April 2, 2010

Two seniors from the Boston University men's ice hockey team have begun their professional careers, as forward Zach Cohen and defenseman Eric Gryba have signed National Hockey League contracts with the Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators, respectively.

Both have been assigned to American Hockey League affiliates, as Cohen has already played five games for the Lake Erie Monsters and Gryba is expected to make his debut tonight for the Binghamton Senators.

Cohen, who was a free agent, led the 2009-10 Terriers in goals with 15 and added 10 assists to total 25 points on the season. He completed his BU career with 52 points (31g, 21a) in 130 games and has fit in nicely at Lake Erie, tallying a goal, two assists and a plus-5 rating through his first five games.

With his signing by Colorado, Cohen becomes another member of the pipeline that has been created between BU and the Avalanche. Former Terrier Brandon Yip currently plays for Colorado, who is coached by BU alum Joe Sacco. David Quinn is in his first year as head coach at Lake Erie after serving as the associate head coach for five years at his alma mater and three current Terriers (Colby Cohen, Kieran Millan, Kevin Shattenkirk) are Avalanche draft picks.

After being selected by Ottawa in third round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, Gryba joins the organization following a 2009-10 season during which he served as one of the Terriers' assistant captains. He had his best season ever at BU offensively with 10 points (4g, 6a) and continued to be one of the best defensive defensemen in Hockey East.

Gryba shattered the program record for career penalty minutes with 354 (Freddy Meyer held the previous record at 288) and this year tied the single-season penalty-minute mark of 118 set initially by Yip in 2008-09. He finishes his BU career with 22 points (6g, 16a) in 153 contests.