senior class, how much do you think you need them to step up as leaders this year?

Oh, I think we depend on that upper core of guys. We have seven seniors, and whether it’s Barone or Billett, from goaltenders to forwards, we need them to really be key guys for us. Nine sophomores, that’s a big class.

I remember last year it was the most freshmen in the country, but they grow up. And how important is it for you guys that Matheson decided to stay this year?

Well, it’s a big plus for us. He analyzed it and made I think the correct decision as far as getting his academics in order, and also his hockey in order. So, I think he made a really good, well-educated decision. You can never leave too late. You can leave too early, but not too late.

And then on the flip side, you can leave real early, like Sonny. That caught you guys pretty late.

That’s late August when he decommits, how bad does that hurt you guys?

Well, you know, it surprised us because we thought he was committed to our program. But that’s water over the dam, and we proceed. It was gonna be a small class anyway, whether it’s three or four, it was still going to be a small class.

Did you try to accelerate any other forwards at that point?

No, I thought it was too late to do that. Looking at that senior class, you know, Danny Linell—those guys can step forward a little bit for us.

Heading into his 21st season at the helm of the Boston College men’s hockey team, Jerry York boasts the all-time winningest record in college hockey with 963 wins. York’s won four national championships at BC, in 2001, 2008, 2010, and most recently, in 2012. In the two seasons since BC’s last title, York’s guided the Eagles to the postseason both times, and last season, the Eagles fell 5-4 to the eventual winner, Union College, in the Frozen Four. Returning an all-star caliber blue line and a prodigal goaltender but suffering the loss of a Hobey Baker winner and most dangerous line in the nation, York’s challenge is to keep BC’s momentum going and find point scorers quickly.

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HOCKEY PREVIEW FEATURE

THE HEIGHTS| OCT. 9, 2014

marly morgus assoc. sports editor

2014 Men’s Hockey

Taking The Lead Michael matheson brings Confidence and consistency to his role as captain

While talking with Michael Matheson, it’s unlikely that you’re going to get very excited very quickly. He admits it freely.

“I’m not exactly … ” he said, laughing, “ … I mean, I have a really boring monotone voice, so nobody’s going to get fired up when I’m talking.”

And yet somehow this guy with a—to use his own words—boring monotone voice, wears the “C” on his chest heading into the Boston College men’s hockey team’s 2014-15 season. It turns out, there are more important things than a commanding verbal presence when it comes to leading a team. ___________ Matheson has been on skates since before he can remember, growing up in Quebec with a sheet of ice laid in his back yard every winter.

“It’s an everyday way that you act—just the way you act consistently, because that’s what makes true leaders.”

“It’s always been hockey,” he said. “From the moment I could walk, I was on skates and stick handling in the back yard.”

As a kid, he watched Saku Koivu, a Montreal center who played for the Habs from 1995 until 2008. While he loved watching dynamic forwards like Koivu, as Matheson matured, his focus began to shift.

“Koivu was a big idol in our house,” Matheson said.

“He was the captain in Montreal, so we really like him.

I’ve always really idolized [Sydney] Crosby, and as I’ve gotten older and gotten to know the actual game better, I started to watch defensemen and model my game after them and see what they do. So I like watching, well I used to like watching Nick Lindstrom before he retired, and Kris Letang, too.”

Through his NHL heroes, he saw the strong skating and smart puck movement—skills that, as a defenseman, he is constantly seeking to improve.

When it came time for Matheson to pick a college program, he went from visit to visit—five in a row. He was unfamiliar with American schools, and each program looking more impressive than the last. When Matheson reached BC, though, he knew that it would be the right fit because of the people he encountered, both future teammates and coaches.

What made BC’s coaching staff so right for Matheson is a characteristic that he speaks of pervasively, no matter what question you ask him.

“It’s something that Coach York talks about every single day, just working on your craft and trying to get better, so if you do that, you’re going to have a lot of success,” he said.

Two sentiments ring through from Matheson’s description of York’s coaching style. First, there is the element of

Despite being one of the best defensemen on the team, Matheson is not a one-trick pony—he’s one of the most creative players on the team and possesses a blistering slap shot. Matheson’s presence has been vital in all aspects of BC’s game.

hard work. Then, there is consistency. _____________ As happens with almost any sophomore selected in the NHL Draft and capable of an NHL career, last year there was a large amount of uncertainty buzzing around whether or not Matheson would return for his third season at BC. When asked the question, though, his answer flows easily.

