St. George’s defenseman Ryan Buckley became the fifth player to commit to Holy Cross under first year head coach Bill Riga when he announced his intention to become a Crusader on Thursday afternoon.
Buckley, who hails from Warwick, R.I., will be a senior at St. George’s this upcoming season. In addition to his time at the Middletown, R.I., prep school, he’s also played for the Cape Cod Whalers and Junior Bruins. In 30 games with the Whalers’ 16-U team in 2020-21, Buckley scored one goal and added eight assists.
The '04 is a steady, reliable defenseman who has come into his own as a physical, shutdown defenseman over the past year. He’s gotten stronger and he’s continued to work on his skating. He’s expected to serve as captain of the Dragons in 2021-22.
Buckley comes from a hockey family as his dad Jerry is a well known agent and played at Boston College. His uncle, Brendan, is the assistant coach at BC, which is also his alma mater. Ryan has two younger brothers, Ben and Danny, who also play hockey at St. George’s.
Buckley’s commit to the Crusaders came just an hour after Groton alum Wes Turner announced his intention to play college hockey at Holy Cross. Turner, an '03, played two seasons at Groton after attending the Cardigan Mountain School. The Granite Bay, Calif., native posted six goals and 16 assists in his final season at Groton in 2019-20.
Turner, who will play for the Wenatchee Wild in the BCHL this upcoming season, impressed Holy Cross coaches with his play at the recently concluded Beantown Summer Classic. Turner is undersized, but he’s a puck-moving, mobile defenseman. During his time at Groton, he played split season for the Little Bruins.
One common theme in all five of the Holy Cross commits since Riga took over at HC is the Junior Bruins organization. In addition to Buckley and Turner, Joe Solimine, Dom Murphy and Coleman Jenkins have all played for one of the teams in the Junior Bruins’ umbrella. Riga’s first foray into the coaching world came under Peter Masters at the Junior Bruins.
Mobile defenseman for BU
On Thursday, Boston University received a commitment from '05 defenseman Kai Janviriya who will spend the next two seasons playing for USA Hockey’s NTDP. The Bloomfield, Mich., native previously played for Compuware in 2020-21 and for Belle Tire before that.
Janviriya is a small, offensive-minded defenseman with a good stick. He’s a high risk, high reward breakout defenseman. His skating and flashiness catch a scout’s eye right away, but he’ll have to continue working on his hockey sense prior to arriving at BU.
UConn lands a big fish from Canada
When Matthew Wood announced his commitment to UConn on Thursday, the news sent shockwaves across the college hockey community. Wood, a talented '05 from Lethbridge, Alberta, is a huge get for the Huskies.
The big power forward played in 18 games as an underaged player for the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies in 2020-21. He scored five goals and eight assists during that time. A highly touted goal scorer, he’s played the past three seasons in British Columbia. Wood uses his length, size and strength to protect pucks and fend off opposing defensemen. His hockey sense furthers his ability to get to the scoring areas and finish with the best of the best in his birth year.
