Jay Octeau (March 24, 1965 - June 27, 2022) was an American retired ice hockey

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

who was an All-American for

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

Career

Octeau was a hot commodity coming out of Mount Saint Charles Academy. He was selected by the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

in the NHL Draft straight out of high school and then began attending

. Octeau was a depth player for the Terriers as a freshman but his defensive work helped BU to the top defense in the country and the team returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years. Unfortunately, the team squandered a 3-goal advantage in the second game of their quarterfinal match and were knocked out in triple overtime by eventual champion Bowling Green. Octeau transitioned into a more prominent role as a sophomore. While Octeau's point production more than doubled, he missed a few games during the season so he could play for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at the

1985 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 1985 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (''1985 WJHC'') was the ninth edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship and was held mainly in Turku and Helsinki, Finland. Canada won the gold medal, its second championship, Czechoslova ...

. He couldn't help the team finish better than 6th and returned to the Terriers, only to find the team's defense languishing, allowing almost a full goal more per game than they had the year before. The Terriers finished second in the newly formed

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

but they were kept out of the national tournament when a lower-seeded

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

won the conference title. For his junior season, Octeau continued to improve his offensive numbers by leaps and bounds. The team had a better year as well, capturing the Hockey East title and earned the top eastern seed for the 1986 NCAA Tournament. Octeau was an All-American for the year despite not appearing on either all-conference team. The Terriers, meanwhile, weren't able to keep pace with

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and surrendered 11 goals in 2 games. They were swept out in the quarterfinals. BU flagged in Octeau's senior season, dropping back to the middle of the conference. It was the only season with Octeau that the Terriers didn't win at least 20 games or a single postseason game. The following year Octeau began his professional career but the results weren't favorable. Other than just a single game, Octeau spent his time in the IHL. He only appeared in half the team's games and ended up retiring after the year.

Statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Octeau, Jay 1965 births 2022 deaths AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans American men's ice hockey defensemen Ice hockey people from Providence, Rhode Island New Jersey Devils draft picks Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey players New Haven Nighthawks players Flint Spirits players