“I just didn’t see the point in rushing, really,” he said.

“One of the big things that I figured is if I’m able to make the jump to the NHL, I want to be completely ready so I can have an impact and I can stay there. I think that I’ll benefit a lot from coming back here for another year and working on my craft where I’m in an environment that I’m used to, and a bit of a slower pace where I can work on the things that I still need to get better at.”

Despite the roughly 18 years of hockey under his belt, Matheson can still nail down a couple of key aspects of his game that need to develop more before he makes the next step. They are the skills that he admired in players like Letang and Lindstrom, especially the presence of mind to make better game-time decisions. Matheson’s still dedicated to putting in the work every day, just as York says, to help his team and give him a better chance at building a successful career when it comes time to leave BC. “I’ll get caught trying to do too much once in a while,” Matheson said. “And if you do that at a higher level you’ll be in big trouble, so I think I’ll benefit from being here and working on that to, I wouldn’t say perfect that area because nobody’s perfect, but get better in it so once I try to make that jump I’ll be more successful.”

What that comes down to is being more mindful of the ice—seeing which plays are worth the risk and which aren’t.

“I’d have the puck sometimes and I’d see someone who was a little bit open and try to get it to them,” he said.

“It would come into a balance of high risk, high reward.

If you try to make that play and it works one time but the other nine it goes down the other way it’s really not that useful.”

Having made the decision to return to BC for at least one more season, Matheson was credited with what he expressed as “a cherry on top of all of it”—the cherry being the captaincy. While he was already grateful for the opportunity to simply attend BC and make an impact on the team, it meant even more that his peers saw him as someone to look to for leadership. ___________

jokes by, for instance, pressing their faces up against the glass while their captain is being interviewed, Matheson is more likely to—and in fact did—let out a chuckle and throw back a goodnatured quip about maturity than to be the one making the first goofy move. He acknowledges that his teammates most likely see him as a more serious figure.

“I’m just always kind of focused,” he said. “And I’m really dedicated to hockey and to school and I try to work hard in every aspect of my life so I think guys kind of see me as the serious guy.”

Matheson isn’t about to up and become a wild jokester just to get his teammates to think of him as a lighter character in his new role. Why? By now, you should have already gotten it: Consistency.

To Matheson, a leader is not somebody who is given a position, and then steps up only at that moment in a completely new way, altering his persona and how he acts in order to fill a role. It’s fake. It’s becoming something that you’re not, and that’s not the right example to set. True to this idea, he doesn’t see a huge change in how he has been acting in his new position from how he acted before the “C” was sewed onto the No. 5 jersey.

“Obviously when I was a freshman I was a lot more quiet,” Matheson said. “But I think that’s what people respect in a leader, is somebody that just stays the same and is always the same personality that they would be regardless of if they have a letter on their jersey or not.”

Like captains before him, Matheson has the added support of a network of captains, especially Tommy Cross, Pat Mullane, and Patrick Brown—the three before him—to look to for advice. Before the last school year even ended, the three alumni were contacting him and meeting with him, helping him gain an understanding of what to expect.

The message that came through most clearly was a simple one. Things aren’t always going to be great, and that’s when leadership becomes the most vital. In Matheson’s case, that means being the calm face when things are 2014 looking down, and setting the precedent that, if he can be calm and confident, so can everyone else. Hockey Men’s _________ Yes, the kid with the boring, flat voice is the one that his peers chose to lead BC’s hockey team this year, and when he speaks, he justifies their decision. He’s calm, collected, mature, and consistent. He hopes to exhibit leadership not by making big changes and stepping up only when he is desperately needed, but by being the same person every time he steps on the ice, into the locker room, or in a meeting.

Consistency does not mean that one remains stagnant. Rather, in Matheson’s case, it means a constant growth trajectory. And that, monotone as it may sound, is exciting. 

[]

But hold on a minute—this is still the guy with the monotone voice, right? When it comes down to it, even that boring voice makes sense when it comes down to defining the type of leader Matheson is—a consistent one.

Take the consistency in his steady, calm, slightly invariable voice and put it on the ice, and you have a solid, dependable leader.

“I don’t think there is one specific thing that makes you a leader,” Matheson said. “It’s an everyday way that you act—just the way you act consistently, because that’s what makes true leaders. It’s not the people that rise when it’s a big situation then you don’t see them if its not. It’s the people that, on a day like today, they come down and they work as hard as they can, they’re ready for practice, and you just give that hundred percent effort every time that they go on the ice, they go in the gym, they’re in a meeting going over video, just that consistency.”

