Tommy Cross: Bruins Prospect Seeking 3rd Hockey East Title at Boston College

Connecticut native Tommy Cross has been on the Boston Bruins’ future watch since the day he was chosen in the second round of the 2007 NHL entry draft. That was only four weeks after rising power forward Milan Lucic set a tone for his NHL career by claiming tournament MVP accolades as a member of the Memorial Cup champion Vancouver Giants.

What is the common thread between the two players? Cross, not unlike Lucic, has a profile that promises a future of fruitful physicality as well as a resume saturated with valuable big-game experience.

Ranked No. 9 among all Bruins’ prospects on hockeysfuture.com, third among all rising Boston defensemen, Cross is looking for a fireworks finale to his career at Boston College. The senior captain will play his ninth collegiate game at the TD Garden this Friday afternoon in the Hockey East semifinals.

Barring a Cyclopean upset via the Providence College Friars, Cross will have a tenth game with the Eagles at his prospective NHL domain on Saturday, in which case BC will seek a three-peat conference championship. And regardless of this weekend’s results, the nationally top-ranked Eagles are a shoo-in for the 2012 NCAA tournament, in which Cross will vie for his second national crown.

In all, after an injury-shortened freshman campaign that was also a bit of a rebuilding year for BC, Cross has already partaken in six different championship victories over the last three seasons. In addition to the back-to-back conference pennants and the 2010 national title, his Eagles have claimed three straight Beanpots.

As a junior last winter, Cross scored in overtime to bump rival Boston University in the Beanpot semifinals and had a hand in three goals in a 7-6 championship triumph over Northeastern.

Entering this weekend, Cross is tied with Bill Arnold for second on the team with four game-winning goals on the year, trailing only Rangers’ prospect Chris Kreider. In addition, he has pitched in two goals and eight points on the power play as a senior.

All of the above make Cross a surprisingly enticing option for the Bruins’ not-too-distant, long-term future; surprising in the sense that he has spent this much time developing at an amateur level.

His Hockey’s Future profile likens him to Dennis Seidenberg, although his two-way aptitude hints at a potential scratch for one of the organization’s chronic itches.

From Dennis Wideman to Tomas Kaberle to Joe Corvo, general manager Peter Chiarelli’s administration has been perpetually dissatisfied with puck-moving defensemen throughout its six years of running the team.

But if all goes according to plan with Cross, he could bring in the elusive combination of home-front physicality, transitional assertiveness and playmaking proficiency as early as 2013-14. Based on his own development and Boston’s current stock of blueliners, especially if Dougie Hamilton breaks in next season, Cross will best serve himself and the Bruins by spending the vast bulk of next season in the AHL.

But if he accumulates the right level of professional seasoning in Providence, his eventual value to the parent club will simply depend on his retaining everything he has built up at BC. Everything from his leadership qualities to pure skating and stickhandling skills to resilience to a dense winning touch should not be underestimated.

Cross is not like fellow Boston 2007 pick Zach Hamill, who returned to major juniors for one more year and then stayed in his Providence chrysalis too long with too little progression. Cross went from the NHL draft board to one season in the United States League to Chestnut Hill, where he has used ample opportunity to foster his game under professor of puck Jerry York.

With the “C” over his heart, he can put a Sharpie-strong stamp on his stay at BC with one more lap with the Lamoriello Trophy this weekend and one more NCAA trophy in three weeks.