Boston College Hockey: Preview Of Season-Opener Against Wisconsin
(photo courtesy of BCeagles.com)
On June 21, 2019, 31 names were called in Vancouver during the first round of the NHL Entry Draft. Of that collection, five will be on the Conte Forum ice Friday night when Boston College and Wisconsin open their 2019-20 campaigns. In fact, all five were selected within the first 16 picks.
The Eagles much-talked-about freshman class includes Matt Boldy, selected 12th overall by the Minnesota Wild, and Alex Newhook, chosen 16th by the Colorado Avalanche, at forward. The two played on the second line, along with Graham McPhee, in BC’s exhibition game against New Brunswick last week and contributed to the third Eagles goal of the game. Newhook came away with a loose puck just inside the left circle and sent it across to Boldy for a one-timer.
The third of the three Eagles first-rounders, goalie Spencer Knight, was picked right after Boldy, 13th overall by the Florida Panthers. He played the first two periods of the New Brunswick game and turned away 20 of the 21 shots he faced, only allowing a nifty between-the-legs goal by Kris Bennett. As the highest-drafted goalie since Andrei Vasilevsky in 2012, Knight, despite being a true freshman, should start right away. He gives BC an immediate edge over other Hockey East schools like Boston University, Northeastern, and Providence that also lost NHL-caliber goalies over the offseason.
While the Eagles had three first round picks to Wisconsin’s two, the Badgers did land the highest-drafted player in 2019 to continue on to college in Alex Turcotte. The forward was take fifth overall by the Los Angeles Kings. As the second-line center on the USNTDP, behind first-overall pick Jack Hughes, Turcotte posted 62 points in 37 games during his 2018-19 season.
Joining Turcotte is fellow USNTDP player Cole Caufield. He is arguably the most talented player in the 2019 draft class outside of Hughes and Kaapo Kakko, but Caufield fell to the Montreal Canadiens at 15 due to concerns about his 5-foot-7 frame. After scoring 72 goals in 63 games for the US National Team and subsequently falling in the draft, Caufield should come to Wisconsin motivated to prove the doubters wrong. His goal-scoring prowess was on full display in the Badgers two preseason exhibition games against British Columbia last month. He scored the first goal in Wisconsin’s first preseason game and chipped in a hat trick in the second game.
The talented freshman classes will look to lead both programs back to national prominence on the heels of down seasons from the traditional powerhouses. Tony Granato’s third season in Madison resulted in a 14-18-5 finish for the Badgers. Wisconsin’s 9-10-5 conference record put them at fifth in the Big Ten in 2018-19.
Boston College started last season with two games in Madison, where the Eagles were swept by a combined score of 10-5. Despite a hot finish, BC never fully recovered from its slow start, finishing 14-22-3.
Slow starts, especially in non-conference games, have plagued the Eagles over the last few seasons. The back-to-back losses to Wisconsin were part of an 0-5-0 start to last season. The season before, BC started 1-5-1. The early-season struggles are not lost on captain David Cotton.
“In the past couple of years, those first 5-10 games have really come back to bite us in the end,” Cotton said. “So we have to take this game [against Wisconsin] as if we’re fighting for a national tournament bid.”
Even the rookies recognize the importance of starting off on the right foot.
“The guys in the room aren’t happy about the starts the past couple of years,” Newhook said. “[But] we know the talent that we have, the character that we have in the room this year, so we’re going to try our best to come out and get off to a good start.”
Puck drops at 7 PM, and the game can be seen on NESN Plus.