AHL Utica Comets

Comet Tales: Meet Benn Ferriero

November 22, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets News Release


14 games into the Comets inaugural season and Benn Ferriero  remains positive for a number of reasons.

"We're working on putting together a few wins," says Ferriero, who grew up 26 miles north of Boston in Essex, MA. As go the Comets against American Hockey League challengers, so have Ferriero's offensive numbers. Heading into this weekend's home-and-home series with the Rochester Americans, Ferriero is tied for second on the team in points with 10 (6 goals, 4 assists).  Regularly hovering around the net during his shifts, Utica fans have been conditioned after eight home games to expect something exciting from Ferriero.

Benn and his teammates appear to feed off of the exuberance demonstrated by the 3,00-plus crowds routinely filling in The AUD.  "Playing at home is unbelievable. Everyone seems excited, at every game," Ferriero, a member of the Boston College 2008 NCAA  D-1 National Championship team, said. "Each game the fans are loud, and that motivates us."

Since leaving coach Jerry York and the Boston College program after the 2008-'09 season, the past five years have been rewarding and challenging for Ferriero. Utica is the sixth stop along the 26-year old winger's pursuit of a full-time National Hockey League stay.  Last season alone, Ferriero had temporary residence  with three hockey clubs.  Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Connecticut Whale, and skating four games with the New York Rangers, kept Ferriero on the go. 96 NHL contest to his credit, collecting game 97, presumably with Utica's parent club Vancouver Canucks is front and center on Ferriero's agenda.

Having had  success on the collegiate level as well as nibbling on the fruits of an NHL lifestyle, Ferriero is as motivated as any wearing a Comets jersey. Like most pros who come from the college ranks, Ferriero remains fiercely loyal to the school where he grew into an NHL draft selection.

Selected in the seventh round in the NHL Entry Draft after his freshman year in 2006, Ferrerio didn't sign with the Phoenix Coyotes.  "I'm not sure why," Ferriero said of his not wearing a Coyote jersey. "It was sort of a mutual thing. The franchise was going through a few things, and it just didn't work out."

Ferriero is as clear as possible when explaining how glad he is to have stayed at Boston College as a freshman through senior year.  "I enjoyed the whole college experience," tells Ferriero, who scored his first NHL goal as a San Jose Shark against the Anaheim Ducks on October 3, 2009. A caveat to playing for the Eagles in Chestnut Hill, Ferriero was able to experience competing in the Beant Pot Tournament each season.  The first two Monday nights of February in Boston are reserved for the annual hockey tournament that features the four major hockey schools of the city - Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, and Northeastern.  The tournament began in 1952 and is played in the TD Garden, the home of the Boston Bruins.

"As a kid growing up in Boston, I definitely was a Bruins fans, and of the Bean Pot", Ferriero recalls. "The four teams are huge rivals, but the heat on the ice sticks to the ice".

Signed as a free-agent by San Jose in September 2009, Ferriero admits to having known very little about his first NHL team once arriving in training camp. There were no previous visits to California for Benn, whose brother Cody in 2010 was drafted by the Sharks. "I knew a few of the guys from watching them on TV, especially Joe Thornton," Ferriero said of the former Bruin.  "I was a little star-struck in camp. It was pretty cool."

Making the team out of camp in the fall of 2009, and suiting up for opening night in Colorado against the Avalanche was, as Ferriero remembers, "the best time of my hockey career." His game in the Rocky Mountains, and participating in Stanley Cup Playoffs, are what keeps Ferriero working hard at The AUD to get back to NHL shifts.

As for particulars concerning Ferriero's NCAA Championship ring he received in 2008, when the Eagles toppled Notre Dame 4-1 in the Finals, it's not locked away. "I keep the ring with some other collectables I have on display. I don't wear it much. The ring is to special to just wear anywhere".

Capturing the National Championship in Denver's Pepsi Center, for Ferriero is something he states he will never forget. Lauding the championship win as an unbelievable team award, Ferriero contends that he will always remember the guys he played with that season.  Such a special feeling could come around again for Ferriero and his Utica Comets mates, come Calder Cup playoff time.

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