BEACONS’ LARKIN STILL LIVIN’ THE DREAM
Hockey dreams can die hard, and for Colin Larkin that’s a good thing. After a couple of years of juniors with the Michigan Warriors of the North American Hockey League and four years of Division 3 hockey at UMass-Boston, the 24-yearold Larkin last week signed an entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers, making his professional debut for the AHL Bakersfield Condors on Friday.
Despite good size (6-foot3), good wheels and bloodlines (his younger brother Dylan was a first-round pick and is a budding star for the Red Wings), Colin Larkin did not land a Division 1 scholarship after playing in the juniors. Larkin’s decision to play for the Beacons paid off. In his four years in the UMass-Boston program, he notched 148 points in 111 games, including 24-22-46 totals in 27 games in the 201718 season — his senior year.
Other Div.3 players have made it to the NHL, including Keith Aucoin from Norwich and Chelmsford, but this is a first for UMassBoston.
“I couldn’t be happier for the kid,” Beacons coach Pete Belisle said. “It’s really unusual for us. Some kids make it after signing an (amateur tryout deal) or going through the (ECHL), but to get this kind of a deal is really something. And you can imagine what he fought through with his little brother in the NHL and him getting passed over by the D-1 schools. He’s a great kid. He was a great leader for us. He even worked a couple of nights a week at a local package store as a cashier. And now this. It really is a great story.”
Larkin started to gain attention last year. This season, Belisle said the Beacons would have six or seven NHL scouts in the stands for their games. None were as persistent as local Edmonton scout Scott Harlow, who brought Oilers VP of hockey operations Craig MacTavish to a couple of games as well, according to Belisle.
“There was a buzz about him at the start of the year and there was a lot of pressure on him,” Belisle said of Larkin. “We put a lot of pressure on him. But he fought through a lot. He’s got a great shot. His accuracy really improved and that’s something we worked on a lot.”
Larkin played for former NHL defenseman Moe Mantha in the NAHL.
“That’s a league we scout a lot,” Belisle said. “We knew he wanted to come to Boston, so we were just there with our catcher’s mitt waiting in case he fell through the cracks. And luckily for us, he did.”