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Things have been relatively quiet on the Boston College hockey recruiting front in recent months. That changed on Friday when the program picked up a verbal commitment from an all-too-familiar name. Luke McInnis, a 5-foot-10, 168 pound defenseman out of Hingham, Mass., took to Twitter to announce his commitment to Sir Jerry York and the Eagles.
Excited to announce my commitment to play college hockey at Boston college #blessed
— luke mcinnis (@Luke_McInnis_98) July 18, 2014
The '98-born defenseman, who's coming off a strong performance at the recent USA Hockey Select 16 Festival, has played for Hingham HS the past two seasons -- recording a 6-28--34 line in two seasons with the Harbormen. Next season he's off to play at the Dexter School in Brookline. McInnis has also been selected to represent the USA in the Five Nations Cup next month in Germany.
SB Nation College Hockey's Jeff Cox ranked McInnis as the fourth best defenseman at the Select 16 festival, describing his game thusly:
4. Luke McInnis (#4 Columbia) 5-10/170 Hingham High School/Dexter Prep - This was by far the most impressed I've been with him. I had seen him during the high school season and thought he was a good player, but not this good. He is a terrific skater, always has his head up looking for an outlet pass. He makes smart plays and doesn't try to do too much. He's a good power play QB who needs to be a little more consistently strong in his own end.
Of course, McInnis is the son of Marty McInnis, a 12-year NHL veteran and former Boston College great. A wing on BC's famous "HEM" line, McInnis tallied 142 points in three years with the Eagles (1988-91). The Hingham, Mass. native spent the majority of the 1991-92 season with the U.S. men's national team, culminating in representing the USA at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France.
The 163rd pick in the 1988 NHL Draft, McInnis would go on to play nearly 800 games in the NHL with the Islanders, Flames, Ducks and Bruins. Last year, Jerry York brought McInnis onto the Eagles' staff as an assistant coach following the departures of Jim Logue (retired) and Mike Cavanaugh (now head coach at UConn).
While College Hockey Inc. has McInnis joining the Eagles for the 2017-18 season, the Kid says 2016 ... for now. I suppose a lot of that depends on how long the program can hang onto future NHL defensemen Ian McCoshen (Florida) and Steve Santini (New Jersey).
You can follow Luke on Twitter @Luke_McInnis_98. Welcome to the Heights, Luke!