BU freshmen are in a class of their own

Remember the old saying, "You never really know someone well until you live with them"? For the 10 freshmen on the Boston University men's hockey team, they began learning how true that adage is earlier this season when they came to the campus for the summer semester.

They are housed in Shelton Hall, living together, going to class, and playing hockey, and they have grown into a close-knit group as the Terriers have established themselves as one of the top teams in Hockey East. Several of the newcomers have made significant contributions and are part of the reason the Terriers are tied with Vermont for second place in Hockey East with 13 points (6-4-1, 11-4-1 overall) at the holiday break.

Left wing Chris Connolly of Duluth, Minn., is playing on an all-freshmen line with center Corey Trivino from Toronto and right wing Victor Saponari, who hails from Powder Springs, Ga. Connolly said despite their different backgrounds, they have formed a strong trio.

"Once it was put together, we were all pretty excited," said Connolly, who is the top-scoring freshman on the team with 12 points, tied for fifth on the team. "We thought at the beginning of the year that it could possibly happen. We're pretty similar players so we thought the idea would be pretty cool. Right away, it might have been one or two practices, we just started clicking. We've all been playing with each other since the summer, just captains' practices and things like that. I think it started there. The last couple of games we've played pretty well together and we have a lot of chemistry. We're pretty [optimistic] to see where it goes."

Minnesota hockey players usually matriculate at a school in that state, but Connolly, 21, left to play for Omaha of the USHL before heading to BU. He said it was the right decision for him even though his younger brother, Jack, is going to Minnesota-Duluth.

"It was an opportunity I couldn't turn down," said Connolly. "It was my choice to leave and try something new, something completely different than I was used to and I've loved every minute of it."

Another standout has been defenseman David Warsofsky, who has offensive gifts. He said making the transition to college wasn't easy, balancing the demands of class, workouts, and games.

"At the beginning, it was kind of tough," said Warsofsky, who is from Marshfield and spent last year with the US National Under-18 team. "Academics is probably one of the more tough things for me. Last year, I went to public school and I was in prep school before. Just trying to stay on top of your classwork and, at the same time, being at the top of your game every Friday and Saturday night. That's been the toughest part for me so far."

One person who has made it easier for Warsofsky is his defense partner, rough-and-tumble junior Eric Gryba.

"It gives me confidence knowing that he's back there," said Warsofsky. "I'm kind of an offensive guy and he's kind of a stay-at-home defenseman, so it gives me confidence that if I jump up in the play, I know he'll be back there."

If last season's roster had an Achilles' heel, it was goaltending. That hasn't been the case this season as a pair of freshmen - Kieran Millan and Grant Rollheiser - have stepped in and stepped up, particularly Millan. Through the first 12 games, the duo alternated starts but because of an injury to Rollheiser, Millan played four straight leading up to the recess and was 3-0-1. Overall, Millan is 8-1-1 with a 1.79 goals-against average and .922 save percentage.

"I didn't really think of it as much of a run," said Millan, a native of Edmonton, Alberta. "I thought of it as an opportunity for me to play well for myself and for the team. They were pretty big games, especially against Boston College, where our team played really well. My early-season success has to do with our team's defensive abilities. They do a great job of clearing the rebounds and boxing guys out."

When the second half starts, coach Jack Parker said he'll go back to a platoon. That doesn't bother Millan, who said he and Rollheiser have a solid friendship and push each other to be better.

"Whenever there are two goalies trying to get ice time, obviously, you're trying your hardest in practice," said Millan. "Outside the rink, we're good friends and we hang out a lot. I think it's good for the team that there is that competition because there is an opportunity to maybe get the next start and get the ball and run with it. At this point, we're just trying to get wins for the team because you never really know what the coaches are thinking or who they're going to go with eventually. Grant and I, we try to win and that way, the team is doing well."

Millan said since being at BU, he has a deeper appreciation for college hockey in the US, which is far different than where he comes from.

"Every single one of [the freshmen] is very skilled more than I ever expected," he said. "Growing up in Canada, you don't really realize how good college hockey is. [The freshmen are] the key to our team and it's going to keep going, next year it's going to carry over. I think we have a good future ahead of us."

As happy as Parker is with the first half, he said his team needs to remember the important games are yet to come. Next up for the Terriers is the Denver Cup. The team takes on RPI tonight, which Rollheiser will play, then faces either Holy Cross or Denver tomorrow with Millan in net.

"Obviously, Kieran has played extremely well," said Parker. "In any other situation, he'd probably be the No. 1 goalie. But we don't want to have to put that much pressure on a freshman goalie. We think that Rollheiser is a terrific goalie who will give us some meaningful minutes and we don't want to put him on the back burner while we wear Kieran Millan out. Unless there is a huge difference in the first few games of the second semester, we will probably stick with the idea of platooning."

Parker said in addition to the netminders, there is much to like about the rest of the freshman class.

"The freshmen have added depth and skill to the team and some with surprising poise," he said. "Vinny Saponari has played extremely well, as has Chris Connolly up front. David Warsofsky has played really well on defense. Those are three guys right off the bat who are more than depth guys. They're playing power play. They're on the penalty kill, they're doing a terrific job. Sometimes they're on the third line, sometimes they're on the first line. They've all been very important to us."

Connolly will get a chance to play on the first line with Chris Higgins and Jason Lawrence, taking Colin Wilson's place during the Denver Cup because Wilson is playing in the World Junior Tournament.

As for living together, in the interest of true teammates, the players weren't willing to throw a friend under the bus regarding who is the biggest slob (although Trivino got the most votes), but all seemed to agree the neatest of the bunch is Ryan Ruikka.

Connolly said they find a way to make it work.

"Overall, we're really close," he said. "We're always together eating breakfast and things like that. We see each other every day and I think that's really good. You definitely don't know someone until you live with them. Every guy is great. All together we're equally as messy as anybody else."

After all, to them, cleaning up is only important in Hockey East.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com.