Growing up in Massachusetts, Jack Eichel was a driven and determined young star. In 2015, Eichel was profiled as an elite prospect ready and willing to engage his peers at the NHL level.
It took him eight years and two different teams to play his first NHL post-season game, but star center Jack Eichel won a Stanley Cup in 2023. And in this major feature story from The Hockey News’ June 1, 2015 edition (Volume 68, Issue 22-23), then-writer and current editor-in-chief Ryan Kennedy penned an in-depth analysis of Eichel’s ascent to the second-overall slot in the 2015 draft.
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Eichel was born and raised in North Chelmsford, Mass., and as he got better and better as a hockey player, his focus centered around his route to the NHL. He spent one year at Boston University, but prior to that, he was lured to the U.S. National Team Development Program, and for two years, he thrived representing his country.
“By the time he was 12 or 13, it was a goal for him,” Eichel’s mother, Anne Eichel, told Kennedy. “Jack thinks about things a long time. He doesn’t make rash decisions.”
The pressure on Eichel was at a fever pitch prior to being drafted by Buffalo, but his coaches and management at Boston University helped him manage media interest and set him up to be a high-impact performer in hockey’s top league.
“Things can get overwhelming,” Eichel said of the situation. “Coach (David) Quinn and (Boston University assistant athletic director) Brian (Kelley) did a really good job of halting the media attention and letting me focus on playing hockey and being a student-athlete. That was important for me after the world juniors, to get back to sanity. And it paid off down the stretch.”
BLUE-COLLAR BLUE-CHIPPER
Vol. 68, No. 22-23, June 1, 2015
By Ryan Kennedy
If there was ever a time to sit and bask in the office of Boston University’s men’s hockey team, it is now. Sure, the candy dish will probably be on the receptionist’s desk in the future, but the trophy shelf couldn’t get much more packed. There’s the Beanpot, the Hockey East conference championship trophies and, of course, the Hobey Baker Award. Today, Hobey is getting some work done, as a staffer with a faded prison-style tattoo takes the base off, returning it minutes later to reunite with the ice-like glass top that the Princeton legend is skating on for eternity. The newest nameplate on the award belongs to the player who took on an outsized role in acquiring all these trophies: Jack Eichel.
With the No. 2 pick, the Buffalo Sabres will come out of the draft this summer in Florida with one of the best American prospects ever. Eichel will be taken after Erie’s Connor Mc-David, and the Boston University center has it all: size, speed and incredible skill. “I’ve never seen a 1-2 combination like this before,” said one scout.
And while Eichel’s arsenal of on-ice weapons puts him in an elite class of players, he is proud to say he comes up from humble roots in North Chelmsford, Mass.
See, the folks that live in the south, east and west parts of Chelmsford just say they’re from Chelmsford, a nice little town located just south of Lowell. But North Chelmsford is distinct. It’s the working class area of the wooded community, where you’ll find live bait shops, duckpin bowling and bumper stickers that read: “I’m from North Chelmsford, Don’t Tread on Me.” The old textile mills are becoming restaurants and condos, but people still work on granite at the Fletcher company, which traces its roots back to the 1600s.
When Bob and Anne Eichel got married, even the priest got in a classist dig when Bob (who is from Melrose, around Boston) happily opined he had made it: he was married and living in Chelmsford. No, said the priest – you’re living in North Chelmsford.
Just as Patrick Kane likes to rep his working-class Irish ’hood of South Buffalo, Jack likes to give a “bump” to North Chelmsford. You don’t “dirt” on your town, in his vocabulary. “I’m proud to be from there,” he said. “It’s a hard-working community, a lot of blue-collar people like myself, so I fit in.”
Jack’s mom is a nurse and longtime resident of the area, originally from Lowell. His father, the manager of a plumbing and heating supply company, boasts imposing size and rocks a Terriers baseball cap as he sits in a big, comfy chair in the family’s sunlight-filled family room. They live in a nice house on a nice street in a quiet neighborhood – nothing showy, but definitely homey.
Not that Jack has been around much in recent years.
Eichel spent this year demolishing the college ranks, helping Boston University go all the way to the national championship game and earning himself the Hobey Baker Award, becoming the first freshman to win the prestigious top NCAA player honor since Paul Kariya in 1993. Before that, Eichel was in Ann Arbor, Mich., for two years as part of Team USA’s National Team Development Program. And even when he was nominally living in North Chelmsford, his preternatural skills were drawing him to the big city: he played for the Boston Jr. Bruins, about 40 minutes away. That meant a lot of planning to get him from school to games and practices. “We would just make it,” Anne said. “I’d have sandwiches in the car for him.” One year, Jack had a teammate who lived en route, so he’d get dropped off and picked up at a rest area on the side of the highway.
But hockey has been a longtime passion since Jack first went skating on his fourth birthday. “My first memories were on the pond with my dad,” he said. “Just skating late at night. Maybe there weren’t lights there some nights, but I loved being on the ice.”
North Chelmsford was a great location for such activities. In the winter, frozen ponds were everywhere. There was the one down the street, the one behind the fire hall, the one off Route 40…and then there were the brick-and-mortar indoor rinks. Starting when Jack was in daycare, Bob would sneak his boy away for some clandestine skating time, unbeknownst to Mom. “I used to steal him all the way through to eighth grade,” Bob said. “He used to tell his teachers he had a dentist appointment.”
Perhaps playing against his dad’s buddies helped Jack prepare for a career where he always played against older competition. Perhaps it was just fun. Probably both.
