<<<<I think I can say in confidence that Crowley is a better college player
than any of the others mentioned were.>>>>
To defend myself and my opinion, the above statement mentions that Crowley is
a better COLLEGE player than either Mike Grier, Chris O'Sullivan or Jeff
Libby. This is not to take away from any of the accomplishements of these
players, just a compliment directed at Crowley. Crowley is a legit Hobey
Baker candidate and led the WCHA in scoring last year. He has the ability to
put up over 70 or 80 points in this upcoming season and I think he's a better
player than any of the three listed were AT THE COLLEGE LEVEL. Jeff Libby has
done very well for himself. He came from being a redshirt walk-on to getting
a nice, lucrative pro contract before his eligibility was up. He was clearly
the best defenseman on Maine last season (in my opinion), but he was nowhere
near the best player in Hockey East while arguments can be made that Crowley
was the best in the WCHA.
    Libby is a professional longshot-a kid with good physical attributes but
lacking many NHL tools. The only thing Crowley lacks is size (and the things
that come with lack of size like physical play etc.). I was very impressed
with Grier and O'Sullivan last season as NHL rookies (Grier played the entire
season great and got stronger as things went on while O'Sullivan started
strong and faded big-time) and Jeff Libby might surprise me, but none of them
have come close to the accomplishments of Crowley in his three years. And
before anyone starts crying bias, this is coming from a diehard Hockey East
guy.
 
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