By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

Junior defenseman and captain Kevin Shattenkirk is expected to sign with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche within the next week, according to BU coach Jack Parker.

Shattenkirk finished this season with career highs in assists (22) and points (29). Those totals were good for second and fifth, respectively, on the team. However, Shattenkirk's defense regressed. Last season, he placed second in the country with a plus-28 rating, but that number dropped to minus-2 this season.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

In many ways, Luke Popko is a man of contrast. The senior forward often goes unnoticed by fans and media because of his unglamorous role as a defensive specialist, but his teammates recognize his importance to the team and look to him for guidance and leadership.

Off the ice, he’s incredibly relaxed, almost to the point of being lazy, but in practice, he’s one the most active and most vocal guys out there.

On the bench, he can appear totally uninterested in the game playing out in front of him, but once he hops over the boards, he flips on the intensity switch and goes full-bore until he returns to the bench 40 or 50 seconds later.

Read more at www.dailyfreepress.com.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

Boston University senior defenseman Eric Gryba signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Ottawa Senators on Monday and has been assigned to Binghamton of the American Hockey League, according to The Ottawa Citizen.

Gryba served as an assistant captain for the Terriers this season and finished the year with a career-high four goals and 10 points and a program record-tying 118 penalty minutes. The bruising blue-liner ended his college career with 22 points and a program record 354 penalty minutes.

Read more at www.dailyfreepress.com.

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

Zach Cohen, who just wrapped up his senior year with the Boston University men's hockey team, has signed an entry-level contract with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, according to Colorado's team web site.

Cohen will report to the team's AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters, where he'll be reunited with former BU associate head coach David Quinn.

Cohen led the Terriers this year with 15 goals, while also adding 10 assists for a total of 25 points. A year ago, Cohen broke out with 13 goals and five assists as BU skated to a national championship.

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

Well, that seems about right.

After a season marred by inconsistent play and disappointing results, the No. 20 Boston University men’s hockey team saw that season end Friday night by the No. 19 University of Maine in a 5-2 final.

The loss ousted the Terriers and sent Maine to the Hockey East Championship game Saturday night, where it lost to No. 4 Boston College, 7-6, in an overtime thriller.

Read more at www.dailyfreepress.com.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

“We weren’t ready to play.” “We weren’t hungry enough.” “We didn’t want it.”

Those were three of No. 20 Boston University men’s hockey coach Jack Parker’s most-used phrases in postgame press conferences this season. On any given night, there was a chance the Terriers were going to come out totally flat and have their opponent skate circles around them for 10, 20, maybe even a full 60 minutes.

It was only fitting that a molasses-slow start was exactly what doomed BU in its final game of the season, a 5-2 loss to the No. 19 University of Maine on Friday night in the Hockey East semifinals. At the end of the first period, the scoreboard read 2-0 Maine with shots favoring the Black Bears 18-5.

Read more at www.dailyfreepress.com.

By Scott McLaughlin

Junior forward Nick Bonino is expected to sign with the NHL's Anaheim Ducks and forgo his final year of eligibility, according to a source close to the team. He left for Anaheim on Saturday, the source said.

Bonino led the Terriers in points (38), assists (27) and plus/minus (+18) this season while serving as an assistant captain. His best season came as a sophomore when he registered 50 points on 18 goals and 32 assists to help lead BU to the 2009 national championship.

Bonino was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the sixth round (173rd overall) of the 2007 NHL Draft and had his rights traded to Anaheim in March 2009 as part of a deadline deal.

With all the games completed, we now know the 16 teams that will make the NCAA Tournament. Every other college hockey web site is attempting to predict what the bracket will look like, so I figured I'd take a stab at it myself. Here's what I have:

Ft. Wayne, Ind.
(1) Miami vs. (16) Alabama-Huntsville
(8) Bemidji State vs. (9) Yale

Albany, N.Y.
(2) Denver vs. (15) RIT
(7) Cornell vs. (10) Northern Michigan

St. Paul, Minn.
(3) Wisconsin vs. (14) Vermont
(6) St. Cloud State vs. (12) Michigan

Worcester, Mass.
(4) Boston College vs. (13) Alaska
(5) North Dakota vs. (11) New Hampshire

We'll see how close I come tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. when the field is announced on ESPN2.

Couple quick updates before we get to the juicy stuff:

-I'll be posting postgame videos from last night as soon as I wrap up this post. Sorry to be a bit behind schedule on that.

-We'll have a full recap with a pair of siders for you in the FreeP Monday morning, so be sure to look out for those.

-Lastly, just want to thank everybody for your readership all year. I know I speak for Scott and Cary when I say that we've had a blast getting you guys all the info we can. The live blogs have been a big success, and that's just as much a credit to you guys who flip to the page and follow along as it is to us. The best part of those things are the discussions we get to have, and I already can't wait for October to roll around to get back in The Greek and bring you guys the best coverage we're capable of.

