Meet Your New Hockey Eagles: Mark Begert
By Joe Micik
The first of two Canadians who are joining the Boston College Eagles from the Great White North in 2011 is Mark Begert, #5, today’s freshman hockey player. He is an 18-year old defenseman from West Vancouver, British Columbia (fitting that a guy from BC should go to BC).
Before coming to Boston College, he most recently played for the Coquitlam Express of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). Last season, he gained eleven points (four goals and seven assists), which isn’t all that bad for a rookie defenseman. What we’re most interested in, however, is how his team did defensively, and all we can tell is that his goalie, Khaleed Devji, had a GAA of almost four. Hard to lay blame on Begert for that, or anyone for that matter, since I saw exactly zero of the games.
Prior to playing for Coquitlam, Begert was a member of the Vancouver North West Giants in the BC Hockey Major Midget League. In the 2008-2009 season, he appeared in 37 games and gained 17 points (4 goals, 13 assists), but his 2009-2010 season was even better, appearing in 39 games and putting together a total of 27 points (4 goals, 23 assists). In the playoffs for West Vancouver, he appeared in ten games, scored one goal, and had five assists. He was a 2010 All-Star Selection in the BCHMML.
There aren’t even any videos of him from previous games floating around on the internet, so all we have is this article which doubles as a scouting report, barely.
Supposedly, his defensive performance on the Express, in his rookie year, mind you, was so good that Boston College took notice. Apparently, he got off to a slow start, but came on strong towards the end. Similarly, I think Begert will take time to learn the college hockey landscape, but once he does, I have every confidence that he will succeed.