McCoshen discusses college choice, USHL season

Ian McCoshen is in his third season with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League. The 6-foot-2.5, 207-pound defenseman, regarded as an A skater on NHL Central Scouting's preliminary players to watch list for the 2013 Draft, has produced one goal, four points and a plus-13 rating in eight games this season. McCoshen has agreed to take the time and maintain a blog for NHL.com all season long leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

Last week I committed to play college hockey at Boston College following this year. I am really excited about the opportunity to play for the best program in the country. I visited the school during the beginning of one week in mid-October. Boston was really nice; I had never been there before. The city has a rich history, especially in sports. While we drove from the airport to campus, Fenway Park was right there, just on the left side of the highway. Northeastern, Boston University, and Boston College are all within six miles of each other. Boston is really a college town with a great atmosphere for college hockey.

On campus, I went to a Tuesday morning literature and composition class with defenseman Mike Matheson. There were only 20 or so students taking the course. It's nice knowing that the classes are small. Once the class was over, I was able to see how small the school actually is. It is a tight-knit campus with beautiful facilities.

I talked to both Patrick Wey and Parker Milner, who were both former Black Hawks. They told me to go with the school that felt right and the most comfortable fit. They were both really helpful, and didn’t push me too hard to choose BC, which I hadn’t expected.

Almost everyone close to me has told me that there are only a few times where people really want you for what you do. They told me I should be patient, and it paid off. I didn’t really feel any rush to commit as early as some players who choose their schools at age 14 or 15. College coaches did tell me that not being committed to a school was rare for a player my age who has received so much attention.

Unfortunately, I've been under the weather for two weeks now; it is definitely no fun sitting around waiting to get better. It is a week-to-week scenario right now.

It is difficult to miss games regardless of the cause. Since I can't exercise my body, I am exercising my mind by reading How to Deal with Pressure by Saul Miller, it is some pretty powerful stuff. I am also watching a ton of rerun playoff hockey from 2008 and 2009 when Detroit and Pittsburgh went to back-to-back Stanley Cup games.

Prior to becoming ill, I believe that I was just getting into the rhythm of things and playing well. Missing the World Junior A Challenge in Nova Scotia while sick was unfortunate.

On a more positive note, our team is doing really well to start the USHL season. We had some other players missing due to the Junior Challenge, but the guys who were here battled through it and won some games. We know we can be better in many aspects of our game, including being consistently hard on the forecheck, having a great penalty kill, and making sure we score goals and have fun with the game.

Thank you for reading!!

Follow Ian McCoshen on Twitter at: @ijmccoshen3