All photos by Sarah Gordon/DFP Staff


All photos by U-Jin Lee/DFP Staff

(8) Vermont vs. (2) Boston College, 5 p.m.
(4) Maine vs. (3) Boston University, 8 p.m.


BU
Zach Cohen - Nick Bonino - Vinny Saponari
Chris Connolly - Wade Megan - Alex Chiasson
Joe Pereira - Luke Popko - Ryan Santana
Andrew Glass - Ross Gaudet - Kevin Gilroy

Colby Cohen - Kevin Shattenkirk
David Warsofsky - Eric Gryba
Sean Escobedo - Max Nicastro

Kieran Millan

Maine
Brian Flynn - Tanner House - Gustav Nyquist
Spencer Abbott - Robby Dee - David DeKastrozza
Adam Shemansky - Matt Mangene - Joey Diamond
Theo Andersson - Klas Leidermark - Kevin Swallow

Will O'Neill - Jeff Dimmen
Josh Van Dyk - Mike Cornell
Ryan Hegarty - Mark Nemec

Dave Wilson

By Scott McLaughlin and Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

Colby Cohen was the highlight for the Terriers at Thursday night's Hockey East awards banquet. The junior defenseman was named to the conference's First Team after tallying 11 goals and 15 assists in league play this season. His 26 points were the most by any Hockey East defenseman in conference games.

Freshman defenseman Max Nicastro was honored as a member of the All-Rookie Team. His 13 points (3g, 10a) in league games were the second most by a rookie blue-liner. Junior forward Nick Bonino (7g, 17a) was an All-Conference Honorable Mention. Below is a list of all the teams and awards. All point totals for conference play only.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

The Boston University men’s hockey team will be heading to the TD Garden for the Hockey East semifinals for a record ninth straight season.

Junior forward Nick Bonino tallied a goal and two assists, junior defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk notched a goal and an assist, and sophomore goalie Kieran Millan made 34 saves as the Terriers shut out Merrimack College 3-0 in Sunday’s decisive Game 3.

“I thought we played great tonight from the get-go,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “Our real important guys really answered the call. Bonino played great tonight. Shattenkirk played great tonight. [Junior defenseman] Colby Cohen played great tonight. [Sophomore defenseman David] Warsofsky played great tonight. They all had tough nights last night, and they all bounced back and played great tonight. And our most important guy played great for the weekend, Kieran Millan.”

Read more at www.dailyfreepress.com.

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

During the first half of the season, sophomore goaltender Kieran Millan was at times a question mark for the Boston University men’s hockey team. This past weekend, however, Millan was the exclamation point, capping off a solid quarterfinals series with a shutout in last night’s 3-0 victory over Merrimack College.

Millan made 34 saves in the game and was part of a penalty kill that held the third-best power play in the nation coming in to 1-for-18 on the weekend.

“The shining light of the entire series was Kieran Millan and great, great penalty killing,” said BU coach Jack Parker.

Read more at www.dailyfreepress.com.

All photos by Sarah Gordon/DFP Staff

Some good stuff in here. Recommend at least watching through all of Parker's video to catch his description of Nicastro's injury.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

Merrimack College picked a good time to win its first game at Agganis Arena.

Boston University was 10-0-0 against the Warriors at The Greek entering Saturday night, but that perfect record was blemished when junior forward Joe Cucci’s shot hit the back of the net 2:16 into overtime to force a decisive Game 3 in the teams’ quarterfinal series.

After the Terriers (17-16-3) outshot the Warriors 41-28 in a 3-2 win Friday night, Merrimack (16-18-2) responded by outshooting BU 35-26 Saturday night.

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

The Boston University men’s hockey team came into Saturday night with a chance to knock off a budding rival at Agganis Arena.

Judging by BU coach Jack Parker’s assessment, you wouldn’t have known it based on the fire –– or lack thereof –– in the Terriers’ game in their 3-2 overtime loss to Merrimack College.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

Killing it

Merrimack came into Game 1 of its quarterfinals series against BU with the third-best power play in the country, converting on 22.9 percent of its man-up chance. But on Friday night, the Terrier penalty kill, which had been struggling of late, held the Warrior power play to an 0-for-6 showing.

In its last three games of the regular season, BU killed just 69.2 percent of its penalties (compared to 80.0 percent on the season). In its first postseason game, it kept Merrimack to just three shots on its first five chances. The Warriors broke through with four shots on their last power play of the game, but sophomore goalie Kieran Millan made several timely stops to preserve the 3-2 win.

By Jake Seiner, DFP Staff

Aided by a pair of goals from sophomore Vinny Saponari, the Boston University men’s hockey team knocked off Merrimack College in first-round Hockey East tournament action, 3-2.

