BC Hockey Preview of Champions: Danny Linell, #10

Sometimes, freshmen play in a lot of games, and sometimes they don’t. There were a few newcomers to the national champion 2011-12 Eagles who barely got on the stat sheet at all, and others like yesterday’s feature, Johnny Gaudreau, who got onto the ice very often. Danny Linell didn’t quite get the playing time of Gaudreau, but he made it into all but four games last season for the champs.

Linell comes from Great Neck, a town on Long Island which is not too terribly far from Queens. He did not play his high school hockey down there, however: he crossed the Sound to put on the sweater of Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, CT. A two-sport athlete, Linell had nearly two points per game during his senior year, in which he was the team MVP. His strong performance on a team that was championship-caliber at one point during his high school years helped get him noticed by those in the loop at Boston College, and here he is today.

During the title season of 2011-12, Linell’s freshman year, he appeared in 40 games, missing just four early on in the campaign because of an injury. Jerry York showed a great deal of faith in him but playing him in that many contests as a rookie, and even though he did not have a major breakthrough, Linell did have a few nice moments. Amongst them, he assisted on Chris Kreider’s shorthanded game-winner at “Frozen Fenway,” and scored his first game-winning goal against Vermont in early March. In total, Linell had six points.

His playing time in 2012-13 will probably be about the same or a little more, as Boston College might be easing him up into bigger and better things. All things considered, he was alright in his first season as an Eagle, and better things might be awaiting him. Follow him on Twitter, why don’t ya.