Tuesday, April 02, 2024

Awards season; Frozen Four notes & links

                                 Photo credit Rich Gagnon

College Hockey News has named Macklin Celebrini as its NCAA Rookie of the Year. Nationally, the North Vancouver native is second is goals with 32, tied for second in points with 64 and second in PPG with 1.73. He also led Hockey East scoring in conference games with 44 points in 23 games, as well in points per game with 1.91.

The CHN report quotes The Athletic’s Cory Pronman:

"He checks every box you want in a top prospect, and is one of the few players I've scouted where it's hard to see any noticeable weakness. Celebrini makes a ton of difficult plays with the puck on the move, in tight areas and from a standstill. He has a bullet shot and projects to run a first power play in the NHL. He's average-sized, but Celebrini is highly competitive, wins a lot of battles and projects as a two-way center in the NHL. He has all the makings of a potential superstar."

Previous Terriers to win CHN Rookie of the Year are Jack Eichel (2015) and Clayton Keller (2017). 

College Hockey News CHN Rookie of the Year—Macklin Celebrini

 

On Monday, Hockey East announced that Celebrini was its Rookie of the Month for March while Lane Hutson earned Defender of the Month honors. Celebrini produced 16 points (6G,10A) in seven games for an NCAA-best 2.29 PPG. Hutson generated 10 points (3G,7A), including a pair of game-winners. During the seven games, he had 14 blocks and was a conference-best for defensemen +8.

● GoTerriers.com Celebrini, Hutson claim Hockey East Monthly Honors

● HockeyEastOnline Monthly Honors for March


Tuesday brought more recognition for BU’s two Hobey Baker finalists. Celebrini earned Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week for his five points in the Sioux Falls Regional, while Hutson, with two goals and an assist in the Regional, copped Army ROTC Defender of the Week honors. Celebrini has been named RoW seven times this season. For Hutson, it was his first DoW award. He has been named Player of the Week twice.

In addition, five Terriers were named to Hockey East’s weekly top performers list:

Nick Zabaneh, BU (Sr., F; Toronto, Ont.) Dished out three assists, including helpers on both game-winning goals in the Sioux Falls Regional to lift BU past RIT and Minnesota.

Dylan Peterson, BU (Sr., F; Roseville, Calif.) Had the primary helper on both game-winning goals in the Sioux Falls Regional to lift BU past RIT and Minnesota. He added a goal against RIT.

Jack Harvey, BU (Fr., F; Stacy, Minn.) Netted two goals and added an assist for three points to help Boston University into the Frozen Four for the second straight year.

Shane Lachance, BU (Fr., F; Andover, Mass.) Registered three points (1g, 2a) to push BU into the Frozen Four with a pair of 6-3 wins over RIT and Minnesota.

Mathieu Caron, BU (Jr., G; Abbotsford, B.C.) Made 53 saves in a pair of wins at the Sioux Falls Regional, dispatching RIT and Minnesota to reach the Frozen Four.

● HockeyEastOnline report 



►Now down to 10 finalists, the Hobey Hat Trick will be announced this Thursday. The 2024 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner will be revealed on Friday, April 12 at the Frozen Four in St. Paul. Three Terriers have won the Hobey: Chris Drury in 1998, Matt Gilroy in 2009 and Jack Eichel in 2015. Jay Pandolfo was runner-up in 1996.


Also on Tuesday, the ACHA named nine finalists for the Spencer Penrose D1 Coach of the Year Award, including BU’s Jay Pandolfo and the other three Frozen Four team coaches. Pandolfo was a finalist in 2022-23 when he led BU to the Frozen Four in his first year as head coach. 
Jack Parker won the award three times—1975,1978 and 2009— and Harry Cleverly was selected in 1958. Jack Kelley, who coached BU to its first two NCAA championships, was the Penrose winner in 1962 while coaching D2 Colby College, which led to his hiring at BU.

More Celebrini

With the NHL Entry Draft just a few months away, Celebrini, the consensus top pick is being compared to other early first round picks now in the NHL. FloHockey's Chris Peters did a deep dive into Macklin's game and asserts that Macklin Celebrini Is Closer To Connor Bedard Than You Think

Celebrini has a chance to win the Hobey Baker this year, though the competition has been remarkably stiff for that prestigious award this season. Even if Celebrini does not take home college hockey’s top individual prize, little would diminish the truly remarkable – and in many cases historic – freshman season.

While Celebrini is not getting the same treatment as Connor Bedard did last season, there’s a legitimate chance he’s going to put forward a similar level of impact as an NHL player. 

Frozen Four Notes & Links

► NCAA Frozen Four home page

► Terriers will be making their 24th appearance in the Frozen Four, third most following two other 2024 finalists, Michigan and BC. BU has reached the championship game 11 times, winning five times: 1971, 1972, 1978, 1995 and 2009.

The four teams going to St. Paul are the top four in offensive production: Denver 4.71 GPG, BC 4.59, Michigan 4.22 and BU 4.15. On the defensive scoring side, only BC (2.23 GPM) is in the top four. BU is ninth (2.44), while Denver is #26 (2.83) and Michigan is #34 (3.02). Of course those are season-long numbers.

● Frozen Four history.  BU records (see page 127) Frozen Four Year-by-Year

● USCHO First Look at the 2024 Frozen Four

● Boston Globe The cream ultimately rose as BC and BU fought off challengers to reach the Frozen Four

@BUHockeyStats also reports that "The 28 combined National Championships among the participants in this year's Men's Frozen Four is the most in NCAA history." Michigan and Denver each have won nine times, while BU and BC each have claimed the title five times.

Looking ahead

2024 recruit Jack Pridham scored his 23rd goal and added an assist in West Kelowna’s 5-1 win over Penticton. He leads all BCHL rookies with 49 points. 2025 recruit Callum Hughes, recently named Warriors player of the month, recorded an assist and is fourth on the rookie list with 42 points.

The Hockey Writers posted a draft profile of 2024 recruit Alexander Zetterberg, who plays for Örebro HK J20.

In 2022-23, Zetterberg had the most points by a U17 player (34) and in 2023-24 he finished with the best plus-minus (+23) and most assists (37) in J20 Nationell.

While Coach Pandolfo is preparing the Terriers for the Frozen Four, his son, Sam Pandolfo, is competing the USA Hockey 14U Nationals in Plymouth, Michigan. He skates for the Boston Junior Eagles, coached by former BU All-American Freddy Meyer. Also on the BJE roster are Freddy’s son, Carter, a highly ranked ’09, and Chase Warsofsky, who is David Warsofsky’s nephew. 

 

1 comment:

Skolzman said...

Love Macklin, but, sorry, he’s no Bedard. This tells you all you need to know about why this guy is hyping him: “…since FloHockey was among the first outlets to introduce Celebrini to the hockey world at large…”

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