We continue our Roster Update series this week with the Boston College Women’s Hockey Team. The Eagles were already poised to have a nice boost for the upcoming season thanks to limited roster turnover, though COVID is kind of throwing a wrench into that as everyone gets to have limited roster turnover this year.
Still, COVID eligibility waivers and transfer chaos are going to affect the Eagles less than pretty much any program out there this season, which is a good thing. Despite the open season on players transferring, not a single BC player entered the transfer portal this year.
To which I say:
Every single person who was all up in my DM's after Lonergan and Watts transferred telling me there was something wrong with the program or with the coaching staff can kindly and violently ***SHOVE IT***.
— Grant Salzano (@Salzano14) March 30, 2021
That is all. Thank you for your attention. (4/4)
Just about every other program has at least a few players trying to find a new home this offseason. Some of the big ones — Clarkson, Wisconsin — are losing several. In addition, the Eagles are going to be able to honor their commitments to every incoming freshman. It goes without saying that with everyone allowed to play a 5th year because of COVID, that is not a statement that most schools can make.
Anyway, let’s take a look at how things should shake out.
The Forwards
The Departures:
Maegan Beres (Graduation)
Beres is the only player leaving the team after last season — she did have another year of eligibility available to her, but she opted to go pro in something other than sports and is already working in her new career. Congrats to her!
The Might-Be-In-The-Olympics:
Hannah Bilka
Kelly Browne
This is an Olympic year, which means anyone selected to play in Beijing will miss the entire season to centralize with Team USA (or Hockey Canada, but all our potential Olympians are American). Bilka and Barnes were both named to the selection camp which took place last week and are in the running to get named to the roster. Both are probably on the bubble, and gun to my head says they both are playing for BC this season, but it wouldn’t exactly be a shocker if either were picked.
The Newbies:
Jenna Carpenter (Freshman)
Abby Newhook (Freshman)
Katie Pyne (Freshman)
Carson Zanella (Freshman)
The Breakdown:
This is supposed to be quite a freshman class — one of the best we’ve had in years. It can be really hard to predict how freshmen will shake out in women’s hockey, but the scuttlebutt I’ve gotten is that Pyne and Newhook are supposed to be program-changing recruits. Zanella and Carpenter should also be solidly in the battle for important minutes, which is saying something given that there are four players coming in to replace only one outgoing senior.
The Defenders
The Departures:
None!
The Might-Be-In-The-Olympics:
Cayla Barnes
Let’s be real here, as an important piece of the 2018 gold medal-winning team in PyeongChang, Barnes is probably going to be playing in Beijing. We should probably plan on being without her for this season, which is sad, but it’s much more sad for Hockey Canada.
Newbies:
Keri Clougherty (Freshman)
Kiley Erickson (Freshman)
The Breakdown:
The Eagles had 6 D last year, which was a nice change of pace after playing what seemed like a lifetime of being short-staffed on the blue line, but thanks to injuries and COVID protocols we rarely played with a full bench anyway. With probably-Barnes out this year and two freshmen coming in, that should give BC a good seven players battling for the three D pairings.
The Goaltenders
The Departures:
None!
The Might-Be-In-The-Olympics:
None!
The Newbies:
None!
The Breakdown:
Not much to talk about here, although you do have to admire all three goalies, all of whom will be seniors, sticking around to fight for playing time. Abby Levy firmly took the reigns as the #1 goalie in the second half of the season last year, though Maddy McArthur and Kelly Pickreign both got playing time as well. Expect this to be Levy’s net in 2021-2022, with Maddy and Kelly operating as the #2a and #2b.