By Warren Kozireski —
It is an all-to-familiar story among hockey families. Grandfather loves hockey, has two sons who play and then the grandsons follow.
Mike Posma is a 22-year-old junior forward is now on one of college hockey’s biggest stages with the Boston College Eagles.
But the road started a few generations back.
“My uncle (Mike) was a really good hockey player (Western Michigan University, one year in the AHL and eight more in Switzerland) and I wish I was able to see a little bit of him play maybe some tape or something. And obviously my dad (Bob) played in Plattsburgh (and SUNY Canton) upstate, so from a young age my parents had me skating on the Rideau Canal when I was really young.
“My grandpa (Mike; a baseball player at Niagara University) had a huge influence on my career and my uncle and dad playing…and I’ve loved it ever since. My grandpa loved hockey and then ended up involved in a coaching role with my dad and uncle at a young age and his nickname is always just ‘Coach.’ I don’t think he ever played but just loved the game and loved the atmosphere of being in a hockey rink.”
Posma’s youth hockey started with the Westchester Express, then the New Jersey Avalanche and the Kent School for heading west to the USHL, where his time at Cedar Rapids was interrupted by the pandemic and then a storm that wiped out the rink resulting in a dispersal draft that had him go to Tri-City and then be traded to Omaha.
Boston College was destined to be the next stop.
“My Express teams…would travel up to Boston every weekend and play in the Federation Hockey League, which was all Boston schools. Every weekend we would drive three-to-four hours, play all the Boston teams; they would spank us every weekend and then just drive back home.
“When we were up there, my dad and a bunch of my friends would go to BC or BU games and, once I was getting recruited, I remember walking around the campus. I feel like it was a no-brainer for me.”
This season, Posma contributed his usual collegiate numbers with two goals and six assists as a bottom-six forward.
“I would say I’m an older experienced player on the team. I feel like we’re pretty young this year and this is my third year, so just providing that older leadership role and, on ice, playing those harder minutes PK, taking some big faceoffs and being reliable. I don’t know when my names going to be called, but be ready for when it does whatever the team needs me to do.
“Coach (Associate Head Mike) Ayers has a lot of confidence in me, taps me on the shoulder and say, ‘Pos I need a draw’ and I go out there and feel confident that the coach has that confidence in me to goi out there and win it.”
(Photos provided by Boston College Athletic Department/Men’s Ice Hockey Program)