The Terriers (17-15-3, 13-12-2 HE) also got a goal and an assist from David Warsofsky, while Merrimack (15-18-2, 12-13-2) got goals from senior Pat Kimball and sophomore Jeff Velleca.

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

As the hunt for playoff positioning put Hockey East through the spin cycle during the season’s final weeks, there was one team Boston University coach Jack Parker said he wouldn’t mind avoiding in the tournament’s first round –– Merrimack College.

As fate would have it, the third-seeded Terriers (16-15-3, 13-12-2 HE) drew the sixth-seeded Warriors (15-17-2, 12-13-2) for the first round, and will host Merrimack in a best of three series this weekend.

Merrimack is coming off a three-point weekend against Providence College that included a 5-0 win and a 1-1 tie. Merrimack’s special teams are a strength, having converted on 22.9 percent of their man-advantage chances while holding teams off the scoreboard minus a man 80.9 percent of the time.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

(1) New Hampshire (16-11-7, 15-6-6) vs.
(8) Vermont (15-12-7, 9-11-7)

We (The Daily Free Press) didn't have anyone at the game, but I did manage to convince my boss at NESN to let me write a recap after watching the game on tape delay. Here it is.

By Scott McLaughlin

The Terriers have landed their first recruit for the 2013 season. Matt Grzelcyk, a freshman defenseman at Belmont Hill School, has committed to BU, according to US Hockey Report.

The 16-year-old from Charlestown is a 5-foot-9 left shot. He has two goals and 18 assists in 31 games at Belmont Hill this season.

Grzelcyk was named the top defenseman in the U16 division at ProAm Hockey's 2009 Midget Fall Classic. US Hockey Report describes him as "agile, mobile, quick, highly skilled."

Belmont Hill has produced a slew of great hockey players. Bill and Bob Cleary won Olympic gold on the 1960 US men's hockey team, Mark and Scott Fusco each won a Hobey Baker Award at Harvard, and defensemen Paul Mara and Ian Moran are both currently in the NHL.

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

After a season of struggles for the Boston University men’s ice hockey team, it seems fitting that an unlikely third seed in the Hockey East tournament would be secured by an unlikely player.

Who was that unlikely star? None other than sophomore forward Kevin Gilroy, a player who had not seen much ice time all season. Yet it was still Gilroy who, late in the third period, found a puck after a faceoff and sent it past freshman netminder Chris Rawlings (38 saves) for his first goal of the season to give the Terriers a 4-3 win.

The Terriers (16-15-3, 13-12-2 HE), after securing a playoff spot in Friday night’s game, were playing for a chance at home ice and could have placed anywhere from the third seed to the eighth seed in the Hockey East Tournament after last night’s game. The Terriers also had a chance to knock Northeastern (16-16-2, 11-14-2) out of the playoffs entirely.

“I told the team that the only thing that was at stake tonight was to play a real good game going into the playoffs,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “Maybe we would get a 'W' and put Northeastern behind us. I didn’t know we’d put Northeastern out of the playoffs.”

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

Saturday night, sophomore forward Kevin Gilroy scored his first goal of the season, a wrister right off a faceoff that proved to be the game-winner in BU’s 4-3 win at Northeastern, and that proved to be the shot that clinched home ice in the Hockey East playoffs.

Friday night, Gilroy left in the first period of BU’s 5-4 win and was taken to the hospital with what was believed to be a cracked rib and possibly a punctured lung.

“I took a hit near the blue line on like the first shift of the game,” Gilroy said. “They thought I cracked a rib. I was spitting up a little bit of blood. Then they thought I punctured my lung. I went to the hospital for a little bit and it ended up being nothing.”

Still, there was no way Gilroy was going to play Saturday night. Coach Jack Parker already had his lineup set to go Saturday morning, and it didn’t include Gilroy.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

BU clinched a playoff spot with its 5-4 win over Northeastern on Friday night. However, it can still finish anywhere from third to eighth in the final standings. Heading into the final night of the regular season, here is what it will take for BU to finish in each of those six spots.

Third
BU will finish third if:
-BU wins, Maine loses and UML ties or loses.

Fourth
BU will finish fourth if:
-BU wins, Maine loses and UML wins.
or
-BU wins, UML ties or loses and Maine ties or wins.
or
-BU ties and UML loses.

Fifth
BU will finish fifth if:
-BU wins, Maine ties or wins and UML wins.
or
-BU ties and UML ties or wins.

Sixth
BU will finish sixth if:
-BU loses, Vermont ties or loses and Merrimack ties or loses.

Seventh
BU will finish seventh if:
-BU loses, Vermont wins and Merrimack loses.
or
-BU loses, Vermont ties or loses and Merrimack wins.

