Terrier Watch: Kenny Roche

When this appeared in my twitter feed a little while ago, I maybe did a double-take and then a few fistpumps. Kenny Roche! 2006-2007 Boston University alternate captain! Contributor to the epic moment in my life that was BU taking the 2007 Beanpot! Oh, memories.

Roche, Sean Sullivan, and the-one-the-only John Curry with the Beanpot, 2/12/07

Roche was drafted in 2003 by the New York Rangers, but has not as of yet seen any NHL time. He logged three games with the Rangers’ AHL affiliate in Hartford at the end of the 2006-2007 season, signing with the Lake Erie Monsters for 2007-2008. He split time between Erie and the Johnstown Chiefs that season, then spent all of 2008-2009 in Germany’s second-tier Bundesliga, with the Lausitzer Foxes. This season, Roche has spent the majority of his time with the ECHL’s Charlotte Checkers, playing 14 games for the Wolf Pack and 3 games for the Providence Bruins; he’s been called up again by Providence tonight, for their game against the Isles affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. With injury striking Mikko Lehtonen and the big club calling up Brad Marchand, the P-Bruins are lacking bodies, so here’s another good chance for Roche to show his stuff.

Interesting coincidence, discovered via Hockey Database and On Being a Sports Girl (read this post): Kenny Roche was reunited with former BU teammates Kevin Schaeffer (Class of 07, sometimes P-Bruin) and Jason Lawrence (class of 09, given a tryout contract with the Bruins, but assigned to the ECHL after not producing much for the P-Bruins) on the Charlotte Checkers this year. Lawrence, however, was traded from Charlotte to the Gwinnett Gladiators (why are so many ECHL teams in southeast states? Gwinnett is in Georgia, and is the ECHL affiliate of Columbus and Atlanta) in November. His first game happened to be against – you guessed it – his former team, and not only did the teams combine for 47 penalty minutes, but Lawrence and Roche got into a fight halfway through the second period! Scandal!

Jason Lawrence (white) vs Kenny Roche (blue). Photo courtesy of flickr user amanda_hertel.

So now Roche has beaten Jason Lawrence in a fight AND usurped his coveted spot on the Bruins’ AHL team. Oh, J-Lo, you just can’t win. The P-Bruins are tied for 8th place in the conference, and need this win, so here’s hoping Roche can contribute to the team.