Easter Season could not have come at a better time, as Boston College is in need of a savior.
Aside from an army of peeps, cutthroat Easter egg hunts, and the possibility of sunny and warm weather, the Jesuits of BC welcome new life after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. While Boston University has found its liberator in the form of “His Holiness” Jack Eichel, Chestnut Hill, Mass. is barren and devoid of a chosen one. But the candidates are readily available as we end this year and look toward the start of new campaign for BC Athletics.
Alex Carpenter:
Jesus was a carpenter. Katie King Crowley’s best player is Alex Carpenter. Not much more needs to be said.
Women’s hockey fell short not once, but three times as the team faltered in the Hockey East championship game, the Frozen Four, and the first round of the Beanpot. But that doesn’t completely erase a team that went 34-3-2. The reigning Patty Kazmaier Award winner is returning, along with three of the other top five scorers from this season, and Katie Burt has a year under her belt as she looks to improve on her brilliance from this year.
The stars fell apart late in the year, but they are aligned once again, and Carpenter and the Eagles should come back with a vengeance to take the throne next year.
Covie Stanwick:
The senior is one of women’s lacrosse’s last chance for success in 2014-15. This is the same senior that has 35 goals in 14 games this year.
The No. 3 Eagles are 11-2 thus far into the spring. Despite losing top scorer Mikaela Rix to a concussion, Caroline Margolis and Sarah Mannelly, who have combined for 107 points this year, can step up alongside Stanwick. There is light at the end of the long tunnel dug out by the Eagles this year, and Stanwick is determined to get there.
Jerry York:
“One college, under York, with liberty and trophies for all,” or so goes the pledge. As long as Jerry York continues to serve as Kelley Rink’s Albus Dumbledore, the hockey team will forge on as the mighty phoenix. The tears of this failed season will drop tenderly on the ashes of the Florida-bound Mike Matheson and burst into a fiery explosion of new recruits and NHL prospects, and new life will fill Conte once again. It’s only a matter of time before BC finds its next Boy-Who-Scored (see Hockey, Johnny) and another banner hangs from the rafters.
For next year, the Eagles appear to be in good hands with the additions of Colin White, a projected first-round pick alongside Noah Hanifin this year, and Jeremy Bracco, who bears a resemblance in height and weight to a certain Gaudreau. Barring another Sonny Milano-type disaster, the Eagles, with the watchful eye of York looming over the bench, stand as a team ready to bring the “Title” back to Titletown.
Jim Christian:
Fortunately, there is a heavy Christian tradition being forged in the men’s basketball program. Jim Christian has arrived from Ohio University, but does that make him the chosen one sent from above to lead a program to salvation? Only time will tell if Christian can build a team of apostles around him after a couple of recruiting classes.
While this season was a wash, Christian proved his worth with the X’s and O’s of the game, now he just needs to fill his table with a talented team of 12.
Out of all the teams at BC, this one requires the longest wait before the millenium arrives.
Kelly Hughes:
Despite knocking off the ranked Duke Blue Devils during the season, the women’s basketball season crumbled thanks to a slew of suspensions. The resulting changes in the lineup threw off any rhythm the team might have been building, but one constant remained the entire season: Kelly Hughes. Armed with a deadly shot and accurate 3-point range, Hughes has only improved in both of her seasons on the Heights, and she will joined by returning captain Nicole Boudreau
Darius Wade:
Admittedly, the football program is difficult to figure out. Back-to-back 7-6 seasons, with four wins in conference play each year, leaves a lot to be desired for Steve Addazio and his team—particularly when coupled with the bitter ending of this year’s Pinstripe Bowl. Addazio did admit that it would take a few more years to fill out the roster completely, so much like the state of men’s basketball, the future requires patience.
For now, though, the fate of the team rides on Tyler Murphy’s replacement, Darius Wade. He is young, has a better arm than Murphy, (which is not saying much), is a decent runner in the mold of Ben Roethlisberger, but did not show all that much in the small sample size of the spring scrimmage.
Jonathan Hilliman and Myles Willis continue to be the focal point of the offense, but the Eagles need Wade to step up in the passing game to provide a more balanced attack on offense.
Chris Shaw:
If anyone fits the bill as the one man who can single-handedly lift BC athletics from the grave, it is Chris Shaw. The stats speak for themselves: three home runs in one game, two grand slams this year, and an OPS that breaks the time-speed continuum. Head coach Mike Gambino relates the slugger to Adam Dunn as the MLB draft awaits him in June.
With the Eagles just now returning to Shea Field for the first home game of the season, Chris Shaw looks poised to put the dregs of a historic winter firmly in the rearview mirror. All it takes is one shot past the fences, and the world begins to revolve around Shaw.
At the moment, however, BC revolves around nothing—it is lost in the void and coming ever nearer to a black hole. But every Stanwick goal, every Shaw homer, and every Carpenter hat trick brings the Eagles closer to a new life.
Featured Image by Francisco Ruela / Heights Graphics