In his words you can find a maturity developed through years of work towards betterment in an area that he loves.

While other players may take every opportunity to make

Matheson fact sheet

Two tournaments, and two trophies. Matheson is undefeated in Beanpot play.

The Florida Panthers took Matheson in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft with pick No. 23.

23

RD

Remarkably consistent, Matheson’s missed just four of a possible 78 games over the last two seasons.

Establishing the trend of red-haired captains, Matheson will wear the “C” this season.

3/1/13- Two assists and one goal at Providence

10/18/13Plus-7 rating in BC’s rout of Wisconcin.

As the team’s leading returning scorer, Matheson’s collected 46 points in two years.

1/10/14Three assists in 5-2 win over the Friars.

Career highs

By deciding to defer turning professional with the Florida Panthers for at least another season, Matheson may have turned the Eagles’ defense from a very solid blue line into a contender for the country’s top defensive unit.

HOCKEY PREVIEW WOMEN’S HOCKEY

THE HEIGHTS| OCT. 9, 2014 7

back for the banner tommy meloro | Heights staff

Hockey is a game of transitions. Transitioning from offense to defense, from defense back to offense, transitioning into new teams, new schemes, even transitioning mindsets as a game progresses. Over the last year or so, Boston College forward Alex Carpenter has gone through two huge transitions off the ice, but she’s handled them with the same grace, fluidity, and power she’s constantly shown on the ice as well.

Carpenter has a steely look in her eye as she sits across the table and talks about Sochi. It’s clear that she still hasn’t forgotten that feeling, that she maybe won’t ever forget the weight of a silver medal hanging around her neck, watching the Canadian flag being raised up to the rafters and listening to the Canadian national anthem ringing throughout the Bolshoy Ice Dome in Russia.

“It was definitely a disappointment, we thought we had it there,” Carpenter said.

“We say that we didn’t train all these years for a silver medal. We didn’t win the silver medal, we lost the gold.”

Just over three weeks after Canada completed its comeback, dashing the United States’ hopes of winning gold, the Boston College women’s hockey team also came up just short of achieving its goal of adding a star to the backs of its jerseys. The Eagles made the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Clarkson, the eventual National Champions, in Potsdam, N.Y. by a score of 3-1.

At one point in the second period of the gold medal game, Carpenter came around the backside of the goal unguarded, taking advantage of Canadian defender Tara Watchtorn’s perch in the penalty box.

Carpenter’s linemate Hilary Knight slid the puck through a defender’s legs, across the crease, right onto the tape of Carpenter’s stick. All she had to do was beat Canada’s goalie Shannon Szabados. She’d done it time and again with BC, and she wasn’t going to miss here, not on the world’s biggest stage. She slammed the puck home for an emphatic 2-0 lead.

“I just thought ‘Wow, we’re up 2-0, this is it, we’re gonna win,’” Carpenter said, a wistful smile briefly lighting up her face. “It was a very exciting moment for myself personally, but for our team I think it was as well.”

Carpenter was just 19 years old and playing in the Olympics, an incredible experience for someone just halfway through college—even more amazing were the four goals and the assist she tallied in five games.

After a silver medal at the olympics, Alex Carpenter is back and looking to finally raise a Banner.

2014 woMen’s Hockey EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Leaving Team USA—temporarily, at least—and returning to BC, Carpenter lines up to a familiar face on the ice—fellow forward Hayley Skarupa.

“It’s been really easy, you know, we played together even before we got to BC [with the] USA U-18 team and we played together my sophomore year here,” Carpenter said. “We kind of know where each other are on the ice all the time, and then we have Kristyn Capizzano with us, and our line is coming together nicely.”

When Carpenter joined the U.S. Olympic team, the first six months of her year were spent training all day every day at their team hub, which was located near Boston. Carpenter took advantage of her close proximity to BC to stay a part of the Eagles.

“From what I saw and what I’ve heard, we have got a great group coming back, so I’m excited to finally mesh with this group,” Carpenter said.

“It was different having to sit in the stands and not be able to go out there and help them win, but I’m excited to be back.”

Carpenter attributes this close contact with BC to her easy transition back to being an Eagle. Instead of needing to meet two new classes of players, Carpenter was already familiar with this year’s sophomores

first line

before coming back on campus.

