Under the Microscope

York, BC Try to Overcome Another Slow Start

by Joe Meloni/Senior Writer (@JoeMeloni)

Boston College coach Jerry York addressed his team before its game with Merrimack on Saturday night.

York, winner of 1,054 games as a college hockey coach before Saturday, looked at the 2018-19 Eagles, winners of 0 games at that point, and told them a story. Specifically, York turned to Graham McPhee, a junior forward, and told him to call his father.

McPhee's father, George, has plenty to do these days, running the Vegas Golden Knights. Before he was the architect of the Golden Knights, George played under York for four years at Bowling Green.

In 1981-82, George, York and Bowling Green found themselves in the same position as Graham, York and Boston College did last Saturday night.

The Falcons were 0-6-1 after seven games. Their season seemed lost. Just as BC's did before Saturday's game.

See, York knows his players, for the most part, probably haven't been 0-5-0 before. Players don't get to play for Boston College by losing. He's been there before, though.

There aren't many things York hasn't seen. Richard Nixon was the president when York got his first job running a program.

So he told Graham McPhee to call his father. Not for comfort, but for reassurance. That 0-6-1 Bowling Green team ended up winning the CCHA regular-season title and tournament championship before losing in the NCAA tournament to Northeastern in Boston.

"You guys have probably never been 0-5-0," York said to his team. "You just haven't. But I've been there. Graham McPhee's father was our senior captain at Bowling Green. We started 0-6-1. With unbelievable leadership from (George McPhee) and Brian MacLellan, both (NHL) GMs now, we won the league title, the playoff title and went into Northeastern in the national tournament.

"We went from 0-6-1. I told them I've been there, and that this team has a chance to become a very good team for us. Believe me, just because you start 0-5-0, doesn't mean you have to have a lousy year. I said 'Graham, call your dad and ask him.' It's still a long year. We have a lot of work to do, but we've got a pretty good club."

The Eagles, having lost their fifth straight game just 24 hours earlier, took their coach's words and responded.

BC picked up its first win on Saturday. The Eagles dominated Merrimack, earning a 4-1 win and finally collected the kind of result on which they can build this season.

It seems crazy even still. But there is a skepticism about Boston College that would've seemed absurd just two or three years ago.

BC's roster talent warranted the lofty expectations for the 2018-19 season. The Eagles recent track record hasn't exactly done the same even after York fashioned a program that pieced together one of the great eras of dominance in the history of college hockey.

Between 1998 and 2012, the Eagles, under York, dominated college hockey to the tune of six league regular-season titles, seven tournament championships, 12 Frozen Four appearances and four national titles.

Since then, the Eagles have been a perfectly fine college hockey team. The word "dominance" doesn't come to mind, however.

BC has won the Hockey East regular-season title four times since the end 2011-12 season. The Eagles even got to the Frozen Four twice. The last two NCAA tournaments, however, have started without the Eagles.

The causes are numerous. There are more teams capable of winning games now than there were five or seven years ago. Moreover, the disastrous 2016 offseason, when seven underclassmen left BC to sign professional contracts, created a massive imbalance between underclassmen and upperclassmen and a startling lack of high-end talent on BC's roster in the last two seasons. The departure of Greg Brown, York's long-time assistant, for the New York Rangers during the summer created even more uncertainty as this season began.

"It's been a long process from the seven kids leaving as underclassmen," York said. "We're getting back to a balanced team. I like the feeling in the locker room and the direction we're going to go."

Whatever the precise cause, things just haven't been the same. Even with success in Hockey East, BC's non-conference struggles and general inability to win games against other NCAA tournament teams have been its downfall. The program's last non-conference win was more than two years ago. It's gone 0-20-4 since, including 0-4-0 to start this season.

Saturday's win was a deserved result for the Eagles.

In their previous five games, BC played well enough to win a couple with a bounce or two for the good instead of the bad, maybe a few more saves from junior goaltender Joe Woll.

"We played three really good games prior," York said. "Quinnipiac was a 1-0 game. It could've gone either way, I thought. First Wisconsin game was 2-0 before we pulled the goaltender. (First Merrimack game) was a close game. We've played well, but just not competitive enough for the 60 full minutes. Something always took away the win from us."

There was no denying BC on Saturday. Now, the Eagles enter a stretch of four games against opponents they should handle.

Vermont is in Chestnut Hill for a pair of games this week. New Hampshire travels to the Heights on Nov. 16 before Bentley follows them on Black Friday. There's a pretty clear route back to .500 for BC. With 22 Hockey East games left, it's also still very much a contender for another Hockey East regular-season title.

The season isn't lost for BC, but the Eagles will need some improvement. They haven't generated the scoring chances a team with such talent should. Freshman star Oliver Wahlstrom, a first-round pick in June's NHL Draft (New York Islanders) has been largely anonymous with just one goal. Twenty-seven shots on goal, eight more than any other BC player, should produce some more goals. Woll enters this weekend with just a .900 save percentage in his six appearances this season. Before Saturday's win, BC didn't have a single player that had scored in multiple games.

Junior David Cotton picked up a pair of goals in the win. York believes BC may have found something with Cotton, Logan Hutsko and Julius Mattila.

"We took (Cotton, Mattila and Hutsko) and put them on one line," York said. "We have other good players. Julius with Hutsko and Cotton has a chance to become a dominant line for us. And we'll play the heck out of them."

Perhaps, BC found a formula in Saturday's win. Cotton, Mattila and Hutsko certainly looked like the kind of line that can carry a team to greatness. As is often the case at this point in the season, BC's win was likely more a product of regression. It didn't play poorly enough to lose its first five games. Eventually, the bounces were always going to turn.

The expectations haven't changed much for BC. York still thinks the 2018-19 Eagles can win championships.

Like any successful coach, leader, whatever, York relies on a handful of mantras and principles. One is the microscope and the telescope. The microscope is the intense, short-term focus on the immediate tasks at hand and the smallest details that win and lose hockey games. The telescope represents a long-term focus on the ultimate goal of positioning a team to win championships annually. Everything York and his staff install and preach accounts for both the short and long term.

After a 1-5-0 start, York's microscope is zoomed in on the game's fundamentals.

"Just focus on small details within the program," York said. "Line changes, face-off alignment. We can never forget the fundamental of skating. We work on those things every day."

The telescope?

"Put the telescope away for a little while," York said, "we have to get out of this hole we dug for ourselves."

