Leonard Returns to Conte Forum a New Player and Leader
Image Courtesy: NBC Sports
Ryan Leonard returns to Boston College for his sophomore season, but what will his impact be on this new Eagles team?
James Blennau
Ryan Leonard returns to Boston College not only with a chip on his wings after losing the national championship to Matt Davis’ Denver Pioneers but as the team’s top centerman. With Will Smith departing for the sunny skies of San Jose with fellow Bostonian and the NHL’s 2024 first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini, Leonard looks to prove his place as the Eagles’ and one of Hockey East’s top forwards.
Leonard, the 2023 Capitals’ ninth-overall selection, attended his second development camp in Washington D.C. hoping to advance his game in his journey to the nation’s capital. Additionally, Leonard indicated his strong desire to return to Boston College through Washington’s front office during his camp.
With a full season and postseason of experience on top of two development camps under his belt, Leonard and those following his game expect a major step-up in his game. With 60 points in 41 games for the Amherst native in all games with the Eagles and six points in seven games with the US junior national team, Leonard had a stellar rookie season playing with fellow freshmen Gabe Perrault and Will Smith.
This upcoming season, however, Eagles head coach Greg Brown’s hand is forced to make major changes in his top-six forward corps. Filling Smith’s hole at 1C is no easy task, but some analysts had an idea how he’s slot in
“I think it’ll be more seamless than people think,” shared Anthony Smith, a rising senior communications major at Boston College from Salt Lake City, and co-host of Conte Cast. “Even something as simple as a face-off, Leonard is so competitive that he’s gonna want to absolutely crush that. He already plays such a sound 200-foot game that the other two would be completely fine on the wing,” Smith noted.
Anthony Smith’s potential top six forwards for Boston College
Smith’s co-host of Conte Cast, Brendan Mahoney, added some much-necessary conversation about Leonard’s stellar freshman season statistics.
“Numbers-wise, he’s very much like a man amongst boys, and I think that’s kind of the way Leonard plays,” said Brendan Mahoney, a rising senior history major at Boston College from Walpole, Massachusetts.
Brendan Mahoney’s potential top six forwards for Boston College
Leonard plays a game ahead of his age and experience according to those who’ve seen him play, and his style is an uncommon sight at the collegiate level.
“[He] plays with such a level of maturity. You don’t see that in a lot of college players. I think there are others that have that level of sophistication like Zeev Buium (Denver). His mind is so professionally sound, and I think Leonard’s is just like that, but just a little more geared towards the physicality,” Mahoney added.
Leonard’s game matured throughout the Eagles’ campaign, gaining discipline as he and the team took on top-level opponents consistently.
“In the first half of last season, [Leonard] took a few bad penalties and they [the Eagles] did in the regional,” Smith acknowledged. “In the Michigan game (Frozen Four semifinal) he drew a major penalty, and instead of going back for retaliation, he put the puck in the back of the net on the next power play.”
Leonard now skates back to Conte Forum as a new leader of this Eagles team and will need to learn quickly how to adjust to his new role just one year after joining.
“He was a partial leader on the U18 US National Development Team when he played there, now [he is] moving from a new spot in Boston College to now becoming one of the leaders on the team in his sophomore season,” said one lifelong Boston College fan from Medway, Massachusetts. “I expect him to be a mentor to the younger players not so much in a way a captain would…but more in their play.”
For now, he will return to Chesnut Hill a new player and a new leader leading a group mixed with young prospects and older veterans charging for the program’s sixth national championship.
