The Eagles are rapt students as coach Jerry York illustrates how they should approach St. Lawrence this afternoon.
(DOMINIC CHAVEZ/GLOBE STAFF)
BC's Boyle is a moving force on defense
As the regular season concluded, Boston College coach Jerry York had a dilemma. The Eagles were decimated behind the blue line as they headed into the best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinals against Northeastern.
They were on a roll, having won six in a row, but defensemen Carl Sneep and Anthony Aiello were unavailable because of injuries. So York made a radical move. He took his leading scorer, forward Brian Boyle, and put him on defense.
That meant replacing the captain at center on the first line between Nathan Gerbe and Brock Bradford. The duty went to freshman Ben Smith.
Not only has Boyle given his team a boost, with 8 points in four games, but Smith has contributed better than a point a game with two goals and three assists.
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Earlier in the week, York exchanged tapes with Saints coach Joe Marsh and analyzed the ECACHL regular-season champions.
"We're looking to pick up their system of play and trying to figure out their strengths, what we have to be conscious of and what they do well," said York. "A couple of things jump at me. Their freshman goaltender [Alex Petizian] has played terrific. Their forecheckers really get them started offensively. They seem to have a great work ethic."
York said the mood around the team all week has been upbeat.
"We're very excited about returning to the national tournament," said York, whose team made it to the NCAA final last year before falling to Wisconsin. "With that as a framework, we're preparing very hard for St. Lawrence. They're outside our conference. We'd been having a steady diet of conference foes for a while now, and all of a sudden, we step outside. We're preparing well and we're spending a lot of time on our defensive zone coverage and our special teams."
Sneep and Aiello are both available, but Boyle, who has 50 points, will stay behind the blue line.
"He's clearly showed his play back there is really a factor in the games," said York. "Ben Smith's emergence has really helped us solidify that Bradford and Gerbe line. We're counting on Brian to stay back there. He does things in practice which is really, really good stuff. I had a chance to coach [Los Angeles Kings defenseman] Rob Blake in college [at Bowling Green]. There is certainly a comparison. They're both big kids. Both move the puck very well and have good shots. I really think this is going to be the spot for him. I see a lot of similar things from Blake at the same age as I do from Brian. We haven't really seen that because he's played mostly at forward, but it's opened my eyes to a whole new dimension that Brian brings to the game."
Junior Mike Brennan, Boyle's defense partner, appreciates having the 6-foot-7-inch, 250-pounder at his side.
"He's been great," said Brennan. "He always comes to the bench and thinks he does worse than he actually does. His positives outweigh his negatives completely. I don't even think he's doing bad at all back there. He's a presence. I love playing with him. He's always talking. He wants the puck all the time because he's a forward. He always gives you an out. Being gritty is part of his game. That's going to be huge [in the playoffs]. Having him back there is a plus."
Boyle said Brennan is one of the reasons he has adjusted so quickly.
"Mikey has helped me out a ton with the transition," said Boyle. "Him and Coach [Greg] Brown have been invaluable to me. It's been unbelievable [the way] they've supported me as much as they have back there, keeping things positive, especially, as Mikey said, I come back and think I screwed up. It's been a pleasure and a privilege."
The Eagles are taking nothing for granted despite how well they're meshing.
"Right now, we're a very confident team and we're very serious about our preparation as we go to the tournament," said York. "There's always that factor of, 'Hey, it's one and done.' "
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at Marrapase@globe.com. 
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