Wondering what happened to the frequently-scratched freshman D, Paul Lynch ?
Thought you would like a story from today's Salem Evening News:
(tough to link from their site, so copied)
By BOB ALBRIGHT
News staff
BOSTON -- Paul Lynch had a bird's eye view to
watch the action Friday night for the Hockey East
semifinals. Situated in the front row of the Balcony in
the FleetCenter with his dad, Paul Sr., and his two
sisters, the Peabody product watched as the
University of Maine topped its arch-nemesis Boston
University, 3-2, to advance to Saturday's finals
against UNH.
It was a vantage point that many of the 14,000-plus in
attendance would have gladly traded their tickets for,
but for the freshman defenseman with the Black
Bears, the only sight lines he cares about are on the
ice with a pair of blue lines in front of him.
Lynch sat out Friday's action and Saturday's game as
well (won by UNH, 3-1), his ninth and 10th straight
DNPs since registering a goal against Merrimack way
back on Feb. 9. After playing in each of Maine's first
18 games, it's been quite a reversal of fortunes to say
the least for the imposing 6-foot-2 defenseman who
has been relegated to the comfortable seats for 16 of
Maine's last 18 games.
That kind of inactivity tends to happen, however, no
matter how talented the player when making the
gargantuan step from junior hockey to one of the best
college hockey programs in the nation. And no one
on the Maine sidelines from head coach Tim
Whitehead to one of the Black Bears' best players,
Niko Dimitrakos, sees anything but good things in
Lynch's future.
"I really like Paul," said Whitehead enthusiastically
after Friday's emotional win over the Terriers. But
with one freshman defenseman, Troy Barnes, already
ensconced in the lineup and a second, Matt
Deschamps, seeing a lot of minutes, the coach
decided to pull the junior Mike Schutte from forward
to back behind the blue line last month, leaving
Lynch's name absent from the weekend lineup list
posted each Thursday.
"He played a ton in the first half of the year and we
made a decision a to move Schutte back to defense
because we needed another veteran back there.
It was just a matter that we had too many first-year
players there. So, now it has been tough for him to
get back in the lineup, but I like the way he plays. I
think he's handled it very well and he did gain a lot of
experience in the first half of the year, so if we need to
go to him now I'm very confident. It wouldn't surprise
me if he gets in for us down the stretch here."
That "stretch" begins this weekend in the NCAA
national tournament, which will likely see Maine get
an at-large bid to play in the East regionals at the
Worcester Centrum. If Lynch does indeed get out of
the balcony in Worcester and on to the ice it will just
be an added bonus for the two-time national champs
who clearly view him as a long-term growth fund as
opposed to a short-term commodity.
"He's played well, but it's just that when you get out
of the lineup and someone moves in and plays well it's
kind of tough to get back in," said the senior forward
Dimitrakos, who netted the game-winner Saturday.
"It's a tough team to crack the lineup with. He's got a
lot of potential. He's got a lot of size and we know
that he can shoot the puck and skate, so he'll be fine."
Whitehead also thinks that Lynch's balcony days are
numbered.
"As far as long-term goes, I think he's going to be a
hell of a player," said the coach.
Whitehead was a fifth-round draft choice of the
Tampa Bay Lightning in 2001, but opted for Maine
instead after playing a year of juniors. "He skates
well, his attitude is positive, and he works extremely
hard. He's in the weight room all the time."
Lynch is doing his best to keep site of the big picture
and knows that spots on Hockey East contenders
aren't given out lightly.
"The year started out pretty strong, but I have sat out
quite a few games," said Lynch, who tallied two goals
and six assists in 22 games while keeping his penalty
minutes to a minimum (24). "It's tough. You want to
be out there, but then again you've got to go with the
coaches and what they feel is best for the team."
While he feels that the year in juniors helped ease the
transition from high school where he starred at
Brooks Academy, he still says it was a case of
baptism-by-fire when he first hit the ice this fall with
Maine.
"The tempo has been a lot quicker than I could have
imagined. From the first practice I was getting blown
away," recalled Lynch. "It's something that I had to
just keep working on adjusting to the speed. The
forwards are twice as fast and twice as strong and it
takes some getting used to. I think once the first game
came around I was a little bit used to it and as the
games went on it got a little bit easier."
Despite the limited playing time, he has no doubts that
he made the right decision to make the four-hour trek
up to Orono, a sleepy little town that hails Pat's Pizza
and the tap room below as its downtown.
"I'm loving it up there. There's not too much going on
and it helps keep you focused on hockey and your
school work," he says.
"The road trips have probably been the best thing so
far, just hanging out and getting to know the guys. We
played out in North Dakota and there were like
11,000 fans there going crazy. That's probably the
best experience I've had so far."
A national championship would certainly trump that
and Lynch says the team is not lacking confidence
heading into the NCAAs. The team also has the extra
motivation, he points out, to raise a third banner to the
roof of Alfond Arena to honor the coach, who
brought the first two back to Orono, the late Shawn
Walsh.
"We've got the shirt to symbolize him," said Lynch of
the ceremonial shirt that is on the bench each game to
commemorate the coach, who posted a 399-215-44
record in 17 years behind the UMaine bench before
succumbing to cancer before the season. "Every game
it gets passed off to a different player who showed his
excellence the game before. It's been tough,
especially for the older guys, but we feel like he's with
us and will be there for us down the stretch."
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