At 7:02 AM -0600 10/20/96, Arthur Berman wrote:
> They also noted that BU only has 13 forwards and, I think 8 (might be 9)
> defencemen in school so injuries will be a major problem for BU this year
> if they occur.  The announcers pointed out that in their opinion the
> scholarship limits are helping the competition.
 
That's a funny way of looking at it.  Nothing prevents BU from carrying
more players on its roster like most other teams do.  Rather, Jack Parker
has decided that he wants to stick with fewer players for several good
reasons (i.e., it means more practice time and game time for the players
who are on the roster).  It is a risk that he takes if injuries do mount
up, but that was a decision he made.  And it has been this way for a while
- for several years, Parker has been in a situation where if BU is hit hard
with injuries, it will be a problem.
 
I'm not criticizing that decision and you can't argue with success, yet the
situation needs to be explained since BU radio seemed to give an incomplete
view of it.
 
It is also important to note that while many schools take advantage of the
opportunity to split 18 scholarships 30 ways, BU does not and probably has
four or five fewer players on scholarship than most others.  On the one
hand, this means that BU has fewer players available in case of injury.  On
the other, it means that they can make better offers to the players they
want than those other programs who wish to carry more players, thus BU
likely has a better chance of landing those players they do want.  The
limits can help BU if they can offer more good packages to recruits.  It
cuts both ways.
 
To me, the big thing that has made BU a true national power, comparing the
late 1980s to the present, is that BU has rounded out its roster with key
third and fourth line players (and role players) who make the team deeper
and stronger.  I believe what has enabled BU to land these players has
been, in part, Parker's decision to go with a leaner roster, concentrating
the awarding of scholarships on those players.  It has resulted in more
success than Parker had ever achieved before and was a great move because
of that.  But, if the dice he has rolled come up short in any particular
season and injuries are a problem, it's going to be tough to find people
outside of BU who agree with blaming the limits on scholarships.  It's just
a chance you take.  The pluses have more than outweighed the minuses.
 
BTW, even if BU should sustain enough injuries that the daily lineup is
seriously affected, Parker has in reserve the names of players who did not
make the team but are still in school and playing on excellent intramural
teams, and who are available at a moment's notice.  They aren't
All-Americas, but some of these may be comparable to the lower-ranked
players on a typical DivI roster.  As an example, over the summer we played
at BU with a goalie from Minnesota who is apparently ranked fourth on BU's
depth chart even though he does not appear on the roster and does not
practice everyday.  He will, however, fill in at practice if the situation
demands it, and I expect that if BU's roster goalies were unable to play,
he would get the call.
 
This isn't unlike what happened with Maine's Greg Hirsch a couple of years
ago.  Hirsch was a third or fourth string goalie for his first couple of
seasons, then he did not appear on the roster and wound up playing
intramural instead.  When Maine's goaltending corps was hit with injuries
(I believe Maine may have only carried two goalies that year, Allison and
Marsh), Hirsch was called up and actually appeared in a game.  The message
board operator put up the quip, "It must be the pretzels", when Hirsch made
his appearance. :-)  (referring to the commercial with Seinfeld's Jason
Alexander where Alexander gets called out of the stands to play net.)
 
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