By Warren Kozireski —
Ten seniors or graduate students dotted the Boston University men’s hockey roster this season, but it was Thornwood native Domenick Fensore who was chosen to wear the “C”.
And no wonder. The 5’9”, 165 lb. defenseman led the Terriers with a career-high 31 points and a career-high 26 assists last season and was named a Hockey East Second Team and a New England Division I All-Star.
He followed up that season by scoring a career-high nine goals this season with three game-winners. His 27 points ranked third in Hockey East among defensemen. And he was fifth on the team in blocked shots.
Fensore helped guide Boston University to a conference championship and won the NCAA Manchester Regional with wins over #9 Western Michigan and #12 Cornell to earn a spot in the school’s 38th appearance in the Frozen Four.
“Looking at my time over at BU, last year we won a Beanpot but that’s not the goal when you come to BU,” Fensore said at the pre-Frozen Four press conference. “You want to raise as many banners and trophies as you can.
“We want to be remembered here. We want to leave a legacy, be a part of the history. It’s kind of what I wanted to come back and do. We’ve done a great job so far.”
Selected in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft by Carolina, Fensore will now likely take his on-ice and leadership ability and move on to the next phase of his hockey career that started with the Mid-Fairfield Rangers, the P.A.L. Islanders and the U.S. National Team Development Program.
“I think for our group, we’re never really satisfied, so we always want more. We always want to get better. I think it starts in practice. We always compete with each other and kind of push each other to become better. And I think that kind of leads to the game.
“And, like, in the regionals there, we wanted more. We had a good game against Western. But then we knew we had a tough test with Cornell. We knew it was going to be tough, knew it was going to be a battle. Especially into these games, we’re never satisfied. We want more.
As with most seniors, there is some reminiscing as their final season winds down and it was now different with the captain. It ended with the 6-2 semi-final loss to Minnesota that included two late empty-net goals.
“It’s been awesome coming to the rink every day and competing with these guys,” Fensore said in the press conference after the loss. “It’s been unbelievable. The way we bought in this year was really fun to see. I think throughout the year you kind of saw guys buy into roles and really understand what it takes to win here. Give it to them, they put their egos aside and wanted to be a part of success. That’s what playing for BU means.
“Everything matters,” that was our motto this year. And it was really cool to see everyone buying into that. It stinks. I’m just not going to be here anymore, not going to be a Terrier, which is crazy. I can’t even put it into words right now. But I’m real excited to see what happens for them in the future.”
(Boston University Athletics/Hockey Photos)
