Wednesday, September 27, 2023

5-Star forward Cole Eiserman Flips His Commitment and Joins BU's 2024 Recruit Class

                               Photo credit Rena Laverty/USA Hockey

In a massive recruit coup for BU, NTDP U18 star forward Cole Eiserman, projected to be the #2 or #3 pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, has flipped his commitment from Minnesota to the Terriers.

Wednesday afternoon, Puck Preps and New England Hockey Journal reported that Eiserman had decommitted and was seeking to play closer to home. Just an hour or so later, Puck Preps reported that he was committed to BU.

According to College Hockey Insider’s Mike McMahon “There will likely be an NIL (name/image/likeness) package for Eiserman, but this decision had more to do with family, and a desire to stay closer to home.”

Last summer it was reported that BU and Minnesota were finalists for the Newburyport, Mass., native’s commitment. That led to speculation that he would join Macklin Celebrini, his teammate and frequent linemate at Shattuck St. Mary's, as a BU commit. However, on Sept. 7, he verballed to the Gophers.

A 6’0”, 197 lb,. left wing, Eiserman had a 69-35-104 scoring line last season in 42 games with the U17s and then 20 games with the U18s At the IIHF World U18 Championships he helped Team USA win the gold medal with a tournament high nine goals in seven games and added two assists, while earning a spot on the All-Star team.

                                  Photo credit Rena Laverty/USA Hockey


Eiserman has four goals and an assist in four games this season, and was a standout at last weekend’s USHL Classic, prompting FloHockey.tv’s Chris Peters to write:

With five points over the weekend, Eiserman delivered on the high expectations everyone has set for him coming into the year. After scoring 69 goals last season, he put up four over the weekend including a second-period hat trick against the Omaha Lancers in Sunday’s finale. He’s a dangerous player who is always a threat to shoot and he’s shooting to score at all times. The single-season goal-scoring record at the NTDP is 72 goals set by Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield in 2018-19. That record certainly could be in peril with Eiserman wasting no time to fill the nets.

BU fans won’t have to wait for 2024-25 to see the newest gemstone in the Terriers’ recruiting pipeline. On Oct. 14, the U18s will be at Agganis Arena for an exhibition game against BU that will also feature 2024 recruits Kamil Bednarik and Cole Hutson.  Like Eiserman, Hutson moved up to the U18s late in the season and played in the U18 Worlds where he set a new single-season scoring record for an NTDP defenseman with 86 points.

As Peters has reported, Eiserman is close friends with current BU freshman—and projected #1 pick for the 2024 draft—Celebrini . In 2021-22, as 16-year olds on Shattuck's (18U) Prep team, Celebrini led the team in scoring with 117 points, while Eiserman led in goals with 56. A year earlier with Shattuck’s 14U squad, Eiserman had a team high 97 goals and 154 points in 50 games while Celebrini had 41 goals and 141 points.

Last month, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, who ranked Celebrini and Eiserman 1&2 for the next draft, offered this profile of the high-scoring wing:

A dynamic goal scorer in the truest sense, Eiserman possesses an exhilarating ability to cleanly pick his spots in the net and beat defenders and goalies one-on-one when the shot isn’t there. He can score in every which way: long range, midrange, jam plays, rush plays, the one-timer, a catch-and-release. Last year, he showed one of the better shots and sets of hands I’ve seen in a player that age. He’s actually two and a half months younger than Celebrini, with a late-August birthday that makes him one of the youngest players in the draft.

Eiserman’s a shot creator who took whatever he wanted with the U17 team at the NTDP last year and continued to fill the net with the U18 team, chasing down records and seeming to score every night.

I actually think Eiserman’s a better skater than he has been given credit for in initial conversations I’ve had with folks about him, but it’s his dancing puck skill, quick release, shot variety (he can rip it in motion, off catch-and-releases, standing still, and from a one-timer, and he’ll make goalies guess wrong in alone because of how fast his hands are), and sneaky strength that allows him to create at will against his peers.


Earlier today, we posted a Q&A interview with Associate Head Coach Joe Pereira, and right on cue, he's delivered a blockbuster.

● NTDP Eiserman bio and stats

● Elite Prospects Page 

● FloHockey.tv Top Prospect Cole Eiserman flips commitment from Minnesota to BU 

● TheRinkLive.com Cole Eiserman decommits from Gophers, now Boston University bound

● TheHockeyNews.com  Top 2024 Draft Prospect Cole Eiserman Loves Scoring and Having Fun With It

 

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