College hockey fans in New England have beared witness to some of the finest freshmen seasons in the sport’s long history, but for every Paul Kariya, Jack Eichel or Clayton Keller out there, there are many players who have to grind it out, scratch and claw for their coveted spot on a Division 1 line chart.
The college game comes easy to few players right away. It is played at a new level of speed, and the players are bigger, faster and stronger. No matter the school, a player’s freshman year resembling a roller-coaster ride is not uncommon, but those growing pains at the start are what can shape a career, often for the better.
As another season begins, New England Hockey Journal catches up with a trio of sophomores from each of New England’s three Division 1 conferences. Read on as a small but skillful Terrier, Harvard’s star on the blue line, and a Bentley local recap their first years playing the collegiate game and look ahead to Year 2.
PATRICK HARPER: A dynamo for the Terriers
Save for a nine-game stint with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers, Patrick Harper entered his freshman year at Boston University fresh from Connecticut prep school powerhouse Avon Old Farms. Most players do not make such an immediate jump to the collegiate level in today’s game, but the New Canaan, Conn., native’s debut was an impressive one for head coach David Quinn’s Terriers.
"He was actually supposed to be a freshman this year, but as his year at Avon evolved, we thought this was a guy who could come in and be on our top two lines right away, and that certainly was the case," Quinn (Cranston, R.I.) said of Harper, whose 13 goals and 37 points in 28 games earned him All-Rookie Team honors in Hockey East.
"We weren’t surprised he was able to come in and contribute. Maybe he exceeded our expectations a little bit, but not by much."
One thing that is hard not to notice with Harper is his small stature at 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, but both Quinn and longtime Avon coach John Gardner describe him as an "elusive" offensive player with a high hockey IQ.
Skill has been a major part of Harper’s hockey upbringing. At Avon, Gardner encouraged him to bring it out and use creativity in lieu of a bigger frame that is more common in today’s college game.
"Just having the puck all the time, really being able to make plays, and being able to see the ice around me were things that he really talked about and praised when I was in prep school," Harper said. "Avon was a stepping stone for me. (Coach Gardner) really taught me how to play the right way and helped refine my game as I climb up the hockey pyramid."
Harper’s latest step up the pyramid was taken with a talented group of classmates, including Keller, last season’s Hockey East Rookie of the Year who is now a member of the Arizona Coyotes organization.
Harper was one of five BU freshmen last season taken in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, as a fifth-round pick of the Nashville Predators. All told, last year’s Terriers were just the second NCAA team ever to have four first-round picks in the same draft, including defenseman and the No. 17 overall selection — also of the Predators — Dante Fabbro, who remains at BU as a fellow sophomore.
Harper and Keller backed up all the talk, too. As linemates for a majority of the year, they combined for 82 points and were Hockey East’s top two rookie scorers both overall and in league play.
"It was special," Harper said of being part of a total freshman class that was touted as one of the best ever. "You learn a lot about the way they handle themselves, respect the game, and just how they compete and practice the right way day in and day out. I tried to be a sponge and take in as much as I could that would help me grow into the player I want to be."
Although Harper was not a part of any of Gardner’s eight New England prep school championship teams, the chance to follow in the footsteps of current NHLers Nick Bonino (Unionville, Conn.), Jonathan Quick (Hamden, Conn.) and Cam Atkinson (Greenwich, Conn.) — a player of similar stature to Harper, though a product of rival Boston College — within the legendary program also was special.
Gardner always saw talent and hockey sense, but did he think it would translate so quickly to the college level? "No," he said. "I thought it would take him a little while to establish himself, but he dispelled that pretty quickly."
It’s time for a new season. Now established in the collegiate ranks, Harper hopes to keep doing his thing and return the uber-talented Terriers to the Hockey East winner’s circle, all while representing the prep school program that molded his game.
ADAM FOX: Targeting a dream ending
Last season was a banner year on the ice at Harvard. The Crimson won 28 games, the school’s first Beanpot title since 1993 and a second ECAC championship in three seasons.
Standout defenseman Adam Fox wouldn’t change much at all about his freshman season — except, of course, losing to Minnesota-Duluth in the Frozen Four semifinals. That leaves a mark as another season approaches.
"Other than, obviously, losing that game, there’s not a lot of regret or anything I’d change about last year," the Jericho, N.Y., native said. "We obviously had a lot of success, and even though we came up a little short at the Frozen Four, it was definitely great for me learning from a lot of those older guys.
"I’m trying to take that experience into this year, progress and try to have an even better year."
Topping last season’s successes might be a tall task for Fox, who was named a first-team All-American as well as the Rookie of the Year and first-team All-Star in ECAC Hockey and the Ivy League. He led the Crimson with 34 assists and the nation’s blueliners with 1.14 points per game and totaled 40 points in 35 games, including eight during the postseason.
Head coach Ted Donato, now in his 13th season behind the bench, knows a thing or two about successful seasons with the Crimson. He was a standout himself, winning the 1989 national championship at Harvard, playing in the Olympics and spending 13 years in the NHL.
With an array of experiences, Donato has seen a lot in hockey, but elite players like Fox are few and far between. However, at this past April’s Frozen Four in Chicago, Donato noted that the Crimson coaching staff was still somewhat surprised at his quick progression to elite status in college hockey.
"With the current status of college hockey with older kids, it’s becoming more and more of a challenge for these real dynamic 18-year-olds to make an impact," Dedham, Mass., native Donato said. "I think the truly elite guys find a way to do it … so he (was) a tremendous shot in the arm for our defense corps, and offensively he makes others around him better."
Fox entered Harvard already with an understanding of the speed and intense nature of the college game, thanks to playing in USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program for two seasons. There was an obvious adjustment to the game-to-game intensity that ceases to exist at other levels of the sport, but the program’s Under-18 team’s exhibition schedule against NCAA clubs — including a traditional stop at the Crimson’s Bright-Landry Hockey Center — helped a great deal.