“It was pretty easy to come back and meet all the new freshmen,” Carpenter said.

“A couple of them are local, [and] a couple of them were involved with USA Under-18 team. We were acquaintances before, so I think it was pretty easy to come in and mesh with everybody.”

After BC’s 10-2 dismantling of the Syracuse Orange in its season opener, it’s hard to argue with her statement.

Carpenter scored twice and assisted on two goals, one for Skarupa and one for Capizzano, amassing four points in her first game with the Eagles since March 22, 2013. BC head coach Katie King Crowley was positively thrilled to have Carpenter back on the front lines, but, in typical fashion, was still able to point out room for improvement.

“You know, it’s kinda getting back to college hockey. It’s definitely different when you come back, and I think she’s doing a great job,” Crowley said. “There were some times where I thought she passed when she should’ve shot and a few times where she was trying to make that extra play, but she’s obviously a great player.

We’re happy we have her back, and she’ll be a threat wherever she is on the ice.”

Second line

Carpenter may have been able to ease on back into the Eagles lineup with minimal problems, but even she admits it’s been a little bit harder for her to transition back into the student portion of being a student-athlete.

“That was tough—it’s still pretty tough,” Carpenter said. “Last year at this time I wasn’t doing too much, I was just training, off-ice training, on-ice training, so it’s definitely a challenge to come back and know you have homework due every day, and sitting in class for a couple hours is kinda tough on me, but I’m getting used to it.”

While transitioning back from training to school hasn’t been easy, both Carpenter and Crowley are confident that she benefited and improved in a big way thanks to her time with the national team—training every day and playing the top competition in the world will do that for a 19-year-old.

“I think she’s stronger, quicker, and everything else, I mean she’s still one of the most intense players that you’ll ever come across,” Crowley said. “Being a player who just works out and plays hockey is a pretty cool experience to have, and she took full advantage of that and has certainly gotten stronger and faster, when you don’t even

Third line

think that she can.”

Carpenter agreed with her coach, citing her improved speed. “I definitely have been told by numerous people that I had to get quicker, and I think I really worked on that last year and I think that separates me from a lot of other players now,” she said. “I think I’ve gotten a lot quicker with and without the puck.”

Spending a year away from a team, especially a college team where players have a limited timespan to play, can make a team look different. Carpenter acknowledges that this incarnation of the Eagles isn’t the same one that she left a year and a half ago. She doesn’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing, though.

“I think we have a lot more depth this year, I think we can have four solid lines, and we have five solid defensemen and three goalies vying for a spot, so I think that we have that good mix of older veterans and rookies who are going to mesh together very nicely,” Carpenter said.

When Alex Carpenter talks, it’s almost always in an even, matter-of-fact tone. It’s in Carpenter’s nature to take care of her own business first, to control what she can control, and to not concern herself with things that escape her control. Whether it was talking about her experiences with the U.S. Olympic team, her transition back to the Eagles, or her personal goals for the year, Carpenter was all business.

That type of attitude doubtlessly helped keep Carpenter’s transitions over the past year smoother than they could’ve been.

When Carpenter was with the Olympic Team, her mind was completely focused on Sochi. Now that she’s back at Chestnut Hill full time, Carpenter is completely on winning with BC. “I definitely think this team does [have what it takes to win the National Championship] just from looking at our team from all of preseason,” Carpenter said. “I really see a special group with these girls, and I think if we keep getting better week by week, month by month, we’re gonna get to where we wanna go.”

Hockey is a transition game, and if Carpenter’s switch back to college hockey keeps going as smoothly as it’s been so far, it’s no stretch to think that the Eagles could be wearing jerseys with a star on the back in a year. This time, after the final whistle, Carpenter doesn’t want to be the one looking at someone else’s banner being raised.

She wants someone else to be looking at her team’s banner being raised. 

