By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz
Last week, the Bruins college hockey prospects lit up scoresheets across the board. This time, a handful of players had to carry the load, both for the pipeline and their teams. Even with overall production down, a few players had some milestone nights to make the weekend a net positive:
Chris Pelosi & Elliott Groenewold – Quinnipiac – The Quinnipiac duo were once again the main characters of the weekend, combining for seven points over their weekend road trip through central New York. Pelosi recorded a hat trick in their 4-1 win over Cornell on Friday night, scoring all three of his goals off the rush, including the icebreaker when he chipped a loose puck over a falling defenseman to break in free. His third, an empty netter, came while shorthanded. He added two assists on Saturday against Colgate, one on the power play, and the other on the game-winner, to clinch a 4-3 final in coach Rand Pecknold’s 700th career win.
Groenewold didn’t quite light up the scoreboard to the same degree, but was just as impactful for the Bobcats. The defenseman led all Quinnipiac skaters with 43:29 of ice time, despite taking seven penalty minutes against Cornell, and recorded a goal and an assist. Groenewold’s first goal of the season was the overtime winner against Colgate, salvaging the win after the Raiders scored three goals in the final five minutes of regulation.
For the season, Pelosi is up to 6-5-11 in nine games, tied for the team lead in goalscoring, and has a 59.5% faceoff percentage. Groenewold has 1-6-7 in nine games and leads all Bobcat skaters with 21:17 per game, a career-high pace.
Dean Letourneau & Kristian Kostadinski – Boston College – Letourneau and Kostadinski both found the scoresheet in a tough series against Vermont, where the Eagles mustered a single point at home. Letourneau extended his season-opening point streak to eight games with a goal on Thursday night, but was shut out on Friday despite a career-high 27:39 of ice time and his fifth game this year with nine shots on goal.
Kostadinski recorded his first college hockey goal on Friday with a wrist shot from distance that built a 2-0 first-period lead for the Eagles, in the eventual 4-4 tie. With BC down to just five healthy defensemen, the big Swede has played a much larger role on the blueline as a sophomore, with his current 21:19 minutes per game being a 10-minute jump from last season and ranking fourth amongst all BC skaters.
Looking Ahead: Jonathan Morello gets the next slate started early, as BU hosts Harvard on Tuesday night. Letourneau, Kostadinski, & Leo Henriquez have a home-and-home with UMass, starting in Amherst on Friday night.
Pelosi & Groenewold will stay home to face two Ivy League opponents, Dartmouth and Harvard, this weekend. Ryan Walsh will hit the road for two Ivy League opponents of his own, Brown and Yale.
Will Zellers & Cooper Simpson will head to their home state to play NCHC debutants, St. Thomas. Cole Spicer and Western Michigan will host Colorado College for a weekend series. Beckett Hendrickson will become the seventh Bruins prospect to play a team from Alaska this season, as the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves journey down to Minneapolis for the weekend. Casper Nassen and Lake Superior State have a weekend series at Michigan Tech.
Leave a Reply