The Eichels live on a big, looping street, so when there was no ice outdoors, Jack would strap on the rollerblades and, with a stick and a ball, just skate around the circle. Otherwise, his youth was spent playing baseball, soccer, lacrosse and more (older sister Jessie is also an athlete, rowing crew at nearby Merrimack College), which kept him out of trouble. “He was easy,” Anne said. “As long as he stayed busy. He just wasn’t a complainer and you never had to nag him about practice.”
And practice evidently made perfect, because Jack became a force early on. His stint with the Jr. Bruins started attracting flocks of would-be family advisors (a.k.a. NCAA-kosher player agents) and decisions about the 14-year-old’s future became a lot more real and urgent.
The family narrowed the potential representatives to a handful of hopefuls before Jack’s dad laid out a mission for his son: “I gave him 20 bucks and dropped him off at Applebee’s to meet with them,” Bob said. “I asked him, “If you’re on the road and can’t talk to me, who do you want to be calling?’”
In the end, the answer was Peter Fish, a former Boston U. player. And though, through that and other influences, it seemed as if Jack was destined to become a Terrier, it wasn’t so simple. Bob, too, was a Boston U. fan, but Jack actually grew up rooting for (gasp!) the archrival Boston College Eagles. He had the shirts, the blankets and everything BC as a boy. “I was always BU, so we’d fight all the time,” Bob said. “It was a lot of fun. Then he shocked us.”
Jack saw BU as the better development path for himself, even if he grew up an Eagles fan. And he isn’t the kind of kid who does things on a lark. For instance, early on he attended an NTDP national camp in Rochester, N.Y., and the program intrigued him. “By the time he was 12 or 13, it was a goal for him,” Anne said. “Jack thinks about things a long time. He doesn’t make rash decisions.”
That particular decision paid off. Jack made a lot of friends in Ann Arbor and intends to visit his NTDP billet family when he gets a chance. The bonds forged through work, heartache and glory are still very much on his mind more than a year later. “The first year we went through a lot of adversity, we didn’t win a lot of games,” he said. “Second year, everyone came back pretty focused and we were on a mission. Those guys will also be my really good friends.”
Eichel helped Team USA win gold at the under-18s last year and posted one of the best offensive seasons in the program’s history (though Auston Matthews shattered everyone’s marks this year).
So even though pundits had been talking about McDavid for years, Eichel was beginning to get a little bit of steam behind him in the hype game. Once he got on the ice with the Terriers, things kicked into overdrive. Eichel posted five points in his first exhibition game, then four points in the season opener against UMass. He tallied points in his first 10 games and Boston went 8-1-1 in that span.
It’s important to remember at this point that the Terriers were in disarray just a year prior. Injuries killed the squad, while down seasons from other players led to a dreadful 10-21-4 record. Although the turnaround was great for the program, the attention began to wear on Eichel, who was, after all, still a teenaged freshman. Brian Kelley is the assistant athletic director at BU and has worked with the men’s team for nine years. The media crush was unprecedented even for him. “This trumped everything,” Kelley said. “It started so early. We knew Jack was coming as part of a great freshman class and people were anxious to see what they could do for the team.”
The attention came in waves, and after the 2015 World Junior Championship in Canada, where the Americans were again unceremoniously dumped by the Russians in the quarters, Eichel was beginning to drown. As captain of Team USA, Eichel didn’t have anywhere to hide from the media pack in Montreal and the Canadian fans didn’t give him an easy ride, either. So when he returned to Boston, Kelley and Terriers coach David Quinn devised a media blackout, and Eichel was given a month off from interview duties. “It was nice,” he said. “Things can get overwhelming. Coach Quinn and Brian did a really good job of halting the media attention and letting me focus on playing hockey and being a student-athlete. That was important for me after the world juniors, to get back to sanity. And it paid off down the stretch.”
With a talent such as Eichel, it’s easy to forget he was also a student during the season, studying for tests and writing papers. “Every day is pretty long,” he said. “Without the media and those type of things, I was able to have more time to myself. It’s underrated to just relax and not be overwhelmed with distractions.”
The media break ended in February, just in time for the Beanpot tournament, an annual gathering of BU, BC, Harvard and Northeastern that determines Boston bragging rights. In local circles, the Beanpot is more important than the national championship, and Boston College (“The School Down the Street,” as Bob derisively refers to it) had won the trophy five years running. But the Terriers got to the final against Northeastern this time. Eichel drew a penalty early in overtime, then assisted on the ensuing power play winner.
And as if his profile couldn’t get any bigger, Eichel made an appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter program, hanging out with hockey hosts John Buccigross, Steve Levy and Barry Melrose. “It was awesome,” Eichel said. “I was pretty nervous – sports anchoring is definitely not my forte – but they made me comfortable right away. It’s crazy to think I was on SportsCenter, since I grew up watching the show every morning.”
But crazy is the norm for Eichel lately. Another “wave” of media came rolling in once the draft lottery was completed, with Edmonton winning the Mc-David slot at No. 1 and Eichel a lock to go to the Buffalo Sabres at No. 2. “I know they have a really rich tradition and quite the fan base – so many supporters,” he said. “They have a lot of really good, up-and-coming players and they have a really bright future.”
For Bob and Anne Eichel, Buffalo also has some geographic advantages over, say, Edmonton or Arizona. When the couple used to drive to visit their son in Ann Arbor, Buffalo was their halfway stop. Now the trip can still fit within their humble lifestyle. “You can go to two games on a weekend,” Bob said, “then be back Monday morning for work.”
Because that’s what you do when you’re from North Chelmsford – you go to work.
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