There’s living up to expectations, and then there’s what Jack Eichel has done this season.
The 18-year-old center was hailed as the best college hockey talent in ages before he began his career at Boston University last fall — an overwhelming favorite even then to be picked second behind Connor McDavid in the 2015 NHL draft.
How has Eichel responded to that billing? Where do we start:
— He leads the nation in scoring (his 67 points are the most by any freshman since Paul Kariya) and kick-started a Terriers turnaround that already has included a Beanpot title, Hockey East regular-season and tournament championships, and a spot in the Frozen Four, which begins next Thursday in TD Garden.
— He almost certainly will add a Hobey Baker Award to his trophy case (he, North Dakota goalie Zane McIntyre and Harvard forward Jimmy Vesey are the three finalists for college hockey’s highest individual honor).
— Off the ice, he spent this past Tuesday night reading “SportsCenter” highlights with John Buccigross and Barry Melrose. Buccigross wore an “I Like Eich” pin during the segment.
— Saturday’s win over Minnesota-Duluth in the Northeast Regional final marked just the sixth time in 38 games he’d been held without a point.
And that draft projection — second behind Canadian whiz kid McDavid — still applies.
BU coach David Quinn stated the obvious Tuesday in a conference call with reporters.
“He’s handled it incredibly well,” Quinn said. “He is an 18-year-old, but he’s got the strength of a 25-year-old. That certainly allows you to have success at our level. That being said, I think the great thing about college hockey is the game holds players like Jack (to a higher standard). If you don’t play him the right way, you’re not going to have the success that you’re capable of having. When you have the reputation that Jack has and you have the pedigree that he has, most opposing teams are going to focus on players like him …
“So, Jack obviously is a target. He’s incredibly tough. You see his stats and his skill and all those things — don’t get me wrong, they’re elite — but he’s a tough son of a (gun). He’s competitive, and he’s withstood a lot. Like I said, he’s handled it probably about as well as anyone could.”
Eichel’s skills haven’t just padded his own stat line, though. The attention he attracts on the ice also opens up space for linemates Evan Rodrigues and Danny O’Regan, and the two wingers have been more than willing to take advantage.
Rodrigues and O’Regan have more than doubled their respective point totals from last season (Rodrigues has more than quadrupled his), and both rank among the top 10 in Division I in that category.
“Jack is such a special player that he can kind of fight through that,” Rodrigues said, “but me and Danny usually get a little more time and more space to use our ability and our skill. … We have full faith that he can fight through whatever any team puts at him.”
BU takes on North Dakota in one national semifinal, with Providence and Nebraska-Omaha squaring off in the other.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@Sportsnet
