Photo credit: Matt Woolverton
Q. As a
5th year player, you’ve taken advantage of
the NCAA’s
granting an extra year of eligibility following the Covid-shortened season.
What were the factors that led to your decision to return?
A. One
of the main factors was just the fact that we are returning a lot of great
players and have the potential to be a very good team this year. Also, not
being able to play in the Beanpot and having a sort of strange year last year
pulled me back as well. On top of that being able to participate in BU’s 100th
season was too good to turn down.
Q. Is there a special meaning for you to be captain
during the 100th
season of Terrier Hockey?
A. It
was great being the captain of this team last year and being able to represent
our program as Captain again in a year like this is an honor.
Q. While things are much closer to normal this season,
there still remain special protocols to be observed for the entire BU
community. What unique challenges do they present for you and the leadership
group and how did last season’s
experience help prepare the team?
A. I
don’t look at the situation as posing too many challenges for us. At this point
we are relatively used to the policies and it has become somewhat the norm for
us. But as you mentioned having that experience from last year helps a lot.
Q. How excited are you and your teammates about
playing in front of fans once again?
A. We
cannot wait for fans to be back and for us to be playing at Agganis again. We
had a good amount of fans in Walter Brown last weekend and the energy they
bring helps us out so much on the ice.
Q. Coach O’Connell
frequently talks about being a team that’s
hard to play against. What does it take to live up to that design and what can
leadership do to help achieve it? Photo credit Kyle Prudhomme
A. A
lot of it just comes from effort. When we are hard to play against we are
playing fast and physically, and just trying to make everything hard for the
other team.
Q. For the past two seasons, All-American David
Farrance played a key—and often dominant—role on the power play. With his
departure, will BU’s
approach to the man-advantage change?
A.
Obviously Dave was an unbelievable player for us who is tough to replace, but
we have a lot of guys that have stepped up and can bring a dynamic presence on
the power play. Dom Fensore has stepped into that 1st power-play role and done
a great job for us.
Q. With 17 forwards on the roster, how will
competition for playing time benefit the team at both ends of the ice?
A. It
makes every practice that much harder and competitive, which benefits everyone.
It's competitive for people to get in the lineup and makes it so you really have
to earn your ice time.
Q. After a few tough seasons with injuries, how are
you doing physically?
A. I
feel great, I had a good off-season with our new strength coach Ken Wittier and
am ready to go for the season.
Photo credit: Rich Gagnon
Q. New England Hockey Journal featured you in its list of "most
compelling Hockey East seniors.” What are your personal goals
for the season?
A.
Right now I’m just focusing on getting ready for our upcoming opener and doing
whatever I can to help our team be ready as well. Individually I'm looking to
have a great season, and I just want to continue to improve and grow my game.
Q. Finally, we always ask, which returning player(s)
do you expect to take a big step up and surprise Terrier fans this season?
A.
There’s so many I could name, and we are returning a lot of good players that
have gotten even better. Two players that were injured last year and who I
expect to have a great season are Ty Amonte and Ethan Phillips.