By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz
This past weekend in college hockey featured a loaded schedule of heavyweight-ranked matchups and rivalries renewed, and the Boston Bruins were right in the thick of it. Boston prospects racked up eleven points over the course of the weekend, including several in the biggest matchups.
Beckett Hendrickson and Will Zellers traded assists as Minnesota and North Dakota exchanged blowout wins in their first meetings in two years. Chris Pelosi and Elliott Groenewold both had huge contributions to Quinnipiac’s Top-10 battle with Maine. But the Bruins’ top performers this weekend come from Boston College, where the BC Bruins carried the Eagles to victory:
James Hagens (C) – Boston College – Hagens found the back of the net for the first time this season on Friday night against RPI, then tacked on a second goal in the second period to cap off BC’s 5-1 drubbing of the Engineers. Off the back of his first multi-goal game since Black Friday of last season, Hagens is over a point-per-game scoring pace for his college career, and leads the Eagles in scoring, with a surprise breakout performer right behind him in second place.
Dean Letourneau (C) – Boston College – The early returns suggest the Dean Letourneau breakout has arrived. A goal and an assist on Friday night not only gave him the first multipoint outing of his college career but also set a new career high in points, surpassing his freshman year total in 32 fewer games. After going scoreless against Quinnipiac in the season opener, Big Dean has strung together a three-game point streak.
Elliott Groenewold (D) – Quinnipiac – Groenewold came up big for the Bobcats in their series against Maine, factoring on a goal in each game as they took the points off the Hockey East champs. He scored a crucial goal as part of their frantic Friday night comeback, scoring the first of two goals with the extra attacker in the final minutes of play to storm back from a 4-1 hole. Groenewold later contributed an assist as part of a 4-0 shutout victory on Saturday. Through five games, Groenewold is averaging over 20 minutes of ice time per game and leads all Quinnipiac skaters in plus/minus with +7.
Chris Pelosi (C) – Quinnipiac – Pelosi notched his first two assists of the season over the Bobcats’ aforementioned weekend series against Maine. His first assist came on Groenewold’s goal, setting up the one-timer that Groenewold eventually corralled and finished. His second assist came on the power play on Saturday, to wrap up the 4-0 shutout win. Pelosi has four points in five games to start his sophomore season, maintaining the torrid pace from the second half of his freshman campaign.
Looking Ahead: The next slate of games gets an early start as Pelosi and Groenewold head to Holy Cross on Tuesday night, then head over to Merrimack and New Hampshire for their weekend games. Hagens, Letourneau, and the BC Bruins have a big-time matchup on Friday night, welcoming Denver to the Conte Forum. Jonathan Morello and Boston University look to rebound after a tough weekend against Michigan State with a Hockey East home-and-home with UConn. Philip Svedeback and the Friars journey to Minnesota for a weekend series against St. Thomas.
Cole Spicer and Western Michigan have a home-and-home on tap with the red-hot Michigan Wolverines, who have scored at least five goals in four of six games this season, and hit double-digits twice. Will Zellers and the Fighting Hawks journey east for two games against Clarkson. Beckett Hendrickson and the Golden Gophers return to Minneapolis to play host to Minnesota-Duluth for the weekend. Casper Nassen and Miami are back in action after an off-week and head to Missouri to take on Lindenwood.
Leave a Reply