Fourth line

Kristyn Capizzano

Emily Field

Kenzie Kent

Kate Leary

7

15

12

28

Games: 38 Points: 29

Sophomore Height: 5’2”

Games: 112 Points: 110

Senior Height: 5’6”

Games: 1 Points: 1

Freshman Height: 5’6”

Games: 74 Points: 54

Senior Height: 5’2”

Alex Carpenter

Dana Trivigno

Andie Anastos

Danielle Doherty

5

8

23

19

Games: 73 Points: 123

Junior Height: 5’6”

Games: 71 Points: 59

Junior Height: 5’5”

Games: 38 Points: 35

Sophomore Height: 5’8”

Graduate Student Games: 76 Points: 14 Height: 5’4”

Haley Skarupa

Tori Sullivan

Haley McLean

Meghan Grieves

22

9

13

17

Games: 67 Points: 97

Junior Height: 5’6”

Freshman Height: 5’5”

Games: 1 Points: 0

Games: 1 Points: 1

Sophomore Height: 5’1”

defensive pairings

goaltenders

Emily Pfalzer

Toni Ann Miano

Kali Flanagan

14

18

10

Games: 112 Points: 66

Senior Height: 5’2”

Games: 73 Points: 9

Junior Height: 5’8”

Games: 1 Points: 0

Freshman Height: 5’4”

Games: 1 Points: 1

Freshman Height: 5’5”

Katie Burt Freshman Height: 5’6” Games: 1

33 Gabriella Switaj

32

Junior Height: 5’8”

Lexi Bender

Megan Keller

Erin Kickham

21

4

3

Games: 75 Points: 36

Freshman Height: 5’10”

Games: 1 Points: 0

Senior Height: 5’5”

Taylor Blake

35 Games: 44 Points: 0

Junior Height: 5’7” Games: 1

Freshman Height: 5’3” Games: 0

8

THE HEIGHTS| OCT. 9, 2014

HOCKEY PREVIEW FEATURE

new kid

in town 2014 Men’s Hockey

michael hoff | Heights staff Noah Hanifin shouldn’t be here. Kids his age roaming college campuses this time of year are on tours, embarrassed by their parents’ questions and worried about their last round of SATs on Saturday. But if Hanifin, Boston College men’s hockey’s 17-year-old freshman defenseman, is worried about anything Friday night, it’ll be about stopping a UMass Lowell squad featuring players up to seven years his senior.

Hanifin is used to being an exception. The Norwood, Mass. native made the varsity team at his high school, St. Sebastian’s, in eighth grade and left the school after his sophomore year to play for the U-17 U.S. National Development Team in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A few months after his 17th birthday, he got called up to play in the U-18 World Championships in April. Now he’s a 1997 birthday in a freshman class of ’95 and ’96 birthdays.

Exceptions cease to be exceptional if they keep happening. In fact, Hanifin isn’t that special amongst his peers. An atypical, accelerated path is standard operating procedure for a prospect of Hanifin’s caliber. NHL.com draft guru Mike Morreale said that Hanifin, a consensus top-five projected pick in June’s loaded 2015 draft, possesses the ceiling of a possible future Norris Trophy candidate—the trophy given to the best defenseman in the NHL. Jack Eichel, a 17-year-old freshman at Boston University and another projected top-five pick, spent last season with the USNDT. BC sophomore goalie Thatcher Demko was 17 when last season began after spending a season out in Michigan, too.

“I talk to Thatcher a lot about it,” Hanifin said. “You gotta play with confidence. Thatcher tells me you gotta know [that] you’re here for a reason. Just like last year, Thatcher was an under-ager and he was a starting goalie. You just gotta be confident and know [that] you’re here for a reason.”

Hanifin is here to produce. From practice and exhibition observations, Hanifin will be partnered with sophomore Steven Santini to start the season.

Santini, the Eagles’ best defensive zone player, often matches up against opponents’ top scoring lines. Those tough assignments, along with the regular power play time that Hanifin received in the exhibition versus University of New Brunswick, indicate the trust and expectations placed in one of the most premier recruits York has landed.

At 6-foot-3, 205 pounds, Hanifin is noticeably beefed-up from his St. Sebastian’s days. He thinks he’s ready, but he wouldn’t have been if he didn’t spend the year in Michigan. “Definitely not,” Hanfiin said. “Skill-wise, I just developed as a whole, playing with some of the best players in the country every day, going to battle with them every day—that just helps your skills naturally.

But I think I made [a bigger jump] off the ice, in the gym. In the development program, we lift four days a week—it’s a lot more intense than a college program. We just do so much training out there. It’s really hard, but I think I got a lot stronger.”

While preparing to shut down Eichel, Maine’s Devin Shore, and other frontline forwards in Hockey East, Hanifin doesn’t have much time to think about what he could be doing in an alternate, quieter life. But even a fast-tracked

prodigy catches himself pondering what life would be like as a normal senior in high school.

“I do think about that,” he said. “I miss [St. Sebastian’s] a lot. But hockey’s one of those sports where you gotta make sacrifices. It’s not like football or basketball where you can just play high school and college. If you really want to play hockey for a living, then you gotta go places early, move away, stuff like that. I think about it sometimes, but it’s nice that I’m not far away.”

