USA HOCKEY MAGAZINE ARTICLE

Crest of the wave

Eastern Junior League’s Bay State Breakers continue torrid rate of college advancements

By Joshua Boyd

Colin South let his brother Furman be the pioneer for the family.

Furman set out on an Eastern path from his Pittsburgh, Pa., home, landing in Rockland, Mass., the former home of the Bay State Breakers.

Furman South parlayed his two-year career with the Breakers into a Division 1 college hockey career with Robert Morris University, back in his hometown.

The path well trodden, Colin South followed his brother, but took a detour to the Breakers’ new home at The Bog facility in Kingston, Mass. It has been a successful hockey homesteading adventure for Colin, as in 2010-11, he too will suit up alongside his older brother for the Robert Morris Colonials.

“I started the year here last year and played about 10 games, but this is my first full season,” said Colin. “It was just an easy pick. My brother had such a good experience here, and my parents had such a good experience with Coach David McCauley and the coaching staff that it made it a pretty easy choice.”

Those words are music to McCauley’s ears. He most certainly wants his players to leave the Breakers as satisfied customers, and he’ll provide all the coaching expertise, educational help and player support services that he can offer to make it happen.

“I think we do a great job with our program,” said McCauley.

“Our players have more ice time than most programs – two hours daily – we use a sport-specific training facility two days a week and our guys get a gym membership where they can work out on their own,” he added. “We supply helmets, gloves, pants, sweat suits, hockey bag, tape, meals on the road, buses, hotels, full-time trainer.

“The point I am trying to make is that we run our program just like a good college program does,” McCauley said. “That is where we want to send our players, so we try and emulate that.”

It all falls in line with the Breakers’ mission statement, as McCauley sees it.

“Develop players to their highest potential athletically; provide a healthy environment to socially develop; instill good moral character; and assist them in the college process with the end result being a spot on a college hockey team’s roster,” he said.

Ryan McGrath, another Pittsburgh product, has been a direct beneficiary of this line of thinking. Next year, McGrath will suit up for the College of the Holy Cross, a member of the Atlantic Hockey Association. He will line up against the South brothers when Robert Morris joins Atlantic Hockey alongside Niagara as new members this fall.

“I spent my first two Jr. A seasons in the North American Hockey League, and I went through two seasons of being uncommitted,” said the 1989-born defenseman. “The Eastern Junior Hockey League is a breeding ground for college players – ECAC Hockey, Atlantic Hockey, Hockey East all look at the programs out here. Coach McCauley is the best at what he does and that’s moving kids to college.”

“I would recommend Bay State to any player looking to enter a junior career and looking to play Division 1 college hockey,” McGrath added. “My experience with Bay State and with Coach McCauley has been nothing but fantastic. If I could do it all over again, I’d be with Bay State for my first junior year.”

The player of today

“Players today are faster and stronger than they were five years ago,” said McCauley, who has seen many changes, in terms of the players the EJHL attracts and the players that college teams are looking for.

“Skating would be at the top of the list of skills needed by a player in today’s game,” McCauley added. “Today’s hockey player, never mind junior hockey player, needs to deal with adversity and use that as a driving force to get better and work harder.

“An intangible that every hockey player should develop would be their ‘compete level’ – which is the biggest thing that I see missing in today’s players,” he said.

More and more coaches talk about “heart” and “commitment,” way more than coaches who concern themselves with statistics and whose name is on the scoresheet. Of course, no coach will turn away a player who has that dream mix of blue-collar work ethic and elite-level offensive skills or a goaltender with a focused, technical approach to the game who is willing to learn.

The Breakers have brought in hundreds of players like these, and sent them where they can excel best at the next level.

“Our track record of placing players has been great. I think the [college coaches] that trust what I have to say have been the beneficiaries of some very good players,” McCauley added. “Since coaching at Babson College, this is my seventh season here at Bay State and we’ve placed 45-50 players to Division 1 and another 75-80 players into Division 3 college programs.”

McGrath can attest to the fact that McCauley has the ear of college coaches and name recognition that extends beyond the New England region.

“Coach has a lot of connections in Pittsburgh. His reputation there precedes him,” said McCauley. “He always has a winning program, his teams are always in the playoffs and are always a championship contender in the EJHL. He’s able to send a lot of kids on to D-1 programs and at the same time keep his teams extremely competitive.”

An eye on the future

While teams are looking at Breakers players, the Breakers staff is also out and about finding the next wave of top-flight EJHL athletes.

“As far as scouting, we go to as many multi-team events as possible, so we can see the greatest number of players in a short period of time,” said McCauley. “The penultimate Breaker player is one that has a great work ethic and his compete level is very high. Obviously, skating and skill go along with that.”

For those players not quite ready for the EJHL level, the Breakers offer a Jr. B team in the Empire Junior Hockey League, coached by Kyle Robertson. Occasionally, Jr. B players have the chance to get into Jr. A action.

“The movement from our Empire team to our Eastern junior team is very good,” McCauley said. “There is a big jump between the two but we have had many players move up during the year and the following year. I would like to do a better job of moving players up through our [23-team] youth organization than we do now.”

All in all, it’s been a good ride so far for the Breakers, and McCauley can see smooth sailing ahead.

“We want to continue with the tradition and success we have fostered the past six years of placing players into college programs,” he added. 

That commitment will lure more like the South brothers, forging their own path to greater hockey glory.