The Boston College sophomore once again used the Beanpot finals to show off his offensive talent when he earned MVP honors after a 2-1-3 performance in a 7-6 overtime win over Northeastern. 2 years, 2 great performances games as Kreider set up the game winning goal at the 6:00 mark of overtime when he fed Jimmy Hayes for Hayes 14th goal of the season.
Kreider scored his 8th and 9th goals of the season also added his 11th assist on the season. It was really one of those nights when Kreider showed off the potential he has inside of him.
Kreider got his night going in the second period when he scored a power play goal at 5:25 to tie the game up at 3-3. In the 3rd period Kreider added another power play goal when he scored at 11:44 to put Boston College up 6-5.
Northeastern wound up tying the game late in the 3rd period setting up Kreider's lone assist of the night. But Kreider has 2 Beanpot titles on his resume to go along with his NCAA title and 2 USA medals.
Now for us the key stat from Kreider was 8 shots on goal as that is the one area that has led us to suggest that he remain at Boston College for a 3rd season. Yes we know that Kreider has taken 101 shots in 26 games.
But that only works out to an average of 3.88 shots a game and the last thing this prospect needs is to show up at Madison Square Garden with all these expectations and not shoot the puck. We do not kid ourselves as if he does then Ranger fans will eat him alive.
The Rangers already have plenty of players who do not shoot the puck on net. Do not get us wrong Chris Kreider is the future first line left wing for the Rangers; he has all the tools on both offense and defense as well as his skating speed.
We want to see him become a little more selfish and do like he did against Northeastern which was to shoot the heck out of the puck. We will take 2 goals on 8 shots any day over no points and just 2 shots as he did against Providence on Friday.
This is not a "beat up on Kreider" night but rather words of caution to the Rangers not to rush yet another prospect to the NHL. Michael Del Zotto and Evgeny Grachev is all you need to remember when you think of rushing him.
Nobody not Derek Stepan, not Christian Thomas not anyone on the current Ranger roster has all of the tools that Chris Kreider has. But at the same time no prospect is more raw and in need of more patience shown than Kreider.
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Corey Trivino and his Boston University Terriers made it 0-2 for the 2011 Beanpot when they lost to Harvard 5-4. Trivino had a secondary assist on BU's first goal but this is one of those games they never should have lost.
Harvard was 4-18-1 entering this game and this loss could prove costly for BU's hopes of earning an "at large" bid for the NCAA tournament. The NCAA uses a system called Pairwise which determines who gets awarded bids after the 6 automatic bids are given out.
The loss put BU tied for 17th in the Pairwise which would guarantee they would end their season if they do not win the Hockey East Tournament. Boston College is 2nd which win or lose Hockey East means they would be going to the NCAA tournament.
(Kreider/Dennis Pause)
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