Eighth
BU will finish eighth if:
-BU loses, Vermont wins and Merrimack wins or ties.

Pretty sure I did that right, but if anyone sees a mistake, please let me know.

Edit: Just confirmed all this with Hockey East's Playoff Picture release, and I surprisingly got everything right. Maybe I'm not so bad with numbers after all.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

Sophomore forward Vinny Saponari secured the Terriers a spot in the Hockey East playoffs when he one-timed home a beautiful pass from junior defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk for the game-winning goal in BU’s 5-4 win over Northeastern at Agganis Arena on Friday night.

With less than 10 minutes remaining in the game, Shattenkirk carried the puck from the right halfwall toward the goal line before threading a pass through a slew of bodies to Saponari on the left side of the slot. The Georgia native didn’t get everything on the shot, but it was enough to get it by freshman goalie Chris Rawlings (28 saves).

“Somehow Shatty passed it through like four or five guys right on my tape,” Saponari said. “Luckily I got enough wood on it to make it by. It just squeaked in, so a little bit of luck there.”

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

For much of the season, sophomore Vinny Saponari has caught the ire of many in Terrier Nation for his failure to convert his teammate’s centering passes into one-time goals.

Saponari has been among Boston University’s best defensive players, and his ability to battle in the corners is second to very few in the NCAA. Even more, the first-line winger has developed into a solid power-forward, converting numerous rebounds into goals from atop the opponent’s crease.

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

With one weekend left in Hockey East’s regular season, you probably have a better chance tracking down Tiger Woods on a Friday night than trying to predict who will finish where as the conference tournament approaches.

Heading into a weekend set with Northeastern University, the Boston University men’s hockey team is no exception. The Terriers (14-15-3, 11-12-2 HE) could finish as high as third –– and earn home ice in the playoffs –– or fall one peg short of the playoffs by finishing in ninth.

Of course, if the ultimate goal is just to get in, the list of “things that have to happen” shortens considerably –– if the Terriers win one of their two games with the Huskies (16-14-2, 11-12-2), they’re at least going to be playing through next weekend.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

I'm not going to go through all the scenarios of where in the standings BU can finish because, quite frankly, there are way too many possibilities. However, here is what the Terriers need to do make the playoffs.

BU clinches a playoff spot by taking at least two points from Northeastern.

If BU only takes one point, it needs ONE of the following to happen:
-Maine to take at least one point from UMass.
-Providence to take at least two points from Merrimack.
-UMass-Lowell to sweep Vermont.
-Vermont to sweep UMass-Lowell.

If BU doesn't take any points, it needs ONE of the following to happen:
-Maine to take at least two points from UMass.
-Providence to take at least three points from Merrimack.

So, BU can clinch a playoff spot Friday night with ANY of the following:
-A BU win.
-A UMass loss.
-A BU tie and UMass tie.
-A BU tie and Merrimack loss.

BU can not be eliminated from the playoffs Friday night.

Either Friday night or Saturday morning, I'll post all the scenarios of where BU can finish heading into the final night of the season.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

BURLINGTON, VT.—Despite playing much better than it did Friday night, the No. 20 Boston University men’s hockey team left the University of Vermont with no points on the weekend following a 3-2 loss Sunday afternoon.

“I thought we played very hard and very smart for the most part,” said BU coach Jack Parker, who called his team’s 7-3 loss Friday “an embarrassing performance.” “We didn’t get what we wanted to get out of the game as far as a ‘W,’ but we’re back on track as far as the way we’re supposed to be playing hockey.”

Junior forward Josh Burrows scored the game-winner for the No. 18 Catamounts (15-11-6, 9-10-6 Hockey East) with 3:42 left in the contest. After senior defenseman Patrick Cullity took a big hit at center ice to move the puck, freshman forward David Pacan found Burrows in the left circle. He quickly snapped a shot that beat sophomore goalie Kieran Millan (17 saves) glove-side for his third goal of the weekend.

Read more at www.dailyfreepress.com.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

BURLINGTON, VT. –– The Boston University men’s hockey team completely controlled even-strength play for most of the first 40 minutes in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the University of Vermont, but the Catamounts won the special-teams battle and were able to hang in the game because of it.

Much like the Terriers’ lack of desperation was unexpected on Friday night, Sunday’s special-teams dominance by Vermont came out of nowhere. BU has Hockey East’s third-best special teams with a plus-9 net, while the Catamounts are tied for eighth with a minus-6 net.

Even though Vermont pounded BU 7-3 on Friday, special-teams play actually went as expected. The Terriers went a solid 2-for-6 on the power play and held the Catamounts to a 1-for-7 showing.

Sunday was a different story, though. BU went 0-for-4 with just two shots on the man advantage. Vermont, on the other hand, scored on each of its first two power plays and finished the game 2-for-3.

Read more at www.dailyfreepress.com.