Here is a story on former Vernon Vipers defenceman Garrett Noonan who is returning to Boston University next season. Noonan finished his third season at Boston University. In 34 games this season Noonan collected (6-13-19). Noonan was drafted by the Nashville Predators in round 4 #112 overall in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Noonan played one season in Vernon (2009-2010) collecting (2-16-18) in 58 regular season games with the Vipers.Garrett Noonan's Player Profile:
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=48219
This is posted on the WTBU Sports website:
M Hockey: Garrett Noonan Returns to BU for Teammates, Tradition and a Desire to Win
Posted on May 10, 2013 by jashvina
by Jashvina Shah/Staff Beat Reporter
Boston University men’s hockey defenseman Garrett Noonan was new to the Vernon Vipers when classmate Sahir Gill first met him. They were stall mates, sitting next to each other before Gill moved to an open spot at the center of the room.
“That’s the first time I met him. I sat next to him in his stall and then I ditched him,” Gill says.
“He always gives me a hard time. … I think he took it personally to be honest. … He calls me a bad friend. I’ll tell him to shut up.”
Gill is one of the reasons Noonan elected to stay with the Terriers for his senior season. The 22-year-old wants to be with his teammates, even though some of them — including classmate Matt Nieto — already left to pursue a professional path.
“It was obviously a decision but this is the place that I want to be,” Noonan says, standing near the strength and conditioning room at Agganis Arena.
He’s surrounded by pictures of former Terriers, spaced evenly along the corridors of Agganis Arena’s lower level.
The Norfolk, Mass. native loves being a part of this program, but his biggest goal is to win a championship.
“He probably also felt that he had a little unfinished businesses just because we hadn’t really had much success in the big games since we’ve been here,” Gill says. “I know he’s a local guy, he watched BU win so much and I think he wants to be a part of bringing back the winning ways.”
Over his three years at BU, Noonan has registered 26 goals, 61 points and 247 penalty minutes in 110 games.
The 6-foot-1 defenseman, drafted in the fourth round by the Nashville Predators in 2011, smiles as he stands by the stairwell him and his teammates often use to get in and out of Agganis.
He’s now one of the veterans on the team, not only as an upperclassman but also as an assistant captain. Jack Parker awarded Noonan the “A” on Dec. 14, just after the first half of the season finished.
“It was a pretty big honor, anytime you can wear a letter,” Noonan says.
While the newer assistant captain learned from his counterparts, captain Wade Megan and assistant captain Ryan Ruikka, he also learned from his classmates and some of his other teammates.
“I think I’ve learned a lot from them, just how to take care of my body and trying to lead off the ice and do the right things,” Noonan says.
Gill says his teammate — and one of his closest friends — isn’t the most vocal of leaders.
“He’s not a clown but he’s a funny guy as far as in the [locker] room,” Gill says.
“He’s not really a guy who’s going to come in here and yell at someone or he’s not going to come in and give an all-time Ray Lewis speech, but he leads by example. He plays hard [and] he works hard when he’s out on the ice and that rubs off on guys.”
Noonan suffered a separated shoulder just before the regular season ended, but stepped on the ice just in time for BU’s Hockey East Semifinal match against Boston College.
After a rough first period for the Terriers, Noonan corralled a pass from his defensive partner Matt Grzelcyk and wristed it from the bottom right faceoff circle to give the Terriers a 3-2 lead over the Eagles.
The assistant captain skated away from the net, his stick raised. A few seconds later, he dropped his hands to his side before throwing them up again in celebration.
His goal didn’t stand as the game-winning tally, but it cemented a momentum change in favor of the Terriers. The 22-year-old has scored eight points (5 g, 3a) in 11 contests against the Eagles, including the first goal in BU’s Nov. 30 home victory over the BC this past season.
“He’s always looking to make plays, he’s always looking to score goals,” Gill says. “You always know when he’s on the ice to be aware if he’s going to be looking to get open in the offensive zone or he’s going to look to jump in the rush. It’s just fun hockey when he’s on the ice.”
Back at Agganis in November, Evan Rodrigues threw the puck on net, where Matt Nieto grabbed the rebound and tried himself. Noonan, driving to the crease, found the puck and whacked it into an open net from the air.
Agganis erupted.
“He’s a confident kid. He always wants to be the center of attention when it comes to being on the ice. He wants the puck, he wants to make plays,” Gill says. “I say gamer because he’ll do what it takes to win and you see that sometimes. Maybe it’s a penalty but that’s just because he’s playing hard or makes a big play.”
