Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

[Bomber]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

Someone earler mentioned that Ruikka was a redshirt last year. Tough break on yet another injury.

So, I'm looking at my pocket schedule and wondering why Gryba is the cover-boy when it hits me. He wasn't a flight risk.

[bostonewe]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

*sigh* When should we expect the tickets to arrive? I'm already anticipating trouble in getting mine (moved since I ordered them).

[Beantown6]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

In 42 days, we will raise many banners

[Rogie21]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

Someone earler mentioned that Ruikka was a redshirt last year. Tough break on yet another injury.

So which of the forwards gets the Smolinsky crash course on playing defense? Hopefully one of them has some blueline experience. Ryan Monaghan played some defense a few seasons ago and during the 94-95 championship season, Ken Rausch moved back and played well on defense when there were a few injuries to regulars.

[candycanes99]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

So which of the forwards gets the Smolinsky crash course on playing defense? Hopefully one of them has some blueline experience. Ryan Monaghan played some defense a few seasons ago and during the 94-95 championship season, Ken Rausch moved back and played well on defense when there were a few injuries to regulars.

With Smolinsky and Monaghan, we had two players who weren't really regular forwards and could definitely use the practice time and become full-time extra Ds. Of our spare players this year, no one has as much NCAA experience as they did.

[Agganis]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

So which of the forwards gets the Smolinsky crash course on playing defense? Hopefully one of them has some blueline experience. Ryan Monaghan played some defense a few seasons ago and during the 94-95 championship season, Ken Rausch moved back and played well on defense when there were a few injuries to regulars.

As nice as it would be to have 8 D, I think the one of the main reasons Smolinsky moved over last year is once Ruikka was injured without Smolinsky the team would have only had 6 D. So since we still have 7 healthy D I'm not sure it is mandatory that a Forward converts to D. Especially since even after spending all season training as a D Parker seemed less than confident using Smolinsky on the Blue line in the QF's against Maine.

Also I really wouldn't want to convert a Freshman and out of the returnees only Popko is really defensive minded and as one of our best faceoff men he is unlikely to move. Besides Luke I suspect Glass and Kilroy would be the most apt at D, but should be fighting for a starting spot as a forward and it wouldn't benefit them or the program to move them to the 8th D spot.

[BUTerrierfan]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

As nice as it would be to have 8 D, I think the one of the main reasons Smolinsky moved over last year is once Ruikka was injured without Smolinsky the team would have only had 6 D. So since we still have 7 healthy D I'm not sure it is mandatory that a Forward converts to D. Especially since even after spending all season training as a D Parker seemed less than confident using Smolinsky on the Blue line in the QF's against Maine.

Also I really wouldn't want to convert a Freshman and out of the returnees only Popko is really defensive minded and as one of our best faceoff men he is unlikely to move. Besides Luke I suspect Glass and Kilroy would be the most apt at D, but should be fighting for a starting spot as a forward and it wouldn't benefit them or the program to move them to the 8th D spot.

I agree with Agganis, 8 D is a good number to have, but as long as there are 7 healthy d-men, no need to rush to convert a forward to d now. If there are injuries to other d men (or something else that occurs) taking the count of 7 down to 6 or below, then JP would need to move someone back... but not now (and hopefully not at all).

[slurpees]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

I agree with Agganis, 8 D is a good number to have, but as long as there are 7 healthy d-men, no need to rush to convert a forward to d now. If there are injuries to other d men (or something else that occurs) taking the count of 7 down to 6 or below, then JP would need to move someone back... but not now (and hopefully not at all).

Also agree - might be worth having one guy get a few reps with the defense, but unless the number of healthy dmen goes down to 6 (knock on wood) there's no reason to waste a forward away there.

[Rogie21]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

FWIW, the 2007-08 squad only had 7 Ds and Smolinsky began practicing at defense as well as forward around December. Gryba was injured in the 2nd QF against Lowell, so Smolinsky was the only sub available for the final two games.

BU will almost certainly be without Warsofsky for the Jan. 2 game vs. UMass b/c of the WJCs in Saskatchewan. Expect a forward to get some practice time on defense and I'd think there would be a few volunteers looking to become more versatile and have a shot at some ice time.

[candycanes99]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

FWIW, the 2007-08 squad only had 7 Ds and Smolinsky began practicing at defense as well as forward around December. Gryba was injured in the 2nd QF against Lowell, so Smolinsky was the only sub available for the final two games.

Didn't they have eight?

Strait-Gilroy
Cohen-Shattenkirk
McGoff-Gryba
Kielt-Monoghan

Of course, McGoff and Monoghan were F/Ds, and I don't know if Parker trusted Monoghan at that point in the season.

[Rogie21]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

Didn't they have eight?

Strait-Gilroy
Cohen-Shattenkirk
McGoff-Gryba
Kielt-Monoghan

Of course, McGoff and Monoghan were F/Ds, and I don't know if Parker trusted Monoghan at that point in the season.

That's right. Monaghan, who was a defenseman in prep school, played a few games on defense in one of his first two seasons.

[Agganis]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

FWIW, the 2007-08 squad only had 7 Ds and Smolinsky began practicing at defense as well as forward around December. Gryba was injured in the 2nd QF against Lowell, so Smolinsky was the only sub available for the final two games.

