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.
