Recently, I discovered that Merrimack defenseman John Jakopin's vitals were= changed. Jakopin had been listed the last two years at 6'5", 225. This= weekend, he was listed at 6'6", 235. According to Merrimack SID Tom= Caraccioli, John said he grew an inch and gained ten pounds over the= summer. I thought he looked bigger. That ranks Jakopin as the second biggest defenseman in DivI...second to= teammate Steve McKenna at 6'8", 235. It's pretty unusual to be as big as= Jakopin is and still not be the biggest guy on your own team. :-) Speaking of McKenna, it's been interesting to me to see how both he and BU's= Mike Grier have developed over their careers. I remember when both came in= as freshmen two years ago; Grier was a role player on the fourth line whose= job was to slam people around. McKenna was a guy whose role was similar= and you just hoped he wouldn't make any mistakes. And when BU and= Merrimack met, the "Clash of the Titans" was one of the "games within the= game" that had fans looking forward to seeing these two go up against each= other for the next three years. Now, Grier is recognized as one of the top forwards in DivI and his skills= have progressed to the point where he is seen as a legitimate NHL prospect,= and not as a banger but as a true power forward. And McKenna, now a= captain as a junior, has improved so much at both ends that he deserves to= be considered one of the better Ds in HE and also an NHL prospect - there= may be none better in HE defensively, and although he is not flashy with= the puck, he has developed a good burst of speed that is deceptive given= his size. Few players man the point better than him in terms of being able= to keep the puck in the zone, stopping a clear attempt and putting the puck= right on net, and getting back quickly on a transition by the other team. = And as with Grier, his amazing size still makes him an intimidating force. I suppose this is one of the things I like the most about college hockey,= seeing how players develop over their careers. Grier and McKenna will both= certainly leave college hockey as much, much better players than when they= came in - but at least we've still got a lot more time to enjoy watching th= em. --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] *HMM* 11/13/93 >> Co-owner of the College Hockey Lists at University of Maine System << ***** Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page located at: ***** ***** http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html ***** HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.