BU will almost certainly be without Warsofsky for the Jan. 2 game vs. UMass b/c of the WJCs in Saskatchewan. Expect a forward to get some practice time on defense and I'd think there would be a few volunteers looking to become more versatile and have a shot at some ice time.

Didn't they have eight?

Strait-Gilroy
Cohen-Shattenkirk
McGoff-Gryba
Kielt-Monoghan

Of course, McGoff and Monoghan were F/Ds, and I don't know if Parker trusted Monoghan at that point in the season.

Yes while that team may have had 8 defensemen, they only had about 5 that were D1 caliber. It would have been foolish for any Forward who wasn't getting ice time to not give D a shot to see if they would be able to crack the lineup as a defender.

This year's situation is much different as the team has four returning D who are all but guaranteed to start every game unless there is an injury or a random one game benching, or the one game Warsofsky will miss over break, and are all not just serviceable D1 players but also NHL draft picks, then you have Nicastro (NHL draft pick), Escobedo (likely NHL draft pick, who was too young to be taken in the previous draft) and Rosen (an older recruit who has spent three seasons in the USHL or EJHL). No forward who isn't getting ice time is going to be able to just switch over to D and have a realistic shot at cracking the top 6, unlike 07-08.

Also the team only has 15 Forwards, so while only 12 dress at any one time Parker almost always starts the season with some sort of rotation at 3rd or 4th line wing. So there would probably only be 1 or 2 forwards not getting game time, at least to start, and the last forward on the depth chart would probably do very little to add usable depth at D.

Should the number dwindle to 6 for any reason I would give one or two forwards the one week crash course at D, in case the number were to shrink again. Because in the event they are thrown into a meaningful game, like Smolinksy in the Quarterfinals, they will only really be playing about 3 shifts a period to give the other 5 rest, and it shouldn't take much more than 7 days of practices to be ready to play about 10 shifts of D.

[Beantownhitter]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

Should the number dwindle to 6 for any reason I would give one or two forwards the one week crash course at D, in case the number were to shrink again. Because in the event they are thrown into a meaningful game, like Smolinksy in the Quarterfinals, they will only really be playing about 3 shifts a period to give the other 5 rest, and it shouldn't take much more than 7 days of practices to be ready to play about 10 shifts of D.[/QUOTE]

I think you might be missing the larger issue here. It's difficult to hold a full practice every day without 8 D and expect those on the ice to go full speed. And if you think a "one week crash course at D" would prepare someone for even a few shifts a period in Hockey East then you're mistaken. Not when every game means so much. To say nothing of the fact that Jack P. would never stand for it!

[candycanes99]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

Yes while that team may have had 8 defensemen, they only had about 5 that were D1 caliber. It would have been foolish for any Forward who wasn't getting ice time to not give D a shot to see if they would be able to crack the lineup as a defender.

I disagree. McGoff and Kielt were very capable. Gryba wasn't quite there yet, but although it didn't come close to matching the talent of this year's D, they were still D1 caliber. Of course, the schemes they were using weren't great, and the play of the goaltenders made them look even worse than they were.

This year's situation is much different as the team has four returning D who are all but guaranteed to start every game unless there is an injury or a random one game benching, or the one game Warsofsky will miss over break, and are all not just serviceable D1 players but also NHL draft picks, then you have Nicastro (NHL draft pick), Escobedo (likely NHL draft pick, who was too young to be taken in the previous draft) and Rosen (an older recruit who has spent three seasons in the USHL or EJHL). No forward who isn't getting ice time is going to be able to just switch over to D and have a realistic shot at cracking the top 6, unlike 07-08.

Escobedo was eligible to be drafted this year. I do agree that no one would have a realistic shot of cracking the top six. Still, I believe there will be a forward who will be practicing at D quite a bit, and that player would still probably remember how to play forward. I wouldn't be surprised even if it was Popko. Yes, he's a crucial center, but he'd hopefully only need to be called on as emergency D a few times if at all, and would otherwise play his normal forward position.

Also the team only has 15 Forwards, so while only 12 dress at any one time Parker almost always starts the season with some sort of rotation at 3rd or 4th line wing. So there would probably only be 1 or 2 forwards not getting game time, at least to start, and the last forward on the depth chart would probably do very little to add usable depth at D.

This is also true, but guys will work hard to get into the lineup. We're not looking at someone who could play defense everyday for a national champion team. This is a spot start, limited minutes. I was surprised at the good things Smolinsky brought in a limited role this year.

Should the number dwindle to 6 for any reason I would give one or two forwards the one week crash course at D, in case the number were to shrink again. Because in the event they are thrown into a meaningful game, like Smolinksy in the Quarterfinals, they will only really be playing about 3 shifts a period to give the other 5 rest, and it shouldn't take much more than 7 days of practices to be ready to play about 10 shifts of D.

Agree with the other poster on this. Parker likely would go with 5 D before thinking a one-week crash course would suffice. I remember in the QFs he benched Smolinsky after his gaffe in front of the net.

[mwade]

Re: Official Boston University 2009-2010 Pre-season thread - Let the banners rise!

Good news - don't forget BC won the title w/ only 6 D for all but the very first game of the season.

Not good news - don't forget Cohen had surgery.