{"id":29369,"date":"2007-10-12T16:38:12","date_gmt":"2007-10-12T21:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2007\/10\/12\/200708-boston-college-season-preview\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:57:04","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:57:04","slug":"200708-boston-college-season-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2007\/10\/12\/200708-boston-college-season-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"2007-08 Boston College Season Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"
Had Boston College goaltender Cory Schneider returned for his senior year, the Eagles would have been the near-prohibitive favorite to win Hockey East and potentially the team to beat nationally. Even with Schneider’s departure for the pros, they are the league co-favorites with New Hampshire based on a stellar group of forwards and solid, veteran blueliners.<\/p>\n
“We have to see how everything goes as far as chemistry, as far as injury and as far as all the intangibles,” BC coach Jerry York says, “[but] on paper, this is a team that certainly holds their own with the ones I’ve coached over last few years.”<\/p>\n
That’s saying a lot since the Eagles have made the NCAA tournament the last five seasons, the Frozen Four the last three, and the national championship game the last two.<\/p>\n
“We have some really top-end offensive players and we’re very solid defensively,” York says. “I think [freshman goaltender] Johnny [Muse] is going to give us enough strength in goal.” <\/p>\n
Up front there’s considerable firepower. Juniors Nathan Gerbe, Benn Ferriero and Brock Bradford all return having scored at least 45 points last season. <\/p>\n
“[They] highlight an outstanding junior class for us,” York says. “They’ve had a lot of the big game atmosphere over the last few years. I also think that the senior Danny Bertram is ready for a breakout year. He’ll be a real leader.” <\/p>\n
Not to mention sophomore Ben Smith, who took off after assuming a larger role when Brian Boyle moved to defense, scoring ten points over the final eight games.<\/p>\n
Not counting Boyle’s late-season switch to the blue line, BC returns all seven of its defensemen from last year. Senior captain Mike Brennan leads a veteran group of fellow-senior Brian O’Hanley, juniors Brett Motherwell, Anthony Aiello, Tim Filangieri and Tim Kunes, as well as sophomore Carl Sneep. <\/p>\n