Photo by: Matt Woolverton
Amonte A Poster Child for Perseverance
October 26, 2021 | Men's Ice Hockey
by Scott Weighart, GoTerriers.com
BOSTON - Under ordinary circumstances, you would not expect a college hockey senior with 75 games under his belt to wrestle with anxiety and nerves before a regular-season game in late October.
But Ty Amonte's college hockey career has been anything but ordinary.
Due to two shoulder injuries, a sports hernia, and the COVID-19 pandemic, Saturday night's 8-6 win against Merrimack marked the first time the forward played in front of fans since Boston University's overtime loss to the Northeastern in the Hockey East semifinals at the TD Garden way back on March 22, 2019. It was also his first time playing a game in Agganis Arena since March 2 of that year.
Amonte also scored big goals in both of those games. So, when he scored the first goal just 2:22 into the game, you might say that picked up right where he left off.
It just took him over two and a half years to do so.
A more casual fan of the Terriers could be forgiven for having to reach into the memory banks to recall Amonte's first two seasons. After all, only senior captain Logan Cockerill remains on the Terrier roster from back when Amonte was last a fixture in the lineup. To put that amount of time into perspective, teammate Joel Farabee has scored 31 goals in 111 National Hockey League games with the Philadelphia Flyers since then, while Dante Fabbro has played 113 games on defense for the Nashville Predators.
So why has Amonte's time at BU turned into a star-crossed saga? The answer predates his days on Commonwealth Avenue.
"Going into my junior year, I knew I was dealing with some stuff," Amonte said after the Terriers' 8-6 win over Merrimack. "I had hurt my shoulder in high school and hurt it during my sophomore year of college. I knew it was coming so I was fine sitting out that first junior year."
After that redshirt season, Amonte's senior year was delayed to the pandemic. The season didn't kick off until January 8 of this year. With no fans allowed present in a home-and-home series against Providence, Amonte scored the first goal of the game on the second night, setting the stage for a satisfying 6-4 road win.
Then calamity struck at practice on the following Monday.
"Just a Monday in practice," Amonte recalled. "Just a tough hit. It wasn't anyone's fault, just a tough collision and a guy fell on top of me. But it wasn't the same injury; it was good it was on the other side of the shoulder."
So once again Amonte had to sit back and watch as his teammates put together a 10-5-1 record in the strange, shortened season. All he could do was grit his teeth and get back to work, only to face another setback going into this year.
"I just had a little bit of a sports hernia, but I've been working with the great PT staff over at Boston Sports Performance Center in Wellesley. Joe Van Allen, he's been putting me on the right track, and I felt good enough to come back tonight."
Ironically, Ty's father, former Terrier great Tony Amonte, played 79 games at BU and 1,174 National Hockey League contests, only missing a handful of games over 18 years of collegiate and professional play.
"He's made of rubber," Ty said, chuckling. "He's definitely played with guys who dealt with injuries and missed whole seasons, so he was a great guy to lean on, just having his wisdom. He's forgotten more about hockey than most people know, so it was really special to have him to lean on along the way."
All the same, emotions ran high on Saturday night after logging so many miles on a long and bumpy road.
"Warmups I was definitely feeling shaky; nerves were high," Amonte said.
"It was awesome," head coach Albie O'Connell said. "It was a little emotional, watching him—just the excitement and nervousness. He announced the lineup (in the locker room) today. The intensity of his lineup call is special to watch; it's like no other. His energy is infectious; he plays the right way and he's just a true leader. We're psyched for him and psyched for the team to get him back."
Amonte started at center, taking the opening draw. On a subsequent shift just over two minutes later, freshman winger Tyler Boucher got the puck in the right-wing circle and fed it to Amonte in the slot, where he fired it in.
"I kind of blacked out for those first couple of shifts, but it was nice to finally get one and get one early," Amonte recalled.
Cockerill is really the only teammate who can fully appreciate what Amonte has been through and what it meant to get that goal last weekend.