"As you move up to different levels of hockey, it gets a little faster, guys are a little stronger and a little quicker," said Fox, whose 86 assists rank third in NTDP history. "Those games against college teams really help you gain an understanding of the pace … and I think it helped me just not jumping into a college game cold turkey not knowing what to expect."
The Crimson got off to an 11-2-1 start last season and were unbeaten in eight of their first nine ECAC games, but it was a three-game, mid-January losing streak in league play that offered time for reflection and changed the course of Fox’s rookie year.
Such streaks can spin a season out of control or be used as a launching pad to success. For Fox and the Crimson, it turned out to be the latter as a valuable lesson was learned.
"I think that actually helped us move forward," Fox said. "It showed us that anyone can beat anyone, we’re not unbeatable and neither is any other team."
The Crimson were unbeatable for almost the rest of the way. After falling Jan. 17 at Dartmouth, the Crimson rattled off a streak that was unmatched in college hockey, going 18 games unbeaten.
There was a 16-game winning streak in the midst that spanned almost two months and did not end until the season did. At the Frozen Four. Just two games shy of a championship.
"Losing the way we did was obviously tough and kind of fuels you to get back there, and it shows you that so many little things can be the difference of winning the championship and losing in the Frozen Four," Fox said. "The returning guys are really using that as motivation and trying to get the freshmen to understand how close we were and that we want to get back there."
CONNOR BRASSARD: At home at Bentley
Like most Massachusetts kids, Fitchburg’s Connor Brassard considers playing college hockey a dream come true.
He grew up attending games at Boston College and Boston University. As a second-year defenseman at Bentley University, he’s not playing in the Beanpot or Hockey East games himself, but many childhood memories of the sport still roll back.
"Growing up around college hockey, you kind of see yourself in their shoes and see that it’s something you might want to do," Brassard said. "It seems like it would be fun and a great experience. Around here, there are so many teams so close, it made it that much more of a goal for me."
Naturally, Brassard was nervous at the start of his collegiate career. He was playing at a new, advanced level and looking to find his place in the lineup, but Whittemore Center at the University of New Hampshire and Boston’s venerable Matthews Arena provided big stages for two of his first three games as a Falcon.
It takes time for every young college hockey player to adjust to the pace of the game, and the Cushing Academy product knew confidence would come once a bounce broke his way.
Fortunately, it came early, as he scored Bentley’s lone goal in its Oct. 8 opener at UNH. "For me, the biggest challenge was just relaxing and trusting myself," said Brassard, who played in 30 of Bentley’s 39 games, scoring four goals and 10 total points. "Scoring in my first game was a huge weight off my shoulders, and it made me feel like I wasn’t out of place. You just have to relax and trust your own abilities and you’ll be all right."
Bentley head coach Ryan Soderquist (Stoneham, Mass.) saw a strong player and teammate in Brassard, and said his adjustment to the speed — there’s that word again! — of the game came quickly. "We thought that he obviously had good size and was a mobile defenseman, but more importantly there were intangibles that he brought to the table in terms of his work ethic, the acceptance of being a simple defenseman and being a good teammate," the 16th-year head coach said.
Located in Waltham, Mass., Bentley is home to one of the nation’s top business schools, so every student and student-athlete knows what they’re getting into as far as coursework, but Brassard feels that his time on the prep school ice was beneficial to his becoming the player he is today.
To borrow a term from the business world, playing prep school hockey can also serve as an crucial networking opportunity. Brassard took full advantage and now has several former teammates with which to share the common experience of playing at the collegiate level. He considers UNH’s Richie Boyd, Providence’s Shane Kavanaugh (East Providence, R.I.) and Quinnipiac’s Thomas Aldworth some of his best friends.
"Prep school was a great step in the right direction to play college hockey because it’s basically a mini-college," Brassard said. "The coaches introduced me to a lot of schools and what each brought to the table, and you also meet a lot of different guys, so that helped me grow an appreciation for how fun college hockey can be."
He played for Rob Gagnon at Cushing, where the likes of professionals Keith Yandle (Milton, Mass.) and recent Stanley Cup champion Conor Sheary (Melrose, Mass.) once skated, and then with the Jersey Hitmen junior program for two years.
They were different experiences, but positive in their own way.
"I wasn’t quite ready to make the jump after prep school, so juniors just helped me sharpen my game and get faster and stronger," said Brassard, who captained Jersey during his second USPHL season. "Then, I brought it all together to play in college."
While Bentley’s top-notch education is world-renowned, even Soderquist admits that recruiting to its hockey program can be a "tough sell," as the Falcons have called Watertown’s John A. Ryan Skating Arena home for several decades. There is no glitz and glamour at the public rink commonly known as "The JAR," so it takes a certain type of athlete and person to make the commitment.
Brassard, who was one of just two New England natives on the Falcons roster last season, chose Bentley because it is an exciting time for the program.
Come January, daily trips to The JAR for practices and games will be no more as a 2,000-seat arena is set to open on campus, so seeing a longstanding dream become reality was too hard to pass up.
"That is what sold me, just being a part of a growing program and being a part of something people have been talking about for a long time," Brassard said. "Coach always talks about the guys who came before us. They were the groundwork for this, so they tell us to not take it for granted and just go to work every day to improve the program."
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Many coaches say that there’s no such thing as a freshman come season’s end in this sport, and it is so, so true.
Whether trying to establish a championship culture again, make a Frozen Four run last one game longer, or keep an up-and-coming program on the right track as a new era begins, these three college sophomores are ready to face the challenges of a new season with poise and experience.
A year older, a year better.
