When Boston University was raising the Beanpot trophy for the 30th time after beating Northeastern in overtime of last year’s championship game, Sean Maguire was watching on television from his dorm room, No. 814 in Student Village One.
Maguire was not on the TD Garden ice that night with his teammates. He missed the 2014-15 season with a serious head injury, after suffering a concussion during a BU practice on March 3, 2014. Maguire wasn’t listed on the roster last season, nor was he included in the team photo.
He watched from a distance, then — first from his home in British Columbia as he began his recovery, then mostly from his dorm room when he returned to school for spring semester — as the Terriers won almost everything: Beanpot, Hockey East regular-season title, Hockey East Tournament, before losing the national championship game in heartbreaking fashion. A special season, almost a dream season, all without Maguire.
“It’s tough watching your team play without you, no matter what sport it is or what position you play,’’ Maguire said. “But seeing the team do so well without you makes it a little bit more sour. I don’t have much to say about it. It’s a double-edged sword: You love seeing the team do so well, so I guess there’s positives . . . but it’s tough to sit out.’’
Maguire won’t be sitting out Monday night, when the Terriers play for the Beanpot championship, the 21st time they’ll meet Boston College in the final. He’ll be protecting the BU net, same as he’s done for the past 10 games as the starting goaltender. Maguire and the Terriers have won eight of those 10 games. The exceptions? A loss and a tie, both to BC.
It’s been a long, difficult, trying road for Maguire, a 23-month journey filled with low points. Beating the Eagles on Monday night would be a high point. But win or lose, Maguire will embrace the opportunity just to play, because he’s seen what it’s like when he can’t.
“You have a lot more appreciation for what you have. I got to sit back and kind of reevaluate what I was doing, and what I was planning to do for the rest of my life: If I wanted to be a pro, if I wanted to start finding a job, or whatever,’’ said Maguire, who was picked in the fourth round of the 2014 NHL Draft by Pittsburgh. “All I could do was to try to think positively and continue to create goals for myself, not think about the negative things. When I got back, there were a lot of hurdles to jump over, and with each passing day I feel like I’m getting better.’’
It’s shown in his play. Maguire split time with sophomore Connor LaCouvee at the beginning of the season, working his way back as the starting goaltender gradually. Physically, Maguire felt fine. Once he was cleared to return to the ice — six months after the injury — he spent a lot of time with the local junior team in his hometown of Powell River. But eliminating the mental doubts and concerns would come only with his return to games. Maguire lost his first game back, dropped two of his first three starts, and three of his first five.
“We knew it was going to take some time,’’ BU coach Dave Quinn said. “You don’t miss a full year of competition and jump right back on the horse and pick up where you left off. I never really had any doubts once we realized he was going to be able to come back physically. He was in a good state, and he had recovered from the head injury.’’
Maguire has won his last five starts, allowing a total of seven goals. He has a record of 9-4-1 for the Terriers (16-7-4) and would love to cap his Beanpot career with a win in the championship game. Maguire lost his first two Beanpot appearances — consolation games as a freshman and sophomore — before beating Northeastern a week ago, 3-1.
Despite spending last season as a medical redshirt, Maguire says he won’t use his final season of eligibility at BU. He is listed as a senior, so this will be it, and beating the Eagles for the first time in his career would make this comeback season for Maguire all the more memorable.
He’d like his final season to last two more months and feature many more victories.
“I want to win everything, but in order to do that I have to take things in stride and play it game by game, get better with each practice,’’ Maguire said. “That’s all I can do.’’
In some ways, by returning from a concussive brain injury that affected his eyesight and his mood and robbed him of a year playing hockey, Maguire already has done plenty. He’s back, and he’s a big reason why BU is back where it feels it belongs: Playing in the Garden on the second Monday of February. In the second game of the night, not the first.
“Any time you’re playing in a championship, the goalie is the No. 1 reason why you’re going to have success, at any level,’’ Quinn said. “You need goaltending to win a championship. We’ve been getting championship-type goaltending here for a while, so I don’t think there’s any doubt that we feel very confident in his abilities.
“We feel confident in our goaltending, and I think that’s why we’re playing confident as a team.’’
Michael Whitmer can be reached at mwhitmer@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeWhitmer.
