By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz
It was a relatively quiet weekend for the Boston Bruins college hockey prospects, at least on the surface. Two BC Bruins continue to dominate the highlight reels in Hockey East, while elsewhere, a defenseman is leading the nation in a specific stat with numbers not seen in a decade.
While those players are thriving, others are struggling to stay available. Six of the Bruins’ 16 prospects across the NCAA missed at least one game this weekend, with Cole Spicer and Mason Langenbrunner among those out of their respective lineups, joining Oskar Jellvik, Will Moore, Chris Pelosi, and Philip Svedeback. With just three full weekends left before the postseason, availability may prove just as important as production as the stretch run kicks in.
James Hagens (C/LW/RW) – Boston College – Hagens continued his torrid second half with a goal in each game of BC’s weekend split against Merrimack, and recorded a secondary assist on Oscar Hemming’s last-minute game-winning goal on Saturday night. Boston’s top pick from the 2024 Draft has been white hot since returning from the World Juniors, with 7-9-16 in 10 games.
His five points between the Beanpot Championship and the Merrimack series earned Hockey East Player of the Week honors for the second time this season. For his sophomore campaign as a whole, Hagens has 17-17-34 in 26 games – leading all of Hockey East in scoring.
Dean Letourneau (C) – Boston College – Letourneau kept pace with Hagens atop the Eagles’ goalscoring lead with the first shorthanded goal of his career on Friday night, as the duo struck within three minutes of each other in the eventual 4-2 loss to Merrimack. Big Dean now has 17-12-29 in 28 games in his breakout sophomore year with BC, and stands just a goal behind Maine’s Justin Poirier atop the Hockey East goalscoring race.
Elliott Groenewold (D) – Quinnipiac – Groenewold recorded his third multi-point game of the season on Saturday, notching a goal and an assist in Quinnipiac’s 4-1 win over Princeton. Both points extended his already career-high in each category, and he skated 43 total minutes at a +3 over the course of their weekend sweep, further increasing his nationally best plus/minus to +40, the highest single-season total since the 2015-16 season.
Looking Ahead
Casper Nassen will open up the weekend on Friday with an early evening start to their home series with Minnesota-Duluth. Will Zellers and North Dakota will host St Cloud State, while Western Michigan heads to Colorado Springs. It is unclear if Cole Spicer will be back in the Broncos’ lineup.
Back east, Groenewold and Ryan Walsh will go head-to-head in a matchup with significant ECAC standings implications. Following their Friday night game, Cornell will head down to Princeton to wrap up their weekend, while Quinnipiac will host Colgate. Mason Langenbrunner and Harvard will hit the road for Upstate New York to face Union and RPI.
Hagens, Letourneau, Andre Gasseau, and Kristian Kostadinski have a big home-and-home series with UConn starting in Conte Forum on Friday. BC trails the Huskies by two points in the Hockey East standings, and a series win for either side could have major consequences come tournament time. Providence will head up to Burlington, Vermont, for a weekend series with the Catamounts, and Philip Svedeback could be inching closer to a return to the Friars crease.
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