By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz
Just like that, we’ve made it to March, the home stretch of the College Hockey regular season. Several Boston Bruins prospects have one last chance to secure their places in their conference, the NCAA tournament, or pad their stats. Several are doing exactly that, and several others are gearing up for the tournaments to start this weekend. Among the Bruins prospects who took the ice on Friday and Saturday, who are finishing the season in their best form?
Jake Schmaltz (C) – North Dakota – Schmaltz factored in both games of a weekend series for the first time since November of 2023, recording a goal and two assists in North Dakota’s weekend split with Western Michigan. Factoring in his goal against Minnesota-Duluth last weekend, Schmaltz also has his first three-game point streak since his freshman year.
The Senior Center has had his best scoring season since his freshman year, with his recent outburst bringing his total to six goals and 15 points. He capped off the weekend by winning 13 of 19 faceoffs, and UND earned the split to keep their slim tournament hopes alive.
Andre Gasseau (C) – Boston College – Gasseau kept his momentum rolling from his career weekend against Vermont with a two-goal night against New Hampshire on Friday, extending his career-high tally to 15. The double-down marked his third consecutive multi-point game and a six-game point streak in which he has six goals and five assists.
His white-hot play came to an abrupt halt before the night’s end when he was assessed a match penalty for a slewfooting less than a minute into the third period. The penalty disqualified Gasseau for the rest of the game, and he was subsequently suspended for Saturday night’s rematch in Durham when BC prevailed in a shootout.
Philip Svedeback (G) – Providence – Svedeback turned in one of his best performances of the season on Friday night, turning aside 29 of 31 shots in the Friars’ 3-2 win over Merrimack. Providence trailed 2-0 deep into the second period before mounting the comeback and held on to secure all three badly needed points.
Svedeback has found his form after treading water through a meatgrinder of a schedule, winning three of four starts after going winless in six. The junior netminder owns a 14-6-4 record, .914 SV%, and 2.37 Goals Against Average heading into the last weekend of the regular season.
Beckett Hendrickson (LW) – Minnesota – Hendrickson recorded his third assist in as many games in Minnesota’s 4-3 Friday night loss to Penn State. He created the scoring chance that led to the Gophers’ icebreaker just over two minutes into the game, throwing the puck on net from the faceoff dot, leading to the rebound that Mason Nevers stashed home for the early lead.
Hendrickson is starting to come alive towards the tail end of his freshman season. He has points in four of five, on top of his three-game assist streak, and eight of his 12 points have come in the second semester for the Big Ten co-Champion Golden Gophers.
Chris Pelosi (C) – Quinnipiac – Pelosi continues to be a force for the now five-time defending ECAC regular season Champions, skating a forwards-leading 21:37 with an assist and 10/17 faceoff wins in a 4-3 OT loss to Clarkson on Friday. His assist gave him 22 points on the season, the majority coming in 2025, helping to propel Quinnipiac to a 13-4-1 record since the New Year and capture the Cleary Cup once again.
Looking Ahead: Philip Svedeback and Providence close out their regular season with trips to Boston University on Thursday and Northeastern on Saturday night. Dans Locmelis and UMass host fifth-ranked Maine for two games, needing a strong weekend to solidify their position on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. Andre Gasseau and Dean Letourneau host Merrimack on Saturday to wrap up their home schedule.
Jake Schmaltz and the Fighting Hawks host Omaha with home ice on the line for the NCHC tournament. Omaha leads both UND and Denver by two points coming into the weekend, so there’s plenty of motivation for both teams. Ty Gallagher and Colorado College come off a bye week into their biggest rivalry series of the year against seventh-ranked Denver. Casper Nassen wraps up his season this weekend against fourth-ranked Western Michigan, with Miami having long since been eliminated from postseason contention.
A handful of Bruins prospects are starting their conference tournaments early: Ryan Walsh and defending ECAC tournament champions Cornell host fellow Ivy League team Yale. Mason Langenbrunner and the Harvard Crimson host RPI in their first-round series. Chris Pelosi and Elliott Groenewold get the weekend off and a bye into the next round as regular-season champions. Beckett Hendrickson hosts Notre Dame in their best-of-three series at Mariucci Arena.
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