Boston College Athletics
Ryan Shannon: Eyes Up
March 15, 2004 | Men's Hockey
March 15, 2004
By Will Shapiro, Boston College Media Relations
In nearly every action photo of Ryan Shannon you can notice two things. First, his eyes are always looking ahead of him. No matter the location of the puck, an opposing defender or himself on the ice, the forward always plays with his head up. Second is his size. Many of the Boston College forwards are small, as Patrick Eaves is the only member of BC's top two lines who even flirts with six feet. Shannon is no exception. The junior stands 5-9 and weighs 177 pounds, but that has hardly hindered his pace for a career season. Height and weight are just numbers. The intangibles are what set Shannon apart from other smaller players.
"I think Coach York recruits players who have character, heart and the will to succeed. It doesn't matter what shell that character is in, whether you're 6-5 or 5-5," said the junior center. "If you're willing to work hard and you want to succeed, you'll have successes. If you're smart about what you eat, take care of your body, work hard, create a good team atmosphere, you'll be fine."
That hard work has been the hallmark of Shannon's career as a hockey player from the outset. He became fascinated with the game at age 4 after watching a local high school game in his hometown of Darien, Connecticut. His father, also 5-9, played basketball, his mother had been a cheerleader and as a child, Ryan played all kinds of sports but hockey quickly emerged as his favorite, despite its reputation as a rough sport that the big kids played.
"I love the speed of the game," Shannon said. "If you're smaller, you just need to work a little harder. Every once in a while you'll get banged up, but you just get back up and keep working."
So Shannon continued to work as he played Darien Youth Hockey and then enrolled at The Taft School in the fall of 1997. He was jumping into a much higher level of competition with New England prep school hockey and Shannon quickly learned that his hard work was just beginning.
"I went to Taft and got cut my freshman year," Shannon said. "Mike Maher, the coach at Taft, was very disciplined and I never really thought to get angry with him about my playing time, because I knew he was always looking out for me and for the team."
Instead, Shannon spent much of his off-season in the rink and the weight room, honing his skills and working on his conditioning. Sure enough, it paid off, as he made the team as a sophomore. Still, Shannon found himself in a limited role that year, not cracking the lineup regularly until the last five games of the season. But hockey was his love and Shannon was determined to do whatever was necessary to make a career of it.
"I just always tried to compete when I was out there," he said. "I still do. I went from being a J.V. player in prep school to committing to a top Division I school pretty quickly. I wasn't playing varsity hockey until the last five games of my sophomore year and then I committed to BC in March of my junior year. That's maybe 25 games. I don't think I really got too much better in one year. I didn't go from being an awful player to being a great player in those 25 games. I just got a shot and kind of gained confidence from there. And a lot of my growth came from the USA Hockey program, in the summers."
Shannon came to BC after four years of high school in a sport where a lot of players repeat grades. He also came with no junior league experience. Still, the time he spent playing USA Hockey was integral to his development as a player.
"I hear about the fighting and the toughness in the junior leagues, so that was a little intimidating when I came here, but I learned a lot about the speed of the college game through the USA Hockey program," Shannon said. "It helped me play at that higher level. All the kids that are associated with USA Hockey want to make that next step, so it's a very competitive environment. I loved that aspect of it. As you go on, at 17 and 18, it gets a lot more competitive. There are fewer and fewer guys each year who can make the jump and eventually you start mixing in the national team kids, who are a lot more advanced than everyone else in the country. You get 17-year-olds, like me, playing against 20-year-olds."
Ryan made an immediate impact when he arrived at the Heights, playing in all 38 games his freshman year and recording 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists). In his two-plus years with the program, Shannon has missed only three games, all of which he missed because he was playing for the Unites States in the 2003 World Junior Championships, an event, he says, that was unlike any other hockey experience.
"Just being asked to try out made me feel proud, being one of those 50 or so guys going up to Lake Placid," he said. "When you show up at BC, yes there's a still a tryout, but it's not so competitive that you're in a situation where you might really get cut and get sent home. I had never been in a tryout like that before. Herb Brooks stopped by. All these legendary coaches were around. I guess the biggest thing was just being able to represent your country. When you're younger, you always dream about wearing a USA Hockey jersey and competing in the Olympics and all. The patriotism was great, knowing that so many people were behind you. It wasn't that big in the U.S., which is a little disappointing, but for a while there, we were the focal point of the entire hockey world. All eyes are on you."
All eyes may not be on Shannon anymore, but those of BC fans certainly are. The junior had a 12-game point-scoring streak earlier this season, which coincided with the Eagles' 12-game unbeaten streak. And while the eyes of the crowd are on him, Shannon will play the same way he always has: with his eyes up.