So far, those sacrifices have paid off in full, and Hanifin can accelerate that progress this year at Conte Forum. In just over a month since he arrived on campus, the youngest player in program

history understands why York’s program is in contention annually.

“The coaches have really positive expectations,” Hanifin said. “Even though haven’t had a lot of practice, coaches expect players to be ready to go every single day. You have to be prepared for the season, even though we don’t get a lot of time to practice as a team, so it’s pretty incredible how well prepared the players are, how ready we are for the season and we haven’t had much time to work together. So it’s pretty cool, the training, everything’s very serious. It’s a school where they want to win national championships, and that’s driven into all the players’ heads: you’re here and you’re expected to win

championships.”

The preferred style of those coaches meshes with their only freshman defenseman. Hanifin’s skating ability is the most impressive thing about his game, and it would be even if he wasn’t 6-foot2 and 200 pounds. He can chase down smaller, quicker forwards and also lead the offensive rush. In York’s fast-paced system, all players need to be capable of skating and pushing the play, and they won’t waste a player that loves to, and can do, just that from the back end. “[Hanifin] is a very smart skater,” Morreale said in an email. “The thing I like is that he has that offensive upside ability to push the play, but does a good job at understanding how to control

“I talk to Thatcher a lot about it. You gotta play with confIdence. Thatcher tells me you gotta know [that] you’re here for a reason. Just like last year, Thatcher was an under-ager and he was a starting goalie. You just gotta be confIdent and know [that] you’re here for a reason.”

JOHN QUACKENBOS / BC ATHLETICS

EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

it and when to let the play go away from him and move it up to whoever is open.”

“Especially being an offensive defenseman, [associate head] coach [Greg] Brown gives me a lot of confidence to play my game,” Hanifin said. “They don’t play set back at all, they want defensemen up in the play, they want to play with the puck, they don’t want to be playing defense at all. It’s nice being part of a team that likes to thrive off the offensive game. I like to play at a fast pace.”

Brown, a former BC, minor league and NHL blue liner who liked to jump up into the play himself and whom now coaches the BC defensemen, is already a catalyst to his new pupil’s development.

In an observed practice, Brown was conducting an offensive zone faceoff drill when the puck was won back to Hanifin at the point. Hanifin didn’t execute his assignment, and Brown stopped the drill to get in Hanifin’s ear.

“We just played similar styles. When he played he was an offensive defenseman, so his knowledge of little habits of the game from a defenseman standpoint is so good, so important, so I listen to what he has to say,” Hanifin said. “I haven’t been here a long time and I’ve already learned a lot from him. Little keys that can help me when I’m playing against older guys and stronger guys and stuff, more physical guys. He just really helps me a lot because we played a similar type game.”

Hanifin is aware and composed for a 17-year-old, far from surprising for a figure known on the continental hockey landscape for a disproportionate fraction of his life.

While effusive in his praise of his coaches and teammates, he knows what needs to be improved upon if he wants to ascend at a continuous rate.

The margins in all aspects of the game shrink as the level of competition rises, and Hanifin is focused on making sure he can get his shot through from the point as the bodies gets bigger and the shooting lanes shrink. And he’s not just thinking about Hockey East or the Beanpot.

“My shot is something I really want to work on this year, because as your progress in the levels of hockey, it’s really important to work on your shot, especially as a defenseman, getting shots from the blue line, it gets harder and harder,” Hanifin explained.

“I come out here usually Tuesday and Thursday mornings and skate with Coach Brown, and I try to work on my shot a lot because it’s so vital at next levels.”

The draft looms. Every matchup with Eichel will be scrutinized from Boston to Saskatoon. Bob McKenzie, renowned TSN reporter and the Walter Cronkite of hockey, recently published a feature titled Hockey Fans Will Soon Know the Name Hanifin, which means that they probably know it. If they don’t, they have eight months to find out.

But the 17-year-old behind the name isn’t worried anything beyond the end of practice, let alone Lowell. After another failed turn in Brown’s drill, visibly frustrated with himself and Brown’s chirping, he finally fired the puck off the back end boards behind the goalie, intentionally wide, where he was supposed to put it. The drill was done, and practice was soon over, but not before a scrimmage. Hanifin’s team lost, and each member had to skate gassers as punishment—no exceptions. 