One of Jake Flynn’s favorite courses this past year as a freshman at the University of Connecticut was about witches and wizards. The 19-year-old defenseman was magical in his own right on the ice for the Huskies.
A Bridgewater, Mass., native, Flynn, 6-feet, 180 pounds, tallied two goals and seven assists in 30 games in the 2019-20 season. Coupled with his offense, Flynn’s stellar defensive play captured the attention of scouts and propelled him from 205th in National Hockey League Central Scouting’s midterm rankings for the 2020 NHL draft to 122nd in its final rankings. The draft is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 9 and 10.
This being his second year of draft eligibility, Flynn was surprised to learn that he was on the list, although he downplayed its significance.
“You don’t see as many guys getting picked their second year,” Flynn said. “I didn’t even see my name on the list. (Huskies associate head coach) Joe Pereira texted me, ‘Congrats.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He responded, ‘You’re on Central Scouting.’ But it’s just a list right now. It doesn’t mean anything until you get drafted, and you still have to make the pros. To actually get drafted would mean something.”
Finding out his name was in the draft conversation wasn’t the first time Flynn was caught off-guard by information from a coach. In fact, the previous occurrence was only last year when, with his fourth and final campaign at Thayer Academy winding down, he was called into Thayer coach Tony Amonte’s (Hingham, Mass.) office.
“I had a couple offers from a couple different colleges, but I thought the whole time my path after Thayer was going to be junior hockey,” Flynn recalled. “The day after our game at St. Paul’s School — Coach Pereira was there — and with four games left in the season, Tony sat me down and asked me if I would go to UConn if offered. I said yeah. At that point, he said it would be for next year. Then (Huskies head coach) Mike Cavanaugh was at my last game, against St. Sebastian’s School. In a matter of two to three weeks it all came together and I was headed to UConn.”
The aspect of Flynn’s game that stood out to Pereira and Huskies assistant coach Tyler Helton was his skating. As for Cavanaugh North Andover, Mass.), he was impressed by Flynn’s magnificent play in what was an intense contest vs. St. Sebastian’s.
“Throughout my career, I’ve always liked watching a rivalry game because I think you can really tell a lot about a player in those games,” Cavanaugh said. “Jake didn’t shy from the big moment. He was physically involved. He was offensively involved. We needed defensemen, and I thought there might be a learning curve for him, but we were willing to take that chance and bring him in right away.”
One of the thoughts circulating in Flynn’s mind as he prepared for his freshman year was the jump to college straight from prep school without a stop in junior in between and if he was ready for that.
Added the right-handed shooter: “But I also thought if the coaches were going to give me the opportunity, I might as well take advantage of it.”
Well, Flynn did.
“It worked out well for us because the learning curve wasn’t as big as I thought it was going to be,” Cavanaugh said. “He adjusted extremely quickly to college hockey.”
Entering the season, Flynn wasn’t sure what his role was going to be, but he did know that the coaches were going to give him time to fight through the inevitable freshman growing pains and allow him to learn from his mistakes. Still, despite having some breathing room, he was nervous at the outset of the campaign.
“Everything happens a lot quicker in the college game than in prep school,” Flynn explained. “You have to make that split-second decision for every play you make, and adapting to that took a little time. I kept up with the strength and the speed of the guys, but it took a couple of games to adapt to the quicker decision-making.”
Slowly but surely Flynn gained confidence and realized he could succeed at the college level. He registered three assists in his first 16 games before recording two goals and four assists in his last 14 matches.
“Jake got more comfortable as the season went on,” Cavanaugh said. “Like every other freshman, he came in and was quiet, just trying to blend in. But as the season went on, he became more confident, and toward the end of the year in a big game at UMass he scored a great goal to tie the game up in the third period. It was the type of goal that you don’t expect a freshman to score. He had a lot of confidence with the puck and he dropped one of their defenders, walked around him and roofed it. You could just see his maturation take place over the course of the season. It was fun to watch.”
In addition to feeling more confident as the season progressed because he took advantage of the tremendous opportunity given to him, Flynn states that he improved his overall skill-set as well.
“What I liked this year is we had Wednesday skill days,” he said, “and we learned little details to help our game from the coaches that you can really take advantage of and build off.”
According to Cavanaugh, Flynn made his biggest strides with his offense.
“Jake could skate and he could compete,” Cavanaugh said. “He became really confident in joining the play and making plays offensively. He was really focused early on with just making sure he wasn’t going to make any mistakes defensively. He wasn’t overly concerned with getting involved offensively. He was just trying to protect his own end, which is what defensemen should be doing. But as he grew in confidence, his offensive game started to flourish.”
The way Flynn’s season transpired from start to finish almost mirrored his four years at Thayer. Weighing just 140 pounds when he skated for the academy as a freshman and competing against bigger, stronger and older competition, he was lacking in confidence. However, in due time it grew, and he started making plays he would’ve never attempted in his younger years.
“When I was a senior, I played a lot more minutes, and when I made a mistake I knew I was going to go back out there. I could make up for it,” Flynn remembered. “I did a lot more things my senior year that I didn’t do my freshman year.”
Flynn’s competitive drive also blossomed from his first day to his final day at Thayer. Then again, when you’re playing for the fiery Amonte, who enjoyed a 15-year career in the NHL, you don’t have a choice.
“I loved playing for Tony,” Flynn asserted. “You have to win every battle and everything you do on the ice has to be full throttle, or the job isn’t going to get done. I took that to heart and appreciated that.”
Flynn is equally appreciative of the many other hockey lessons he learned from his coaches prior to UConn.
After taking an interest in the sport by shooting pucks with his older brother Alec, four years his senior, Jake joined the South Shore Kings. He played for them until his U-14 season, when he joined the Boston Junior Terriers. He later suited up for the Boston Junior Bandits and Boston Junior Eagles when he wasn’t playing for Thayer.
“When I was with the Kings, our ‘D’ coach was Scott Meehan (Walpole, Mass.). He played at UMass Lowell and taught us all the basics,” Flynn said. “Bill Lovett was our head coach, a great coach. With the Kings and the Eagles, Marty McInnis (Weymouth, Mass.), who played at Boston College and for 12 seasons in the NHL, was coaching us, and he taught us a lot. Eagles coach John Joyce (Wilbraham, Mass.), who played at Boston College, showed us a lot. I’ve been pretty lucky with the coaches I’ve had.”
Flynn is hoping to continue to develop his game in his sophomore season. However, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when and if the 2020-21 campaign commences is to be determined. Regardless, he is preparing this summer as if it will start on time.
“The best thing is to have a positive mindset,” Flynn concluded. “You have to assume that the season is going to happen, and if it doesn’t then you still have to stay strong. One thing that’s been really helpful is I’ve been training in Wellesley, Mass., with a couple other college guys, and it’s such a good group. We have guys who want to get better and want to work every day. To be around guys like that makes a big difference. They want to improve, and it makes you want to get much better, too.”
