60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): Boston College

Boston College

2018-19 Record: 14-22-3 (10-11-3, 7th in Hockey East)
Head Coach: Jerry York, 26th Year
Top returning scorer: David Cotton (23G-13A)
Top returning goaltender: Ryan Edquist (Sr.)

Boston College featured in the middle of August does not seem right. Jerry York's team last finished below .500 1997 and four national championships ago. Previewing BC in the same area as Dartmouth and Bemidji State almost sounds like a prank to see if anyone's paying attention. It's weird.

Then again, it's not as weird given the past few seasons.

That's where the lowly Eagles fly at the moment after a strange season results in Boston College disappointedly missing the NCAA Tournament for a third straight year. BC's bizarre non-conference struggles continued into another season, going 0-8 until defeating Harvard in the Beanpot. The team's Hockey East success didn't kick in until the very end of the season when the two-time defending regular-season champions made it to the HE conference championship game.

For much of the season, BC's high points were Joseph Woll in goal and forward David Cotton, whose team-leading 23 goals had enough of a gap between first and second where the gap would have finished second.

What's New: Hall of Fame head coach Jerry York? Hall of Fame head coach Jerry York.

College hockey's winningest coach will be inducted into the HHOF in November. Before he does, York gets a trio of first-round NHL Draft picks (and what seems like half the NTDP) to help Boston College reload. Forwards Matt Boldy (Minnesota) and Alex Newhook (Colorado) are joined by goaltender Spencer Knight (Florida). Also drafted were Drew Helleson (2nd round by Colorado) and Marshall Warren (6th round by Minnesota). They begin with a tough October stretch against Wisconsin, at Colgate, at Denver, and Providence.

Boston College loses a pair of players early with Woll (Toronto) leaving after his junior year, along with previous first-round NHL Draft pick to head to Chestnut Hill, Oliver Wahlstrom, signing a pro contract with the New York Islanders following his freshman season.

Closing Thoughts: BC's star-studded freshman class leads a program that's had the ability to reload with star-studded players, but more recently been an example of college hockey recruiting evolving. Despite regular-season titles, the sport is slowly becoming used to a regular Frozen Four fixture not being an NCAA Tournament one.

High expectations or not, Boston College's freshmen will need to play a role. Knight is seen as a rare franchise-changer goaltender. He'll get every chance to be one for the Eagles.

At the same time, Boldy, Newhook and co. need to help turn around an offense that, as highly heralded as they were, struggled outside of Cotton (who also returns). They struggled even without high expectations. Boston College's first-round picks and seniors who made the Frozen Four finished 51st of 60 teams with 2.31 goals per game. (To compare, Miami and Vermont were the next two lowest teams.) This was a team picked to win Hockey East by the coaches.

It wouldn't be weird to see Boston College picked highly again. With elite players coming in, it's not to believe they could return the Eagles to prominence. Young teams with elite talent such as UMD, Denver and Massachusetts made up most of the 2019 Frozen Four. On the other hand, it would also make sense to have second thoughts after being fooled before.

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