Mike Machnik wrote:
+ In Drop the Puck's Yearbook, it is said that Jack Parker may move Chris
+ O'Sullivan back to D with the lack of depth at that position that BU will
+ have this season.
+
+ I'm curious to hear what BU followers think of this move.  It is true that
+ the Terriers will be hard pressed to replace Linna and Brennan, two
+ All-America blueliners.  And, BU returns only five Ds (Coleman, Johnson,
+ Wood, Kelleher, and Kealty) with Alger becoming eligible in January and
+ rookie Dan Ronan an unknown.  So there may be no choice; no other forward
+ seems a likely candidate to move back to D.
 
  All of the following is my own opinion, so take it for what you
will. :)
 
  Well, I'm not the biggest expert on BU [I'm sure we'll hear from
Tony later. :)], but I don't get the feeling that this will happen.
As you mentioned, it will play havok with the BU offense and
potentially leave Mike Grier without a setup man.
 
  The offense looks to be very deep this year, with a solid returning
core and enough depth that the talented forwards coming in will likely
be able to develop at their own pace.  The defense, however, looks
very thin after the solid group from last year.  Jon Coleman, Shane
Johnson, Chris Kelleher, and Doug Wood look like they'll be able to
form a solid top two pairs if we have to go with just that.  The
remaining returner is Jeff Kealty, who had a shaky freshmen year yet
who had his best performances at the end of last season.  If he and
incoming freshman Dan Ronan perform well, BU will have three solid
pairs and only injuries (*knock on wood*) to worry about.
 
  Ken Rausch would indeed be a great help during the coming season.
In that spirit I expect that we might see one of the grinding forwards
dropped back (perhaps Matt Wright) to help out.  He's definitely got
the right aggressive attitude that will come in handy if such a change
is made.  With so many forwards and a limited number of spaces
available, I am sure we'll see an attempt at platooning some of them
on defense, at least at the start of the season.  I wouldn't be
surprised to see the defense give up more goals than expected at the
beginning of the season as some experimentation goes on back there.
 
  Anyway, I expect to see some platooning of the forwards back on
defense to build up the depth, but I don't think O'Sullivan will be
put back there unless there is no other choice.  I think he and Mike
Grier work too well together to risk it.
 
  Again, all of the above is my own, probably misguided, opinion. :)
 
adam
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Adam Bryant                            List Administrator, High School Hockey
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