Thursday, February 15, 2024

Men’s Notes: For Boston College, the Kids Are All Right

Freshman Trio Riding Lengthy Scoring Streaks for Eagles

Heading into its highly anticipated Hockey East home-and-home series with No. 10 UMass, top-ranked Boston College need not worry about its underclassmen shrinking in the spotlight.

For the past two-plus months, BC’s all-freshman forward line of Gabe Perreault (Hinsdale, Ill.), Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) and Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) have been filling nets on a nightly basis, helping to propel the Eagles into the top spot in the PairWise Rankings.

Both Perreault and Smith are riding 13-game point streaks that are just one game shy of matching the longest such streak in the nation all season. They’ve combined for an astonishing 27 goals and 47 points during that stretch, which began Dec. 1.

Eight days later, Leonard began a streak of his own that now sits at 11 games, during which time he has accounted for six goals and 19 points.

Since the start of Leonard’s streak, the Eagles have rattled off a 10-2-0 run, the only setbacks being one-goal losses Jan. 13 at No. 9 Providence and Feb. 5 against No. 3 Boston University.

It’s nothing new for Perreault, Smith and Leonard, who previously skated on a line together with the U.S. National Team Development Program.

Their individual points streaks – and BC’s winning ways – will face a stiff challenge against a UMass squad that has won four of its last five contests.

By the way, the longest point streak in Division I men’s college hockey this season? That belongs to their Boston College teammate Cutter Gauthier (Scottsdale, Ariz.), a grizzled sophomore who hit the scoresheet in 14 straight from Nov. 17 to Feb. 2.

Stat Leaders | Goaltending Leaders

Net Result:

The 10 semifinalists for the 2024 Mike Richter Award, given annually to the top goaltender in NCAA Division I men’s hockey, were announced Wednesday by the Hockey Commissioners Association (HCA).

Repeat semifinalists Ryan Bischel (Gr., Medina, Minn.) of Notre Dame and Justen Close (Gr., Kindersley, Saskatchewan) of Minnesota were joined by Michigan State’s Trey Augustine (Fr., South Lyon, Mich.), Quinnipiac’s Vinny Duplessis (Sr., Quebec City, Quebec), Boston College’s Jacob Fowler (Fr., Melbourne, Fla.), Colorado College’s Kaidan Mbereko (So., Aspen, Colo.), Wisconsin’s Kyle McClellan (Sr., Manchester, Mo.), RIT’s Tommy Scarfone (Jr., Montreal Quebec), Cornell’s Ian Shane (Jr., Manhattan Beach, Calif.), and St. Thomas’ Jake Sibell (Jr., Isanti, Minn.).

The winner will be announced in April during the NCAA Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn.

Hockey Humanitarian Award:

The five finalists for the 2024 Hockey Humanitarian Award were also announced earlier this week. The award recognizes college hockey’s “finest citizen” for leadership in community service.

Cornell junior D Hank Kempf (Wilmette, Ill.), Penn State junior F Dylan Lugris (Tampa, Fla.) and Long Island senior F Jack Quinn (Lancaster, Mass.) were among the five finalists, which also included Merrimack senior D Raice Szott and Syracuse senior F Sarah Thompson.

The award recipient will be announced April 12 at the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four.

Close to the Mark:

Minnesota graduate G Justen Close (Kindersley, Saskatchewan) registered back-to-back shutouts last weekend against Penn State, giving him 13 for his career and tying the school’s career record. His next shutout will break the mark he now shares with Adam Wilcox (2012-15) and Kellen Briggs (2003-07).

Close’s nine career Big Ten shutouts are also a new conference record.

In 29 games this season, Close is 17-7-5 with a 2.25 goals against average and .926 save percentage, tying for fifth nationally in the latter.

Hungry Like the Wolfe:

No. 20 Northeastern captured its second straight Beanpot championship – and fifth in the last six years – with a 4-3 overtime win against No.3 Boston University on Monday at Boston’s TD Garden.

Beanpot MVP Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (Sr., East Greenwich, R.I.) provided the OT game-winner, just as he had one week earlier in the Huskies’ semifinal victory over Harvard.

Earlier in the day, Boston College blanked Harvard 5-0 in the consolation game.

Fit to Print:

“It feels amazing. When you can win with your brothers out here, there’s nothing like it.”

— Northeastern senior F Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (East Greenwich, R.I.), who scored the overtime winner in both the semifinal and championship games to give the Huskies their second straight Beanpot championship (source: ESPN.com)

NHL Note of the Week:

Washington F T.J. Oshie (North Dakota, 2005-08), Boston F James van Riemsdyk (New Hampshire, 2008-09) and St. Louis D Nick Leddy (Minnesota, 2009-10) are all nearing 1,000 career NHL games played before the end of the 2023-24 season.

Oshie has skated in 993 career contests, while van Riemsdyk and Leddy are at 989 and 981, respectively.

They would join Ryan Suter (Wisconsin, 2003-04), Joe Pavelski (Wisconsin, 2004-06), Andrew Cogliano (Michigan, 2005-07), Zach Parise (North Dakota, 2002-04), Blake Wheeler (Minnesota, 2005-08), Jack Johnson (Michigan, 2005-07), Alex Goligoski (Minnesota, 2004-07) and Kyle Okposo (Minnesota, 2006-08) as the active NCAA alumni to have reached 1,000 games played.

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:

Cornell’s 12-game unbeaten streak (9-0-3) is the longest in NCAA Division I men’s hockey this season, surpassing Wisconsin’s 11-game run (10-0-1) earlier this season … A Duel in the D record crowd of 18,410 packed Detroit Little Caesar’s Arena last Saturday to watch Michigan State edge Michigan. It was the largest college hockey crowd this season … Western Michigan G Cameron Rowe (Sr., Wilmette, Ill.) earned his 50th career win Friday against Omaha, making him the fourth active goalie in the country to reach that mark … St. Cloud State F Zach Okabe (Gr., Okotoks, Alberta) became the nation’s fifth active player to reach 50 career goals in Saturday’s win at Miami … Augustana’s Ryan Naumovski (Gr., Shelby Township, Mich.), Cornell’s Gabriel Seger (Sr., Uppsala, Sweden) and RIT’s Carter Wilkie (Jr., Calgary, Alberta) all surpassed the 100-career-point milestone last weekend … Stonehill earned the program’s first Division I victory with a 4-2 victory over Lindenwood last Saturday … Arizona State’s Matthew Kopperud (Sr., Denver, Colo.) tallied his NCAA-leading 13th and 14th power-play goals of the season Saturday against Alaska, breaking his own single-season school record from 2021-22. He also led the nation in PPG that year.

College Hockey Inc. Resources:

Did you know? 93% of NCAA Division I men’s hockey players earn their degree!