Flyers’ First-Round Pick Off To A Fast Start With The Terriers

The Flyers’ 2018 1^st-round pick, center Jay O’Brien, has had to deal with adversity along the way but is making up for it recently by already creating quite the name for himself in his return to Massachusetts. Now playing for the legendary Boston University (BU) Terriers, O’Brien is making his return to the NCAA look rather effortless thus far. 

But even though Jay got off to a good start, he and the rest of the Terriers are trying to play catch up: Thanks to the COVID-19 virus, BU’s season has only just begun with the start of the new year. The team’s original start date was postponed by the University when a player or staff member (the team would not identify which) contracted the virus during training camp. 

So, let’s take a look at how Jay’s comeback has started. In true storybook fashion, it just so happened that the Terriers opened their season this year against none other than the Providence Friars, who O’Brien previously played for in his freshman year and originally committed to at just 15 years of age, but things did not go so well for Jay during his time Providence. Jay received multiple injuries during his time there that prevented him from playing in a majority of his games in his first year in the colligate ranks, and left some people doubting his abilities to play the game at all on that level. Having a bad go of things, O’Brien decided to depart from Providence and seek play time elsewhere; But before he could land at Boston University, he had to sit out a year because he transferred. Instead of sitting idle, O’Brien choose to play in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) last season where he was able to regain his confidence and light the lamp quite frequently. So, it should go without saying that O’Brien may have had this date circled on his calendar for a long time. Now set with a determination to prove his doubters wrong, Jay and the other Terriers who haven’t played a game as a team for 44 weeks took to the ice on January 8^th ready for battle. The well-conditioned Friars (who have been playing games for over a month now) came out swinging though- recording the first goal in this match-up within the first couple minutes of play. Seeing this, O’Brien took it as his duty to even the score by way of him crashing the net after a big rebound was given up by the Friars goalie.  Jay was able to put the puck in the back of the net from just off the right side- even while traffic was building just outside of the crease. While that wasn’t the last goal scored by Boston, the Friars were able to score 6 that went unanswered, forcing the Terriers to have to lick their wounds after the 7-3 loss. 

Click here to shop for our latest sporting apparel, and accessories for Flyers Nitty Gritty

Even though the team may have lost their season opener, O’Brien and the other BU players were able to knock off the rust from a 307-day layoff since the team’s last game, and rebounded the next night recording a victory in their back-to-back weekend series against Providence- this time playing in the Friars’ Monastery known as the Schneider Arena. In this 6-4 win over the Friars on Saturday January 9^th , Jay again was able to make the stat sheet: In the first period, Jay set up teammate David Farrance with a perfect pass as he was able blow one by Providence while on the power play. Just minutes later Farrance and another teammate would return the favor setting up Jay with a nice pass that he was able to get by the Friars netminder from out by the circle.   

What a comeback outing it has been thus far for the Flyers’ young prospect. Who knows if Jay will be able to keep up this 1.50 point-per-game pace that he has started out on, or whether it may be just the added testosterone pumping through O’Brien’s blood this past weekend that gave him an advantage because he was playing against his old team: We will have to stay tuned to find out. But one thing is for certain- he sure looks like he belongs there!