Former BU Blueliner Whitney Retires

Former Boston University defenseman Ryan Whitney has called it a career at age 32.

According to NHL.com, Whitney hangs up his skates after 10 NHL seasons and 481 regular-season games with Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Edmonton and Florida. In all he tallied 50 goals and 209 assists to go with 383 penalty minutes, according to HockeyDB.com. He announced on Twitter that part of the reason he was retiring was ankle injuries.

A product of the U.S. National Team Development Program, the Boston native skated for BU from 2001 to 2004. He notched 16-43—59 points and 150 PIM in 107 career outings with the Terriers, and also helped them to two Beanpot Tournament titles and two NCAA Tournament berths.

Whitney skated with Sochi HC (KHL) in Russia last season, recording 6-13—19 points in 42 appearances. He played his final two professional games this season with MODO Hockey Ornskoldsvik in Sweden, and was a member of the silver-medal U.S. squad at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

BC's Whitney Wins Walter Brown Award

Boston College senior forward and assistant captain Steven Whitney is the 61st recipient of the Walter Brown Award, annually bestowed upon the top American-born player in New England college hockey.

A member of BC’s 2010 and 2012 NCAA championship teams ,and a four-time winner of the Beanpot Tournament, Whitney leads BC so far this season with 25 goals, and is second on the team scoring scroll with 43 points through 36 games. A 5’7”, 167-pound native of Reading, Mass. and a graduate of Lawrence Academy, the right-shooting Whitney has tallied 54-72—126 points in 158 career contests with the Eagles, including two goals in the 2012 NCAA Championship game in a 4-1 win over Ferris State.

Whitney was preceded at BC by his older brother and former teammate, Joe, a member of BC’s 2008 and 2010 national title teams, and a captain of the 2010-11 Eagles.

Steven Whitney had a goal and an assist on Saturday night in a 4-1 win over Vermont to complete a two-step sweep in the Hockey East quarterfinals, which catapulted BC into the league semifinals on Friday night at TD Garden against rival Boston University. BC currently stands at 22-10-4 overall, and is ranked fourth in NCAA Division I by USCHO.com.

Whitney is the Eagles’ second Walter Brown Award winner in three years, following former goaltender John Muse in 2011, and the 23rd Eagle overall. Other BC recipients of the honor include: Chris Collins (2006), Brian Gionta (2001), Mike Mottau (1999, 2000), David Emma (1991), Greg Brown (1990), Brian Leetch (1987), Scott Harlow (1986), Mark Switaj (1981), Bill Army (1980), Joe Mullen (1978), Richie Smith (1976), Tom Mellor (1973), Paul Hurley (1969), Tim Sheehy (1968, 1970), Jerry York (1967), John Cunniff (1966), Bill Hogan (1963), Tom Martin (1961) and Bob Babine (1954).

Boston College Raises One More Banner

I was fortunate enough to be at Boston College’s NCAA Championship banner ceremony on Saturday night at Conte Forum. I missed 2008’s event because I got stuck in traffic on the Mass Pike that night, and 2010’s gathering was too close to Halloween to travel to New England and back—so it sure was nice to finally watch one get raised to the rafters. 

I'm still smiling two days later.

Besides the 2012-13 team and over 7,000 of their closest friends in Maroon and Gold, some of the program's past champions made it back to Chestnut Hill to celebrate on Oct. 20, including former coach Len Ceglarski and locked-out NHL players like Nathan Gerbe. Hoisting the newest banner to the skies were graduated seniors Chris Venti and Tommy Atkinson, part of the 2012 team that won 19 straight contests to close out the campaign, including the national title game in Florida against Ferris State.

To top off the festivities Saturday, the Eagles won, 3-0, over local and Hockey East rival Northeastern, which had beaten BC a week before in Boston. Goals came from forwards Kevin Hayes, Johnny Gaudreau and Stephen Whitney, while captain Pat Mullane had two assists and goaltender Parker Milner made 26 saves before a raucous sold-out crowd of 7,884 at Kelley Rink that included almost an entire section of black-clad NU undergrads who surely got back on the Green Line unhappy.

