Before this season, no sophomore in the history of the Boston University men’s hockey program had ever served as a captain.
Tabor coach Gerry Dineen certainly isn’t surprised that Shane Lachance (Andover, Mass.) is the first.
“There’s nothing about his journey that surprises me,” said Dineen, who coached Lachance in both hockey and baseball at Tabor. “I remember some NHL teams reaching out for my opinion on him, and I’d just say he’s an A-plus in terms of his leadership qualities. Just a special, special kid.
“We knew the kid (was) on his way.”
Dineen’s words worked, as Lachance was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 2021. It made sense, given Lachance’s mind is NHL-caliber.
His grandfather, Jack Parker, won 897 games and three national championships during his Hall of Fame head coaching career and is a former BU captain. His father, Scott Lachance, spent a year on Commonwealth Avenue before a 13-year NHL career.
Shane Lachance may be a third-generation Terrier following in some of the program’s most legendary footsteps, but following isn’t his thing.
“With his upbringing and just being around the game for as long as he has, he probably has taken a ton of different pieces of peoples’ philosophies and what he liked and made it his own,” said Youngstown Phantoms coach Ryan Ward (Assonet, Mass.). “The type of teammate he was and his work ethic, I’ll certainly remember that forever.”
From Tabor to the USHL and now to BU, everyone knows the big-bodied winger as the ultimate leader. And he’s excited to help lead the Terriers at the Beanpot, where he will wear the ‘C’ in Monday’s opening game against Harvard.
“It’s obviously a huge honor. It has never happened before, but I honestly don’t look at it in that sense too much,” Lachance said of being a sophomore captain. “I just try to do my thing and lead the way that I think is best for the group. We’ve got a lot of leaders in the room (including a co-captain in junior Ryan Greene), so that makes it easy on all of us.”
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Through his years watching his grandfather’s teams, Lachance vividly remembers watching the likes of longtime NHL defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who captained the Terriers in the 2009-10 season following their fifth national championship. He also enjoyed watching fellow power forward Brady Tkachuk as he prepared for Ottawa Senators stardom.
“He plays a style that I aspire to play at, and he’s a guy I continue to watch to this day,” Lachance said of Tkachuk.
Lachance didn’t get here by accident. His path to BU is one from which any young player can learn.
After spending a year at his hometown Andover High School, Lachance moved to Tabor for “the best two years (he) could have imagined” and enjoyed the opportunity to become immersed in and play for a new community.
“Andover is my hometown, but at Tabor, it was a little different. There were only 400 students at the school and it was really fun to play for them,” he said. “It was the same thing in Youngstown and now at BU, so I definitely take pride in that.”
The end at Tabor, though, was anything but ordinary. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, his second year with the Seawolves consisted of only practices with his teammates.
Without a regular prep season that year, Dineen knew Lachance could have gone anywhere to keep accelerating his hockey journey. And while he wound up playing a handful of games for the Boston Jr. Bruins later in the winter, he stayed the course and finished out both of his athletic seasons.
“He loved it here, he wanted to be here,” Dineen said. “He wanted to come back and lead. After he played those games (with the Jr. Bruins), he was back in the spring. He changed the whole program with his presence.”
Lachance followed his two years at Tabor out in Youngstown, where his role grew into more of the same.
But it wasn’t always easy. He was in and out of the lineup as a rookie.
“It can be hard being out there because it’s a long season, you’re far away from home,” Lachance said. “Guys want to move on and look forward to college, but I think it’s important to stay where your feet are.”
Rather than leaving for a different junior program or league, he stayed.
When Ward was hired as the Phantoms’ bench boss ahead of Lachance’s second season in 2023, he knew he found his captain in an instant. The two met for lunch in Boston to discuss the team’s path forward.
Like other coaches before and after, Ward made the perfect choice.
Lachance broke out as the team’s second-leading scorer and ended the season hoisting the Clark Cup with a team that also included fellow Terrier forward Brandon Svoboda and Boston College goaltender Jacob Fowler.
“Going through adversity (the year before), he was able to have younger guys lean on him and be the voice that said, ‘Hey, listen, I didn’t play a whole lot, I’ve had my ups and downs, and look where we are today,’ ” Ward said. “He’s just the illustration for playing the long game and really maximizing his development.”
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BU coach Jay Pandolfo (Burlington, Mass.) is in agreement, too.
“All the little things that make great leaders, he has those qualities naturally,” he said. “He doesn’t have to try. That’s just who he is. Only being a sophomore and wearing a ‘C’ is not always easy, so he’s been excellent.”
All of those experiences, all of those ups and downs have molded Lachance into who he is today, living out his wildest childhood dreams as a Terrier.
