There are very few players who can undergo as dramatic of a transformation as Zach Cohen did with the BU Terriers. Before Zach's junior season (2008-09) faced off, Cohen had what can only be described as a tenuous future with the team. He sat firmly in Coach Jack Parker's dog-house, and even came within moments of being dismissed from the team outright, Brett Bennett style. But fast forward to the end of his senior year, and all those troubles are but a distant memory for Zach, who led the Terriers in goals this year, and etched his name in Terrier Lore by taking part in the best 42 seconds in BU Hockey History.
In his book Burn the Boats, Scott Weighart goes into great detail about Cohen's (as well as teammate Steve Smolinsky's) close call with getting booted from the team. According to Weighart, only the pleas of captains Matt Gilroy, John McCarthy and Brian Strait. In his first two seasons in Scarlet and White, Zach did not live up to expectations. He scored just 3 goals to go with 6 assists in his first 51 games, numbers that highlighted a soft style of play.
Zach Cohen Used His Last Two Years at BU Wisely
But everything changed for Cohen when he got a stay of execution from Coach Parker. He burst back into the minds of Terrier faithful by playing a hard-nosed brand of hockey and remembering how to find the net. After spending his first two seasons as an after-thought, Cohen would become a vital piece of BU's championship run and beyond.
Throughout his junior season, Cohen established himself as the big physical forward that Parker and Co. thought they had recruited in the first place. The 6'3" forward starting to use his size to his advantage, showing a hard-hitting and hard-driving side that Terrier fans were yet to see from him. Zach learned how to finish his checks more effectively, and he also began to reap the benefits of crashing the net.
He started off his junior season with an unexpected scoring run, scoring 6 goals in the teams first 14 games. That number was already better than his first two seasons combined. BU fans really started to take notice of Cohen, but his hot start was just an appetizer for what was to come late in the year.
Zach seemed to save his best for the playoffs, as he emerged from a black hole when the #1 ranked Terriers began the second season. BU played in a total of 9 playoff games in 2009, and it was by far Zach's most explosive stretch to that point. Cohen had 5 goals and 1 assist in the playoffs when it was all said and done, including his first ever multi-goal game against Ohio State in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
Cohen also gave us a hint of his flair for the dramatic when he scored a highlight reel goal against arch-rival Boston College in the Hockey East semi-finals.
With BU down 1-0 in the third, Cohen made a play that exemplified everything his breakout season had been about. Raw strength, strong stickhandling and excellent instincts. Cohen dug a puck out of the corner, shielded it from two BC defenders, glided along the goal line and danced past one more defender to find himself right in front of BC netminder John Muse. One quick head fake, and a quicker back-hander, and Cohen had the Terriers on the board. They would score twice more in the next 44 seconds to take a 3-1 lead.
It wouldn't be the last time that Cohen would begin an incredible scoring barrage. In the final game of the season, the National Championship game against Miami Ohio, Cohen scored another signature goal.
After teammate Nick Bonino was denied on a back-hand attempt on net, Nicky was able to stay with the play and poke the rebound free. Cohen was crashing the net, and het found himself all alone with the puck on his stick and his back to the Miami cage. He pivoted on a dime to his left and ripped off a back-handed wrister that rose up the pads of Miami goalie Cody Reichard. The puck somehow, some way snuck under Reichard's right arm and into the goal.
Zach Was a Miracle Man in D.C.
The rest of the story is one we all know. Gilroy makes the play of a lifetime to set up a Bonino one-timer to tie it up, tying it up at 3. Shattenkirk drops off a no-look pass to Colby, who closes his eyes and fires a missle on net off a defender and in for the win. Terriers complete the best comeback ever.
After the dust settled, I met Zach at the parade, and I asked him how on earth he snuck the game tying goal past Reichard.
"Dude, I wish I could tell you, but I really have no idea how that went in," he told me.
It would be tough to live up to his accomplishments as a junior, but Cohen did a good job continuing his success as one of the senior leaders on the team in 2009-10. He continued to mature as a player, specifically as a goal scorer. Time after time Zach would go find a puck and simply make something happen with it. He discovered an ability to seek out a puck and one-man-band it all the way into the back of the net.
Zach led the Terriers with 15 goals as a senior on a team that didn't offer up a whole lot of help out of the forward position. Zach and Nick Bonino were really the only established goal scoring threats from the forward position for a BU team that had been knee deep in goal scoring forwards just a season earlier.As a senior, he finally had a complete, consistent season as a Terrier. From beginning to end of his final season, he was an integral component of a team that often struggled to keep its head above water. If not for the stabalizing force of Zach Cohen, it's likely the Terriers would have drowned much earlier in the year than they did. Cohen helped make something out of nothing in 2010, using his senior year as a way to leave a very positive legacy at BU.
Now that he's graduated, Zach has moved on to the pro ranks, a jump that looked highly unlikely just two years ago when he was flirting with dismissal. Cohen will have a chance to continue the Terrier legacy alongside a slew of his BU mates, including Brandon Yip, Kevin Shattenkirk, Colby Cohen and eventually Kieran Millan in the Colorado system.
Zach Is Now Officially a Lake Erie Monster
Zach and his BU Brethern missed the playoffs with the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL, but before the season ended, Cohen scored his first professional goal. On March 27 against the San Antonio Rampage, Cohen scored a goal and added an assist in the Monsters' 5-4 victory. Here's to hoping it's the first of many.
Zach Cohen, thanks for the memories.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment