By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz
After putting together a strong group effort last weekend, the Boston Bruins’ prospects in college hockey followed up with an encore performance this week, racking up a combined 18 points. Nine Bruins players factored into at least one goal over their matchups, five came away with a multi-point weekend, and two had multi-goal games. Putting the wraps on another banner weekend, whose performances stood out the most?
Ryan Walsh (C) – Cornell – A week after being named to the US Collegiate Selects Team for the Spengler Cup, Cornell’s captain led the way in their home opening weekend sweep. Walsh scored his first goal of the season on Friday night, then promptly followed up his icebreaker with two more goals on Saturday as the Big Red beat fellow Ivy League schools Brown 4-1 and Yale 5-2. He added to his strong weekend with 11 faceoff wins in each game. Walsh is tied for second on the team in goalscoring and points with 3-2-5 through their first six games.
Dean Letourneau (C) – Boston College – Letourneau’s sophomore breakout continued with three points as the Eagles swept their home-and-home weekend series against 12th-ranked UMass. Big Dean notched a goal and an assist on Friday night, deflecting home Luka Radivojevic’s point shot to spark BC’s offense, then creating a rebound for Will Vote to stash home en route to a 7-3 win. He added an assist on Saturday night in Amherst as part of a 4-0 shutout to secure the sweep. Boston’s 2024 first-round pick is now up to 4-5-9 in 11 games, triple his entire freshman season output, and good for third on the Eagles.
James Hagens (C/LW) – Boston College – Hagens also got involved in BC’s scoring outburst, tacking on a goal and an assist on Friday. He ripped home the Eagles’ go-ahead goal in the second period, then set up Ryan Conmy’s eventual game-winner on the power play less than a minute into the third period. The multipoint effort maintained his point-per-game scoring pace, and his 4-7-11 output is tied with Jake Sondreal atop the Eagles.
Will Zellers (RW) – North Dakota – Zellers notched his second two-goal game in two weeks on Friday night as North Dakota downed Arizona State 5-2. His second goal of the night proved to be the game-winner for the Fighting Hawks, quickly retaking the lead early in the third period after the Sun Devils overturned a 2-0 deficit to tie the game. His latest scoring burst moved him into a tie for the team lead in goalscoring with Ben Strinden at seven apiece.
Beckett Hendrickson (LW) – Minnesota – Hendrickson joined Walsh and Letourneau with a three-point weekend of his own, notching a goal and two assists in the Golden Gophers’ split with Long Island. His scoring bookended the series, assisting on the first goal on Friday night to give Minnesota a first-period lead, then scoring and assisting on two third-period goals on Saturday to help them pull away and secure the split. Hendrickson’s 3-6-9 scoring line has already matched his freshman year goal mark, and just four points away from passing last season’s scoring total.
Looking Ahead: Philip Svedeback and the Providence Friars get the weekend started early with a Thursday night home game against UMass, then head to Amherst on Saturday. Hagens, Letourneau, Will Moore, and Kristian Kostadinski will host Maine for two games. Jonathan Morello and Boston University have a home-and-home with Northeastern, starting Friday night at Matthews Arena, one of the last home games at the historic rink.
Casper Nassen and resurgent Miami will host St Cloud State for the weekend. Hendrickson and the Gophers welcome Gavin McKenna and Penn State to Mariucci Arena. Zellers and the Fighting Hawks have a one-off exhibition game with the US National U-18 Team in Grand Forks.
Walsh will stay at home for games against Union and RPI. Mason Langenbrunner will take the long ride up to Burlington for a Saturday standalone game against Vermont. Chris Pelosi and Elliott Groenewold will host Clarkson and St. Lawrence in Hamden.
Looking to check out the Boston Bruins college hockey prospects in person? Consider our partner StubHub for all your sports & concert ticketing needs HERE!
Leave a Reply