BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer
After an unusually quiet fall and winter of no hockey, Joe Pearce is eager and beginning to get ready to get back on the ice.
The former Brick Township High goalie could not watch the NHL on television after its season was canceled by a lockout, including watching games involving the Tampa Bay Lightning, which drafted him in the fifth round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.
And Pearce chose to sit out his second season at Boston College after playing effectively in five games as a backup on the 2003-2004 team that reached the NCAA’s Frozen Four.
“I’m playing for Boston College again,” said Pearce, who is at home at Brick these days, but planning to head back up to Chestnut Hill, Mass. to take some summer courses and do some individual preseason work. “I came to a crossroads at the end of my freshman year. They brought in three other goalies and I took the year off. It just wasn’t fun for me.”
And Pearce has no regrets.
“I really enjoyed it. I had a good time,” said Pearce who experienced what it’s like to be strictly a student taking classes, including his economics major, maintaining a 3.0 grade point average and having a little unusual free time, including joining in the celebration of the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series.
“It was great, a lot of craziness in the streets,” said Pearce. “It was a great atmosphere.”
It’s something he did not enjoy much as a teenager playing for both the Brick Hockey Club and the high school team that won the NJSIAA Public Schools championship in his sophomore and junior year, the latter year his first as a starter. The Green Dragons also won the prestigious Gordon Cup that year. The team won the Public School title in his senior year.
From there, he went on to play for professional teams in Bismarck, N.D., New Hampshire and Chicago before heading to Boston College.
“I’m getting the knack back and getting a feeling for the ice,” said Pearce. “I’m a little rusty but it’s something I’ve done my whole life. I’ll be able to get back into the swing of things in December and January.”
He also knew of the success of friend and Brick neighbor Kevin Kielt at Boston University this past season, and that kept his interest going.
“I’m just working out and trying to skate a couple of times a week,” he said. “I’m going up to school early to take some summer classes and work with the coaches. I’ll play in some tournaments over the summer. I spoke with [head coach] Greg Yorke and he seems pretty confident with me added to the team.”
Pearce says playing in the summer games will help keep the Lightning’s eyes on him. He’ll get more opportunity to play at Boston College than two seasons ago, when the No. 1 goalie competes with the U.S. team in the World Junior Hockey tournament for a few weeks in North Dakota in November and December.
“I felt good whenever I played and when I got the opportunity,” said Pearce.
After some shaky moments early in his college career, including a game against Merrimack when he was pulled after allowing three goals in 25 minutes, Pearce got into the groove. Replacing the injured starting goalie, Pearce was the Most Valuable Player of the Great Lakes Invitational at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, when Boston College, ranked No. 2 in the nation at the time, beat Michigan, 4-1, and Michigan State, 4-3, in overtime. He stopped 45 Michigan shots and made 15 saves against Michigan State.
But the No. 1 goalie for the Eagles, who also earned Pearce’s respect, returned and he found his playing time limited. Pearce sat out the NCAA Tournament run that ended at the Fleet Center in Boston with a loss to Maine in the first round of the Frozen Four in a 32-8-3 season. In five games, Pearce allowed 14 goals and made 77 saves.
Pearce says he is looking forward to the upcoming season that includes a game against defending NCAA champion Denver and the annual sojourn to the acclaimed Beanpot Classic at the Fleet Center in Boston on Mondays in February, that matches the college teams in the Boston area.