Albie O'Connell

Albie O'Connell is an American ice hockey coach and former player who is currently in charge of the program at Boston University.

Player
A Watertown native, Albie O'Connell joined the program at Boston University on the heels of their fourth National Championship and scored 17 points on a team that finished the regular season as the #1 east seed but failed to win their conference tournament. BU would be downed by eventual champion Michigan in the frozen four but O'Connell was still with the team the following year when the Terriers won both the Hockey East regular season and tournament crowns. BU met the Wolverines in the semifinals again and were victorious in their second meeting but they couldn't overcome a 5-goal outburst in the second period by North Dakota in the title tilt. O'Connell's assist in the championship game was his 24th of the season and his increasing points totals continued throughout his four years with the program. As a senior O'Connell was named captain of the team and led the Terriers in scoring with 39 points.

O'Connell had been drafted by the Islanders in the 5th round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft but went unsigned after graduating with a degree in history so he spent his first season as a professional with the Pensacola Ice Pilots. After a decent year he crossed the Atlantic and joined the Basingstoke Bison of the now-defunct BNL and exploded for 74 points in 36 games. He led his team in scoring by 23 points and finished 3rd overall in the league. In the plyoffs he paced the Bison with 11 points in 10 games and led them to the finals but Basingstoke would have to settle for a second straight runner-up season. Despite his exploits O'Connell found himself on Cardiff the next season but he could not replicate the same magic and after only 11 games he went back to the ECHL. His time with Atlantic City was even less fruitful and after only 13 games with the squad he hung up his skates and turned to coaching.

Coach
The first job O'Connell received was an assistant coaching position with Berkshire School, a prep school in western Massachusetts. After a year he returned to the college ranks as an assistant for Division III Colby College and found himself at the Division I level with Niagara the following season. After a brief stop with Holy Cross in 2006–07 O'Connell made his way back to the Hockey East at Merrimack under head coach Mark Dennehy where he worked with the forwards and power play unit. He switched teams once again that summer when he joined the program at Northeastern and settled into his role as a recruiting coordinator. After three years with the Huskies he was lured away by Ted Donato at Harvard and tasked with improving the defensive corps and special teams. After a good start in his first year the returns flagged for the next two seasons but despite the setback O'Connell was offered the opportunity to rejoin his alma mater and he jumped at the chance.

O'Connell's return coincided with the arrival of future 2nd overall pick Jack Eichel and the team won both the conference regular season and tournament titles. The Terriers received the #3 overall seed and marched all the way to the championship game where they couldn't overcome two third-period goals and lost to Providence 4–3. O'Connell was promoted to associate head coach the following year and the Terriers continued to produce good results, appearing in each of the next three tournaments and making the quarterfinal round twice. While the ultimate prize eluded the team head coach David Quinn accepted the same position with the New York Rangers in the spring of 2018 and less than two weeks later O'Connell was named as his successor.