Pat Lawn hasn’t moved far from home throughout his hockey career.
The Waltham, Mass., native is in his third season at The Rivers School in nearby Weston, where he plays on the blue line for former NHLer and local college assistant coach Shawn McEachern. The 5-foot-11, 160-pounder put up three goals and 15 assists in 31 games last season, ranking second among defensemen on a team that finished 27-2-2.
Lawn will be even closer to home than he is at Rivers when it’s time for college as he committed to Bentley University last February. He discusses his decision, growing up so close to the Falcons, and his goals for the interim in our latest College Commitment Q&A.
How would you describe yourself as a player? Are there NHL players you try to emulate?
I like to think of myself as primarily a stay-at-home defenseman. I'm on the smaller side, but I can make up for it with strong skating, physical play and a strong stick in the D zone. Along with that, I'm good at generating the offense and moving the puck up quickly.
One of my favorite players is Torey Krug just because he resonates with that smaller size. He's fun to watch on the power play and jumping up in the play. Even though he's on the smaller side, he's one of the tougher defensemen to play against on the Bruins.
As a Waltham native, how exciting was your decision to commit to Bentley late last season?
It's awesome. I'm literally two streets away, so I've grown up going to Bentley games with my dad. Even now, just going to the games and watching all the Waltham Youth Hockey kids play in between periods is cool because that was me back in the day. It's very important to my family and me that I'm going to get a good education there, but also getting the chance to play in front of my hometown. It's very cool.
What was the major selling point about Bentley over other schools?
From Day One, Coach (Ben) Murphy and Coach (Ryan) Soderquist were interested and completely honest with me. They had me on campus for a visit, and I felt in love with the campus and the school right away. The new rink is absolutely amazing. They were in contact with me for several months and with it being so close to home, it was an obvious decision for me to make.
What did you take away most from your conversations with Coach Soderquist and his staff?
They really liked my game. From the beginning, they couldn't stress more how important it was to use the rink as leverage to get a local kid to join the program. For me, that was very intriguing. They were really interested in getting me to join. I believe I'm their youngest recruit, so that kind of shows. But their honesty from the start was very important to me.
What was it like to grow up watching the Bentley program? How have you noticed things change, especially with the new rink?
It's funny because I'd have to go down to the rundown town rink (John A. Ryan Arena in Watertown) where I would be playing on the weekends to watch a college hockey team play. From that aspect, it was kind of cool to have that team be local, but you could tell that it was hard to do as much with it. Since the rink opened, the recruiting has gone up and they've already knocked off a big-name team in Boston College this year, so you can tell it's sort of turning into a bit of a 'hockey school' now. To be able to watch that from when I was 10 years old up until now, it's really cool for me.
I’m sure you didn’t imagine choosing a school this close to home, but was staying here in New England important to you?
Yeah, I think so. I'm kind of a homebody, so I like to stay local. This is obviously very close, but I think it's going to work out for me.
How has this season gone for you personally and the team at Rivers?
We're a younger team and we're on the smaller side. In years past, the Rivers teams I've been on have been big and physical. I think we're going to be a dangerous team because we show up each day ready to out-work any team we play, even if they're bigger than us it doesn't really matter. I can't stress enough how getting five guys on the same page is sort of where our game is going to come from.
Now that I'm on the older end of things, I feel more responsibility to lead the younger guys. I know I have a lot bigger of a role on the team as a junior on the back end, so the responsibility is more. But I'm feeling like we have a good team and can make a good run at the end of the year.
Given his college and NHL backgrounds, Shawn McEachern has to be an incredible resource, especially during the college process. How has he helped you most both on and off the ice?
He always told me not to let anyone on the outside dictate how you think of yourself. Just play your game and continue to trust what you're doing, take care of your body on and off the ice, and things will work out in the end. He's been pushing me a lot harder because he knows that I have to elevate my game ― and I appreciate that ― because he wants to get the best out of me. He's doing that and I'm giving him all I've got, so it's been great.
You still have a few years to go before joining Bentley, but what are your individual goals to help prepare?
Physically, I'm trying to put some more weight on because that will be important for the college game. Hockey-wise, I have to develop my offensive game a little bit. I'm sort of a stay-home defenseman, but I want to be able to generate offense, get up in the offense. And be more physical, but I think that will come with time and growth.
