Boston College Athletics
Lofty Goals Leads Lephart Into Senior Season
January 12, 2001 | Men's Hockey
Jan. 12, 2001
When hockey players come to Boston College they come already harboring lofty expectations and dreams of winning conference tournaments, Beanpot titles, and National Championships. Mike Lephart still has those aspirations, mainly because he and his Eagles have only the 1999 HOCKEY EAST Tournament Championship to show for all their hard work..
For Lephart and this year's crop of seniors the experience has been somewhat bitter sweet. Sure, they'll say, we've been to three straight Frozen Fours - the first BC team to accomplish that feat since the days of "Snooks" Kelley and the 1949 National Championship team - but we've come up short each time. Lephart, for one, knows that the goals will remain the same - win or lose - and that despite the loss of five impact players to graduation, this year's squad has what it takes to position themselves for another run at a second championship.
On the ice Lephart, an assistant captain for this year's team, believes that this season provides him an excellent opportunity to elevate his game and do what he does best - blend a shooter's touch with the heart of a checker. He has to look no further than last season's team to find examples of the style of play that is expected at BC.
"In the three years I've been here I've played with some great players. In practice everyday I'd watch guys like Brian Gionta, Jeff Farkas and Marty Reasoner and I'd always pick up some little things that they'd do and I'd try to add those elements to my game," Lephart says. "Blake Bellefeuille and Mike Mottau, they were great two-way players. They were finishing every check, their physical presence was very contagious and that carried throughout the rest of the club." Fittingly, when asked about his senior forward, Coach York, who has seen great players come through the BC program in the past few years, is quick to note that Lephart fits rather well into that classic two-way mold that the senior admired in seasons past.
"If you had a prototypical forward in college, he's that player," explains Coach York. "He's hard, he plays every shift, and he can beat you with or without the puck. He's got a great combination - he brings a high degree of skill and a physical punch with him. He can knock you down or he can skate right past you and score a highlight-type goal, and not many guys can do that."
In fact, when asked which player he most models his game after, it isn't one of the premier NHL power forwards that initially come to his mind, but a former Eagle teammate in Bellefeuille. Not only does Lephart see similarities in their styles of play, but he can also draw comparisons in the fact that neither player was drafted early on in their Boston College careers, unlike other BC players that both Lephart and Bellefeuille played with in recent years.
"Blake is a good example of a player who was undrafted and things ended up working well for him," the 5-11, 194-pound Lephart says. "I think that I can follow in his footsteps, try to play like him and have a great year, and maybe I'll find myself in a similar situation." A situation which currently finds Bellefeuille with the AHL's Syracuse Crunch, one step below the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Niskayuna, N. Y. native looks forward to trying to balance his physical play with the expectations of being an offensive leader as well.
"I'm going to continue to play physical," says Lephart, who is tied for second with Gionta among returning players for time spent in the penalty box. "But I have an opportunity to step it up this year and put some more points on the board and contribute more scoring opportunities for my teammates." Due to the loss of three of the top four scorers from last year's squad, Lephart finds himself second in points among returning players heading into this season, his 14 goals and 19 assists second only to Gionta's 33 goals and 23 assists.
This season Lephart and fellow senior Bobby Allen will both wear the assistant captain's "A" on their sweaters. They along with captain Brian Gionta have no doubt what the goals for the 2000-2001 campaign will be.
"We've set goals for this club, saying `We haven't won a regular season championship, that's something we want to do. We haven't won a Beanpot yet, that's something we want to do, and ultimately we want to win that National Championship.' I think that we've had it in the back of our minds coming into this season that this could be the year." In order for this to be the year, though, the Eagles will have to get major contributions from a talented freshmen class.
"We're going to need those guys to step up right away," says Lephart, whose freshman numbers included 15 goals and 12 assists. "We're going to need those guys to get adjusted fairly quickly and contribute to our club." The main point Lephart and the seniors have been drilling the freshman on is the need to be physical at all times.
"This year we'll emphasize `finish every check,'" he says. "Whether or not you're considered a skill guy, we want everybody in there finishing checks, getting on the boards and playing tough defense. The upperclassmen know that we can get back to the top again if we do those things like we've done them in the past. Day in and day out we've got to win those games." Over the past two years the Eagles learned from experience that mid-season lulls and a lack of focus in November and December can make getting to the playoffs, much less the Championship game, a daunting task, a proposition that Lephart would just as soon avoid.
"Ideally, we want to win the league championship and the HOCKEY EAST title because that puts us in great position to get a good draw into the NCAA's," explains Lephart. The past two years have seen the Eagles shipped out West for the first round of the Regionals, which for a team that plays the majority of its games on the East coast is a less than favorable draw. East or West, Lephart is quick to point out that either way, the road to the Championship is a tough one.
"It's tough no matter how you do it, one way or the other you've got to beat the best to be the best." In this his senior year, Lephart believes that the enthusiasm of this year's freshman class along with the leadership that will come from the eight seniors will help BC finally close the deal and give the Eagles its first hockey championship in 51 years.