His first collegiate point was an assist on a goal in BU’s win over Notre Dame that handed the Terriers the Ice Breaker Tournament. And he scored his first goal against Boston College, a play Noonan still remembers.
On that night, Noonan was crossing in front of the net just in time to connect with an Alex Chiasson feed.
The 22-year-old joined the Terriers in 2010-11 after spending some time in Canada’s BCHL with the Vernon Vipers. He amassed 27 points en route to the team’s RBC Cup.
He pauses, trying to think of a story that sums up his three years of hockey after donning red and white.
“One moment? I think there’s been probably a few moments that’s [showed] my role,” he says with a laugh.
But ultimately the Norfolk, Mass. native settled on his conversations with recently retired Parker.
“I know maybe we get in a little argument or something like that and we kind of go at it a little bit,” Noonan says, still laughing.
“But it’s just, coach is unbelievable to me and means the world to me. I think it’s just something that we’re both really competitive people and sometimes stuff happens. It’s, I can’t thank him enough for everything he’s done for me, it’s been unbelievable.”
One of Noonan’s conversations with Parker came after the defenseman speared UMass-Lowell netminder Doug Carr on Jan. 19. Noonan was suspended for two games because of the play.
The defenseman calls it one of the toughest moments of his time at BU.
“Obviously I didn’t want to sit out,” Noonan says, losing his smile. “It was kind of stupid on my part because it hurt the team and I didn’t want people to think I hurt the team, but I did. I know I did. It was good to get back and play.“
The statistics tell one story for Noonan, one of the 2009 Boston Globe All-Scholastic athletes, but it’s the drive to win that characterizes him.
“I think Garrett Noonan is a great kid. I think Garrett Noonan wants to win as much as anybody in that dressing room,” Parker said in January after Noonan’s suspension.
“I think he’s had a terrific first semester. I think he was much better first semester than he’s ever been here because he was super driven. … He’s been terrific defensively though. I must have told him three or four times during the course of the first semester, you’re really going this way, defensively you’re getting better and better.”
Noonan takes a moment to think about what he wants to improve most for next season. It’s quiet in Agganis Arena, currently devoid of the usual regular-season sounds of players walking through the halls, voices carrying from one end to another.
“God, there’s been a bunch of things,” Noonan says.
“[I’m] trying to get better defensively because I know at the next level you really need to be cautious of who you’re playing against. I feel like getting better defensively will just help me in the long run.”
He likes to be involved in the plays, and sometimes you can find him hovering near the bottom of the right faceoff circle, like he was against BC.
He finished his sophomore year tied for first in goals amongst defenseman in the nation with 16. He netted 34 points as a senior at Catholic Memorial High School, when the team won the Massachusetts Super 8 Championship.
“I’ve tried to keep my offense there a little bit, but I know you can’t be taking too many risks if you want to be a good defenseman and play at the next level, so it’s something I’m working on every day,” Noonan says.
“Also I think I’ve learned how to carry myself better off the ice probably. That’s something that really needs to be done and I’ve kind of learned from guys like Megan and Ruikka, seeing how they carry themselves off the ice, putting the extra work and hopefully it works on the ice.”
He thinks David Quinn, BU’s first new head coach in 40 years, can help him with that goal.
“I’ve heard so many great things about him,” Noonan says. “It makes you [realize] that you want to be here, you want to play for him and you want to learn from him.
“He’s been in the NHL and the AHL so he knows what it takes to play there. I feel like another year with him can only help me, but I’m just excited to play under him.”
While the Massachusetts native thinks there’s room for improvement, he’s been recognized for his talent over the past few years. He was named a Hockey East Top Performer 10 times over his three years with BU.
The former Catholic Memorial High School co-captain laughs as he thinks of why he loves pulling on the red and white “Boston” jersey for every game.
“I think it’s probably all the guys,” Noonan says as his teammates tramp past him intermittently up the stairs, waving as they leave Agganis. “The guys who’ve played at BU before me and the guys who are here now.
“It’s just a mixture of guys you see in the NHL now and you see them always come back, want to be around BU and how much they love it. There’s so much tradition and it’s a hard place to leave.”
Facing the defenseman as he looks at the ground are those past players. They’re documented in framed pictures of previous Terrier teams, some black and white and others faded, subdued red.
“It’s such a great program and to have my name be said with the same names as all those guys, it’s such a big deal,” Noonan says. “I know all our team thinks that way. It’s just a tradition and we really want to win and that’s something we have to do next year.”
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