Jay Octeau (March 24, 1965 - June 27, 2022) was an American retired ice hockey defenseman who was an All-American for Boston University.[1]

Jay Octeau
Born (1965-03-24)March 24, 1965
Providence, Rhode Island, US
Died 27 June 2022(2022-06-27) (aged 57)
Providence, Rhode Island, US
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 181 lb (82 kg; 12 st 13 lb)
Position Defenseman
Shot Right
Played for Boston University
New Haven Nighthawks
Flint Spirits
NHL draft 165th, 1983
New Jersey Devils
Playing career 1983–1988

Career

edit

Octeau was a hot commodity coming out of Mount Saint Charles Academy. He was selected by the New Jersey Devils in the NHL Draft straight out of high school and then began attending Boston University.[2] Octeau was a depth player for the Terriers as a freshman but his defensive work helped BU to the top defense in the country and the team returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years. Unfortunately, the team squandered a 3-goal advantage in the second game of their quarterfinal match and were knocked out in triple overtime by eventual champion Bowling Green.

Octeau transitioned into a more prominent role as a sophomore. While Octeau's point production more than doubled, he missed a few games during the season so he could play for the United States at the 1985 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He couldn't help the team finish better than 6th and returned to the Terriers, only to find the team's defense languishing, allowing almost a full goal more per game than they had the year before. The Terriers finished second in the newly formed Hockey East but they were kept out of the national tournament when a lower-seeded Providence won the conference title.

For his junior season, Octeau continued to improve his offensive numbers by leaps and bounds. The team had a better year as well, capturing the Hockey East title and earned the top eastern seed for the 1986 NCAA Tournament. Octeau was an All-American for the year despite not appearing on either all-conference team. The Terriers, meanwhile, weren't able to keep pace with Minnesota and surrendered 11 goals in 2 games. They were swept out in the quarterfinals. BU flagged in Octeau's senior season, dropping back to the middle of the conference. It was the only season with Octeau that the Terriers didn't win at least 20 games or a single postseason game.[3]

The following year Octeau began his professional career but the results weren't favorable. Other than just a single game, Octeau spent his time in the IHL. He only appeared in half the team's games and ended up retiring after the year.

Statistics

edit

Regular season and playoffs

edit
    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1982–83 Mount Saint Charles Academy RI-HS 23 9 32 41
1983–84 Boston University ECAC Hockey 27 1 6 7 20
1984–85 Boston University Hockey East 38 2 14 16 42
1985–86 Boston University Hockey East 41 8 27 35 47
1986–87 Boston University Hockey East 37 5 23 28 40
1987–88 New Haven Nighthawks AHL 1 0 0 0 0
1987–88 Flint Spirits IHL 38 1 8 9 12
NCAA totals 143 16 70 86 149

International

edit
Year Team Event Result   GP G A Pts PIM
1985 United States WJC 6th 7 1 2 3 2

Awards and honors

edit
Award Year
AHCA East Second-Team All-American 1985–86 [1]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Men's Ice Hockey Award Winners" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  2. ^ "Jay Octeau". Hockey Draft Central. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  3. ^ "Boston University men's Hockey 2017-18 Record Book" (PDF). Boston University Terriers. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
edit