"Obviously, he's one of the key components of the team," Cockerill said. "I've been his roommate for the past three years now, so I've been around him a lot with the injuries, helped out through the surgeries. It's tough. He has a lot of passion for the game and for this team and program. To be not able to show it on the ice for the past few years…"
Cockerill's mother put it in perspective before Saturday's game after hearing Amonte would return to the lineup at last.
"We saw my mom today, and she said to him, 'Ty, you're the poster child for perseverance,' and he really is. He's just gone through it: He hasn't complained; he's supported us when he can't play. It's great to have him back.
"Guys don't really know the full extent of what he brings to the team," added Cockerill. "We got a glimpse of it last year when he played a couple of games, the energy he brings. We've missed him a lot and to see him score that first one was just unbelievable."
After sporting the number 3 in previous seasons as a Terrier, just as his father did back from 1989-1991 before going pro with the New York Rangers, Ty decided to switch to 33 this season, bequeathing the 3 to his brother Tristan, a freshman on the team this year.
"I played with Tristan for two years at high school at Thayer," Ty said. "He wore 3; my dad un-retired it for him to wear there. And I've played here for four years and thought it was time to make a change. It's just really nice to see him in the same number that me and my dad wore."
Ty and Tristan have yet to appear in the same lineup this season, but Saturday's 8-6 win reflected the depth of this year's team. That eight-goal total is especially impressive for a team that was missing talented and experienced scorers Jay O'Brien, Matt Brown, Luke Tuch, and Max Kaufman due to various injuries. In fact, six of the eight goals on Saturday were scored by players who had not scored once in the first five games of the season.
"It's just good for confidence," O'Connell said. "They probably haven't scored because they haven't shot the puck. We haven't shot the puck nearly enough. And the puck was just jumping in tonight for both teams."
"I think we put things together and started playing the right way," Amonte said. "When we play the right way and wear teams down, we're hard to handle offensively. So it was giving a lot of guys who haven't had the chance to touch the puck in the last few games a chance to score."
With the exception of that brief blip in January, Amonte hasn't had the chance to touch many pucks in games for about 31 months. Now the team is receiving a needed energy boost after a 2-3-0 start, thanks to the poster child for perseverance.
BOSTON - Under ordinary circumstances, you would not expect a college hockey senior with 75 games under his belt to wrestle with anxiety and nerves before a regular-season game in late October.
But Ty Amonte's college hockey career has been anything but ordinary.
Due to two shoulder injuries, a sports hernia, and the COVID-19 pandemic, Saturday night's 8-6 win against Merrimack marked the first time the forward played in front of fans since Boston University's overtime loss to the Northeastern in the Hockey East semifinals at the TD Garden way back on March 22, 2019. It was also his first time playing a game in Agganis Arena since March 2 of that year.
Amonte also scored big goals in both of those games. So, when he scored the first goal just 2:22 into the game, you might say that picked up right where he left off.
It just took him over two and a half years to do so.
A more casual fan of the Terriers could be forgiven for having to reach into the memory banks to recall Amonte's first two seasons. After all, only senior captain Logan Cockerill remains on the Terrier roster from back when Amonte was last a fixture in the lineup. To put that amount of time into perspective, teammate Joel Farabee has scored 31 goals in 111 National Hockey League games with the Philadelphia Flyers since then, while Dante Fabbro has played 113 games on defense for the Nashville Predators.
So why has Amonte's time at BU turned into a star-crossed saga? The answer predates his days on Commonwealth Avenue.
"Going into my junior year, I knew I was dealing with some stuff," Amonte said after the Terriers' 8-6 win over Merrimack. "I had hurt my shoulder in high school and hurt it during my sophomore year of college. I knew it was coming so I was fine sitting out that first junior year."
After that redshirt season, Amonte's senior year was delayed to the pandemic. The season didn't kick off until January 8 of this year. With no fans allowed present in a home-and-home series against Providence, Amonte scored the first goal of the game on the second night, setting the stage for a satisfying 6-4 road win.
Then calamity struck at practice on the following Monday.
