Friday night’s matchup between the Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks will go down in history as the night Alex Ovechkin matched Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goals record. But for Capitals rookie Ryan Leonard,

Will Smith, Leonard’s center and former National Team Development Program linemate, chose to leave BC after his freshman season and sign with the San Jose Sharks. Leonard did not follow. He wanted one more go with the Eagles alongside fellow sophomores Drew Fortescue, Jacob Fowler and Gabe Perreault, all NHL picks. Leonard did not regret it.

Amherst native Ryan Leonard will make his NHL debut against the Bruins in Washington's Top 6 on Tuesday night.

Ryan Leonard is truly a Bull-in-the-China-Shop/ Wrecking Ball on ice. That is just the way the kid plays. In a real short period of time now we’ve gotten to see him play both at Boston College and for the Washington Capitals.

After attending Leonard’s Capitals debut some 24 hours earlier, the crew of Eagles players headed to New York to support Perreault.

Boston College’s Ryan Leonard was selected as one of three Hobey Baker finalists, the organization announced on Thursday. The other finalists for the award, which goes to the top men’s college hockey player in the country, are Denver defenseman Zeev Buium and Michigan State forward Isaac Howard.

Friday night’s game between the Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks will forever be remembered as the night Alex Ovechkin tied Wayne Gretzky for the most goals in NHL history.

Leonard won a battle on the wall and then two races to loose pucks to keep the play alive before feeding Aliaksei Protas at the point, which began a tic-tac-toe passing sequence that led to Dylan Strome’s goal with 9:23 left in the game.

Ryan Leonard's whirlwind week, NFL rule changes, the two centers of the baseball universe, a Masters prelude, MLB power rankings, and more.