It was a nice night of nostalgia and one final salute to last year’s title team, which not only made mustard-colored jerseys a thing of beauty, but was also the third BC squad in five years to claim a national crown. When I was a student, BC made the 1990 Frozen Four and won a few Hockey East championships, but not the sheer plethora of team prizes that the program has brought home since 1998.

For me, as an alumnus, it was good to be back on an ever-changing campus that still feels like home. It was good to sit again at the Forum, where I covered several scores worth of games as an undergraduate, and to see old friends like Jack Casey and Paul Gallivan. They and the rest of the Zamboni crew work hard to keep the ice smooth for one of college hockey’s top programs, led by head coach Jerry York (915 career wins and counting) and old friend and Eagle defenseman Greg Brown.


Yes, life has been good at the Heights lately. Keep up the good work, all.

Boston College Starts Season Strong

As badly as last season ended for Boston College, with a stunning loss to Colorado College in the 2011 NCAA West Regional, things started off exactly the opposite to begin the 2011-12 campaign. The fifth-ranked Eagles topped Michigan State, 5-2, and then battered tournament host and No. 3 North Dakota, 6-2, to claim the 2011 IceBreaker Tournament on Oct. 7-8 in Grand Forks, N.D. It's the third time ever that BC has claimed the traditional season-opening tourney, and it did so this time without the benefit of any sort of exhibition warm-up game.

Bill Arnold topped the BC scoring scroll with a goal and four assists in the two victories, while Pat Mullane tallied two goals and set up two others. Chris Kreider and Stephen Whitney had two goals and an assist apiece, with Kreider also copping tournament MVP accolades. Kreider also scored the game-winner against MSU in the third period on Friday to break a 2-2 tie, before Whitney and Barry Almeida added insurance tallies.

Eagles newcomer Johnny Gaudreau scored his first career collegiate goal in the win over UND, and also added three assists for his first four career points. BC overcame a 2-1 second-period deficit against the Fighting Sioux by scoring five unanswered goals, which came from Kreider, Gaudreau, Mullane, Arnold and Whitney.

In the other Ice Breaker games at Ralph Engelstad Arena, North Dakota edged Air Force, 4-3, on Friday night. MSU then edged Air Force, 3-2, in overtime in the consolation game on Saturday afternoon.

Parker Milner, now BC's No. 1 netminder, stopped 39 of 43 shots, while the Eagles' penalty-killing unit blanked nine of 10 man-advantage attempts. Milner also joined Kreider and Arnold on the All-Tournament Team along with BC blueliners Patch Alber and Tommy Cross. Rounding out the all-tournament lineup was Michigan State forward Lee Reimer and North Dakota winger Brock Nelson.

If there's something that BC needs to work on, it's the Eagle power play, which connected just once in eight tries in the two Ice breaker outings. North Dakota also won 35 of the 63 faceoffs contested between the two squads on Saturday, so there's room for improvement in the red circle.

Things won't get any easier for the Eagles, not with Denver coming to BC's Conte Forum on Friday, and the Eagles traveling to Hockey East rival New Hampshire on Saturday to open the conference slate. But hey, it's a long way from now to April.

Two games down, 30-plus more to go.

One Down, One to Go

Boston College got the job done against Miami last night, blowing open a two-goal game with four scores in just over six minutes en route to a 7-1 win at Ford Field in Detroit in a national semifinal.

The Eagles used their speed to great advantage in going up 3-0 before the second period was four minutes old, and dictated the overall pace of the game. Ben Smith scored two goals and set up another, Joe Whitney had a goal and two assists, the Eagle defense was suffocating, and John Muse made some key stops in net in helping BC to its third national title tilt in four seasons.

On to tomorrow’s NCAA Championship Game against Wisconsin.