"Just a Monday in practice," Amonte recalled. "Just a tough hit. It wasn't anyone's fault, just a tough collision and a guy fell on top of me. But it wasn't the same injury; it was good it was on the other side of the shoulder."
So once again Amonte had to sit back and watch as his teammates put together a 10-5-1 record in the strange, shortened season. All he could do was grit his teeth and get back to work, only to face another setback going into this year.
"I just had a little bit of a sports hernia, but I've been working with the great PT staff over at Boston Sports Performance Center in Wellesley. Joe Van Allen, he's been putting me on the right track, and I felt good enough to come back tonight."
Ironically, Ty's father, former Terrier great Tony Amonte, played 79 games at BU and 1,174 National Hockey League contests, only missing a handful of games over 18 years of collegiate and professional play.
"He's made of rubber," Ty said, chuckling. "He's definitely played with guys who dealt with injuries and missed whole seasons, so he was a great guy to lean on, just having his wisdom. He's forgotten more about hockey than most people know, so it was really special to have him to lean on along the way."
All the same, emotions ran high on Saturday night after logging so many miles on a long and bumpy road.
"Warmups I was definitely feeling shaky; nerves were high," Amonte said.
"It was awesome," head coach Albie O'Connell said. "It was a little emotional, watching him—just the excitement and nervousness. He announced the lineup (in the locker room) today. The intensity of his lineup call is special to watch; it's like no other. His energy is infectious; he plays the right way and he's just a true leader. We're psyched for him and psyched for the team to get him back."
Amonte started at center, taking the opening draw. On a subsequent shift just over two minutes later, freshman winger Tyler Boucher got the puck in the right-wing circle and fed it to Amonte in the slot, where he fired it in.
"I kind of blacked out for those first couple of shifts, but it was nice to finally get one and get one early," Amonte recalled.
Cockerill is really the only teammate who can fully appreciate what Amonte has been through and what it meant to get that goal last weekend.
"Obviously, he's one of the key components of the team," Cockerill said. "I've been his roommate for the past three years now, so I've been around him a lot with the injuries, helped out through the surgeries. It's tough. He has a lot of passion for the game and for this team and program. To be not able to show it on the ice for the past few years…"
Cockerill's mother put it in perspective before Saturday's game after hearing Amonte would return to the lineup at last.
"We saw my mom today, and she said to him, 'Ty, you're the poster child for perseverance,' and he really is. He's just gone through it: He hasn't complained; he's supported us when he can't play. It's great to have him back.
"Guys don't really know the full extent of what he brings to the team," added Cockerill. "We got a glimpse of it last year when he played a couple of games, the energy he brings. We've missed him a lot and to see him score that first one was just unbelievable."
After sporting the number 3 in previous seasons as a Terrier, just as his father did back from 1989-1991 before going pro with the New York Rangers, Ty decided to switch to 33 this season, bequeathing the 3 to his brother Tristan, a freshman on the team this year.
"I played with Tristan for two years at high school at Thayer," Ty said. "He wore 3; my dad un-retired it for him to wear there. And I've played here for four years and thought it was time to make a change. It's just really nice to see him in the same number that me and my dad wore."
Ty and Tristan have yet to appear in the same lineup this season, but Saturday's 8-6 win reflected the depth of this year's team. That eight-goal total is especially impressive for a team that was missing talented and experienced scorers Jay O'Brien, Matt Brown, Luke Tuch, and Max Kaufman due to various injuries. In fact, six of the eight goals on Saturday were scored by players who had not scored once in the first five games of the season.
"It's just good for confidence," O'Connell said. "They probably haven't scored because they haven't shot the puck. We haven't shot the puck nearly enough. And the puck was just jumping in tonight for both teams."
"I think we put things together and started playing the right way," Amonte said. "When we play the right way and wear teams down, we're hard to handle offensively. So it was giving a lot of guys who haven't had the chance to touch the puck in the last few games a chance to score."
With the exception of that brief blip in January, Amonte hasn't had the chance to touch many pucks in games for about 31 months. Now the team is receiving a needed energy boost after a 2-3-0 start, thanks to the poster child for perseverance.
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