Big names. Big hearts. This past summer, Schneider and Kreider—pictured here at Reunion 2015—both played for alma mater Boston College in the Comm Ave Charity Classic, an annual hockey game with cross-town rival Boston University, helping to raise funds for Compassionate Care ALS.
Bethany Versoy
draft-eligible and ready for another challenge. Although the New York Rangers selected him in the first round of the 2009 draft, Kreider accepted a scholarship to BC. Both players have made their mark in the NHL. Schneider sparred with the Canucks for two seasons before joining the team full time in 2010–2011; after three seasons in Vancouver, he was traded to the New Jersey Devils, where he has played the past two years. He has a 97–72–29 career record and, since that 2010–2011 season, he leads the NHL a lower for “a new challenge,” he says. “It was a natural proin save percentage (.927) and goals-against average (2.12). gression.” Soon after Kreider arrived, Boylan began receiving He is so valued at the net that he begins a seven-year concalls from college coaches and professional scouts about his tract extension with New Jersey this fall. new prospect. Immediately following Kreider’s junior year at BC in 2012, he “Halfway through his lower year, he started to show signs of was added to the Rangers’ postseason roster. That’s right: His being able to dominate a game,” says Boylan. “It was obviNHL debut occurred in a playoff game, and Kreider scored ous he could go on to the next level very easily.” A year later, five goals to help New York reach the Conference Finals. Kreider was named Prep Player of the Year after scoring 33 Just 24, Kreider is a rising star in the league. He has scored goals with 23 assists in just 26 games. The left wing—only 40 career regular-season goals, with 46 assists in 169 games. an upper—was ranked the top prep player in the country. The success Schneider and Kreider had at Andover and con“I learned a lot from Boylan as a coach, but also as a mentor,” tinue to have in the NHL has bequeathed Big Blue’s hockey says Kreider. “The most impressive thing about him was that program—now with Coach Paul Tortorella at the helm— he was really concerned about the guys on the team, about with a winning tradition. how they were doing personally and academically.” “I’d like to think our playoff team helped set a standard of Boylan spent extra time with Kreider studying game films, excellence,” says Schneider, who helped convince a group often rewinding the tape over and over again to absorb every of talented younger players to transfer to Andover. “Athletes nuance. “That’s when I realized how detail-oriented hockey want to go to places that have strong programs,” he adds. is,” says Kreider. “He really ingrained that in me.” “Andover set the bar and was able to say, ‘Look, we have a great hockey program and offer a great education.’ It’s a Excellence without Arrogance tough package to turn down.” Gurry ran into Kreider at a few charity golf tournaments. As the immensely talented Schneider and Kreider—the “He’s just one of the nicest kids you’d ever want to know,” friendliest of foes—continue to captivate NHL fans, they says Gurry. “What he brought to the school was an excellikely will fill the hockey highlight reels the way they filled lence without the arrogance that often accompanies it. I think that made an impact on his peers and it certainly made the Andover record books. an impact on his teachers.” Asked if he is able to keep in touch with many of his Andover friends given the rigors of the 82-game professional hockey schedule, Kreider immediately rattles off a long list of New York–area friends.
Editor’s note: Chris Gurry taught history and social science until retiring in 2014; Gurry Rink, adjacent to Harrison Rink, is named in his honor. Dean Boylan, who retired in 2015, will be honored at a special event in early 2016. Cory Schneider was inducted into the Andover Athletics Hall of Honor in June (see page 18).
“I had such a positive experience at Andover,” Kreider says. “It’s such an unbelievable environment and not something that can really be re-created anywhere.” That made it hard to say goodbye, but he did—after his upper year. He was
Joe Lemire ’01 is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in USA Today, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, as well as on Grantland and MLB networks.
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Andover | Fall 2015