Boston College honored the 1997-98 Men's hockey team Thursday night, April
23, 1998, at the 49th annual Pike's Peak Hockey Club Banquet.  Also honored
were the 1948-49 National Championship team and the 1973 National 3rd Place
team (25th anniversary).  BC loses only 2 seniors from this year's team,
forward Jamie O'Leary and defenseman Ken Hemenway.
 
Awards were as follows:
Academic awards - for Achievement (to a senior): Jamie O'Leary
                  for Excellence (GPA): Ken Hemenway
 
Snooks Kelley Memorial Award (to the player who best typifies BC Hockey):
                  (shared) Jamie O'Leary and Brian Gionta
 
William Flynn Coaches Award : Ken Hemenway
 
James Tiernan Memorial Award (most improved player): Andy Powers
 
Norman Dailey Memorial Award (most valuable player):
                  (shared) Marty Reasoner and Mike Mottau
 
A special achievement award was presented to freshman goalie Scott
Clemmensen for his NCAA regular-season consecutive shutout minutes record.
 
The turnout was much larger than last year, no doubt reflecting the
excitement of nearly capturing a national championship.  Coach York did
not specifically say when he expected another championship at BC, but
promised that it would come "soon" if the program continued to attract
good players as it has the past few years.  Spirits in the crowd were
high, and all were optimistic for the future.
 
There was no announcement regarding next year's captains, no doubt
because it is not yet known whether current captain Marty Reasoner will
return for his senior year.  As far as I know, all other underclassmen
are expected to return.
 
A special note of congratulations is in order for hockey writer (and
former HOCKEY-L contributor) Dave Hendrickson.  His USCHO article on BC
and Brian Gionta (titled "Further Than That") was quoted by Coach York
when discussing the future of the program.  Coach York also said, when
introducing the topic, that "Dave (Hendrickson) is an outstanding hockey
writer".
 
You see where writing for HOCKEY-L can take you?  :-))
 
Graduating seniors and stats (unofficial):
 
                  Year  Gms  G  A  Pts   Penalty   PPG   SHG
F Jamie O'Leary    Fr    29   6 23  29    14-36     3     1
  Needham, MA      So    34   5 12  17    16-40     0     0
                   Jr    37  15 16  31    14-44     7     0
                   Sr    42   6 15  21    17-34     0     1
                Total   142  32 66  98    61-154   10     2
 
D Ken Hemenway     Fr    33   4  6  10    12-24     3     0
  Anchorage, AK    So    36  12 12  24    13-26     8     0
                   Jr    38   3 17  20    26-52     3     0
                   Sr    42   2 18  20    26-52     2     0
                Total   149  21 53  74    77-154   16     0
 
O'Leary had his role changed in his senior year to become a major
force on the BC penalty kill; his speed and disruptive forechecking
helped BC's kill become one of the best in the country in the 2nd
half of the season.
 
Hemenway got most of his goals from his booming shot at the point on
power plays.  He switched to a more conservative defensive role in his
last two years as other defensemen were recruited.  Ken was a mainstay
in his 4 years and his 149 total games places him tied for 5th all-time
at BC.
--------------------               ----------------------
Rick McAdoo                        [log in to unmask]
"Volunteer reporter"               An excited BC fan.  GO EAGLES!
 
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