Fresh Meat: Part 7 of 7

Max Nicastro -- Defenseman


This is the final installment of a seven part series introducing you to the newest members of the Boston University Terriers Men's Ice Hockey team. Here we will be looking at the resumes of the new recruits Jack Parker and Co. have brought in to try to fill the shoes of the dearly departed group of 8 players from the 08-09 championship squad.


Defense wins championships.  Plain and simple.  


Look at any sport, and the moral of the story is always the same.  Solid defense will keep you in games.


And last year's BU team had defense coming out of their ears, with the best unit of six blueliners in the nation.  In 2008-09, opponents of the Terriers managed a paltry 2.02 goals per game on just 23 shots per game.  And the number of quality chances was even lower.  High scoring offense is great, but the way the Terriers set themselves up to be a championship caliber team was with solid defense.


Assistant Captain Brian Strait was the man at the front of the line of a defense first strategy.  But alas, Strait has moved on to greener pastures in Scranton, and his presence will need to be replaced.

Ladies and gentlemen, Max Nicastro.

If there is a sure thing in this freshman class, it is Max Nicastro.  


At 6'2", 189, Nicastro has a bit of work to do to fill out his tall frame, but weighing in under 200 pounds doesn't mean that Max can't hit.  


His brand of play is physical, physical, physical, and there will be Hockey East forwards who will swear that Nicastro is a 300 pounder after he pastes them to the glass.  Nicastro plays like a Mack Truck with no brakes in the defensive zone.


Max spent the past two seasons honing his skills in the USHL with the Chicago Steel, where he registered 51 points in two years.  BU fans should probably expect these offensive numbers to be significantly lower in the college ranks, but his task will be goal prevention, not goal scoring.  If the offense works, he will get his share of assists, but that's not why Jack Parker brought Nicastro to Boston.


Nicastro will be a defensive juggernaut for the Terriers, tasked with becoming a physical force along with fellow big man Eric Gryba.  However, in Gryba's one season in the USHL with Green Bay, he racked up more penalty minutes (205) than Nicastro did in two years (162).


Nicastro's physical play has already caught the eye of professional teams.

Max was a third round pick of the Red Wings in the 2008 draft.  Big, tough defenseman are hard to come by, and his style of play will be very attractive to the pro ranks whenever he opts to leave BU.

Red Wings' Scout David Kolb says that Max has work to do to become a complete player. "He can be a physical player when he wants to be at (the USHL) level, but he needs to develop more of a mean streak. His physical play has been too inconsistent this year, and he needs to learn to punish guys more."

Well, if anyone can teach him how to be mean, it's his new assistant captain.  Gryba is the king of mean, and I'm sure he'll see a bit of himself in Max.  This could be a dangerous duo for opposing forwards who dare skate into the BU zone.


As Nicastro develops, it's not unconceivable to think of him as a top line defenseman as time goes on.  He is a very talented player, and he will be a tremendous asset to the Terriers' defensive corps immediately.


Buckle up folks.  Max Nicastro is going to be a fun kid to watch.