Preseason Top 16: #15 Boston College

Howdy, folks. It’s that time of year again. Every so often The College Hockey Blog will be unveiling our Preseason top 16 teams, one by one. If you want to see the top 16 in order, and links to each individual preview, click the tab at the top of the page. Today’s team is #15 Boston College

Like #16 Northern Michigan, there were a lot of teams I flirted with putting in this spot, but in the end I went with the Eagles. Although leading scorer Brock Bradford (2nd nationally with .68 gpg) graduated, the Eagles had so many guys that took a step backwards last year that I am banking on it being just an aberration. For example, John Muse went from a 2.20 GAA to a 2.72 mark, and a .921 save percentage to a .904%. Ben Smith (25 G, 50 pts to 6 G, 17 pts), Joe Whitney (11 G, 51 pts to 7 G, 15 pts) and Brian Gibbons (13 G, 35 pts to 9 G, 28 pts) were all guys who took huge steps backwards in 2009. The talent level was still there, but the production was not.