We’re fully into Hockey East play now for the Boston College men’s hockey team, with the Eagles having played four conference games since the last time we took a look at how things were going. They started off by dropping both games of a home-and-home series with Northeastern before bouncing back and picking up two wins at Vermont this past weekend. There’s plenty to talk about as always with this team, so let’s dive in to some of what has stood out the most over the past few weekends of hockey.
INJURIES AT FORWARD PILING UP
The Eagles are only nine games into their season, but they’ve already suffered more than their fair share of injuries to key players, specifically at the forward position. Oskar Jellvik has been out since the third game of the season, Andre Gasseau has missed the last four, and Ryan Conmy left Saturday night’s game early on and didn’t return. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s three of the forwards that were listed in BC’s top six to start the season, and it’s having a real impact in the lineups that they are running out there on a nightly basis. Michael Hagens is a natural defenseman who is currently listed as the third line left wing and Will Traeger – a healthy scratch to start the season – has already played in seven games, just one away from his career high of eight from two seasons ago.
Against Vermont, BC was able to make due. The Eagles got seven goals from seven different skaters over the course of the weekend, including career firsts for Landan Resendes and Nolan Joyce. And overall, they’ve been playing some pretty good hockey in the past few weeks. They’ve outshot their opponents in all four Hockey East games to start conference play and they’ve cut down on some of the more egregious mistakes that they made against Denver and shored up their defensive play. But it’s going to be hard to keep that up if they don’t start getting some of their important players back as conference play continues on in the coming weeks and months. They’ve done a pretty decent job of staying afloat so far, let’s hope it’s not something that they need to do for a whole lot longer.
JAMES HAGENS LEADING THE WAY
One of the reasons that BC has been able to remain competitive despite some key injuries has been the play of James Hagens, who is currently the only player on the team at a point-per-game pace with three goals and six assists through the team’s nine games.
Let’s start with the obvious. Hagens is not as flashy and has not been as dominant as some of the first round picks that came before him. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t consistently playing good hockey and helping the team in a major way. Hagens has points in all but one of BC’s games this season and trails on Dean Letourneau (how good has he been?) in shots on goal. And he’s not just collecting cheap secondary assists or piling on the points when the games have been decided. Check out the pass he made to set up Landan Resendes for the game winner late in the third period on Friday night.
Right on the tape between two Vermont defenders and delivered into a window that lets Resendes turn it into a breakaway. That’s a heck of a play by Hagens, but it’s one that we’re getting to see more and more from him during his sophomore season. He might not have the eye popping totals of a Ryan Leonard or Gabe Perreault when the season ends, but he’s playing some darn good hockey right now and coming through when BC badly needs him to.
LOUKA CLOUTIER BOUNCES BACK
Louka Cloutier wasn’t amazing against Vermont this past weekend, but he didn’t really have to be with how BC played in front of him. The freshman goalie made both starts and looked good after a few shaky showings against Denver and Northeastern in his last two appearances. He stopped 29 of 30 in Friday night’s win before picking up his first collegiate shutout on Saturday with a 21 save performance. It was a nice way too boost his numbers a bit after they had taken a bit of a hit too, with his save percentage now back to a respectable .914. It’s also worth noting that he’s allowed two or fewer goals in five of his seven performances and only allowed three in his start against Northeastern. So really, it’s just the Denver game that has soured what has been a very solid start to his BC career.
Cloutier has started in seven of BC’s nine games, including the last three. It still wouldn’t shock me if we saw Jan Korec a few more times in the not too distant future, but it’s starting to feel more and more like Greg Brown has made his choice in net. The Eagles have some big tests coming in the next few weeks, with weekend series against UMass and Maine coming up, and Cloutier will almost certainly be the guy in net for the majority of those contests. It should be a good chance for the freshman netminder to continue proving himself as the team’s new #1 option.
