Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Looking ahead, looking back


UPDATE:

 A Tweet about BU participating in the Cactus Cup tournament in Palm Springs has been deleted. So at least for now, it is not part of BU's out-of-conference schedule. We'll keep that information here but grayed out until a clarification becomes available. The rest of the OOC schedule information appears to be correct. Stay tuned.

Next season, the Terriers will play in a between-the-semesters tournament for the first time since 2022-23 when they travel to Palm Springs for the Cactus Cup on January 2nd and 3rd. The other participants are Minnesota State, St. Cloud and Massachusetts-Lowell. In 2022-23 BU played in the Desert Hockey Classic in Tempe, Ariz., defeating Air Force, 5-1, before losing to Michigan Tech in the championship game, 3-2.     

While BU has not yet officially announced its out-of-conference schedule, a thread on the USCHO Fan Forum indicates it also will include Red Hot Hockey vs. Cornell at MSG, a pair of  two-game visits to Agganis Arena by Michigan State and Colgate, and an away game with Quinnipiac. Tennessee State has announced that it will launch its new program against the Terriers with the game to be played at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. 

 Looking ahead

2026 recruit Tynan Lawrence scored the game-tying goal and then assisted on the game-winner as Muskegon evened its Clark Cup championship series with Waterloo at one game apiece with a 4-1 win. The Fredricton, New Brunswick, native leads all playoff scorers with a 7-10-17 line.  That total puts him two points behind Taylor Cammarata for the most ever playoff points by a 16-year-old.

The 6'0" left-shot center earned a spot on the USHL all-rookie team and was a rookie of the year finalist after racking up 25 goals and 29 assists in 56 regular-season games. Earlier in the year, he helped Canada White win the World U17 Hockey Challenge, contributing a 3-3-6 line in five games. 

The Athletic has ranked Lawrence at #8 overall for the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.

● Prospect Watch Interview with Lawrence 

NOTE: Information on the newest recruits and transfer has been added to the sidebar.

Looking back 

Macklin Celebrini scored his first goal in the IIHF World Championships in Canada's 7-1 win against Latvia. 

 ● ESPN.com How Jack Eichel became a complete 200-foot player

 "When I got here, we had Chandler Stephenson, who is a really good-way center. You have William Karlsson, who is a really good two-way center," Eichel said. "I looked around and said, 'If I want to get the ice time and be trusted in these situations, I have to earn the trust of the coach and become more detailed and responsible defensively.'"    

Jake Oettinger stopped 31 shots in the Stars' 3-1 win over Winnipeg, to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinal.    

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Wednesday, May 07, 2025

Swedish power forward commits for 2026

                Photo credit Bildbyran
 

The Terriers' already formidable 2026 recruit class became even stronger with a commitment from Viktor Norringer, a 6'4", 196 lb., right-shot forward from the  Frolunda HC J20 where he was the leading scorer with a 24-33-57 scoring line in 39 games. That total also was sixth best in the J20 Nationell league, which is a step below the Swedish Hockey League. Norringer, a fourth-round draft pick by Nashville in the 2024 Entry Draft, also logged 16 games in the SHL for Frolunda and made six starts for Sweden's U19 team recording four points.

A power forward with physicality and a heavy shot, Norringer split his draft season between Frolunda's J18 and J20 teams, generating 32 points for the J18s and 12 points for the J20s.

Following the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, Hockey Sverige wrote: 

As one of the youngest players in the draft, Viktor Norringer has plenty of extra development time. Norringer doesn’t turn 18 until Aug. 31, which is why he played half of his year in the U-18 division of Swedish junior hockey. He was dominant at that level, putting up almost two points per game, but at the U-20 level, his production dropped off significantly. With that said, his shot translated up to the level, and there is an element of power to his game as well. It’s an interesting bet on a player who will likely take a big step this year at the U-20 level full-time. At 6-foot-3 and nearly 200 pounds, it’s not out of the question to think he could even see pro games this upcoming season.

Norringer, who will have just turned 20 when his freshman season begins, will spend next season in the USHL. Earlier this week, he was selected in the first round of the Phase 2 Draft--#10 overall--by Muskegon who called him "an uber-talented forward out of Sweden." There, he'll join fellow 2026 recruit Tynan Lawrence, who earned all rookie honors as a 16 year old.

The 2026 class also includes forwards Caleb Malhotra, Rian Chudzinski and Jay Feldberg and defensemen Luke Schairer and Haoxi Simon Wang.  Links to write-up on all transfers and recruits currently in the pipeline can be found in the sidebar.

● Elite Prospects Page

Catching up

IIHF U18 World Championships

2025 NHL Draft’s Sascha Boumedienne breaks record for most points by a defenseman at a U-18 World Championship tournament  

Photo credit Steven Ellis/Daily Faceoff

With rising sophomore Sascha Boumedienne as a major contributor, Sweden won the silver medal at the World U18s in Frisco, Texas. The rising sophomore defenseman received the Directorate Award as the tournament's top blueliner, was named Sweden's best player in the gold medal game loss to Canada and was selected to the media all-star team for the event.

Boumedienne, who began the tournament with a six-point game (G,5A), broke the tournament record for most points by a defenseman with 14 (G,13A), surpassing the 13 recorded by Cole Hutson a year ago and Ryan Murphy. 

● DailyFaceoff.com Boumedienne breaks record for most points by a defenseman at World U18s.

Team USA won the bronze medal, defeating Slovakia, 4-3 in overtime. Forward Jack Murtagh finished the tournament with six points (2G,4A) while defenseman Charlie Trethewey had one assist. 

The Terrier Quarter Century Team--voting organized and tabulated by @BUHockeyStats. 

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● BUHockeyStats Thumbnails of the first and second team quarter century all-stars, others receiving votes and notes on the voting 

►The American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) convention is underway in Bonita Springs, Fla. Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald reports on likely changes to the ranking system for the NCAA tournament and for the transfer portal:

Pairwise Rankings on way out
The Pairwise Rankings, which have long been used to determine the NCAA tournament field, are likely on their way out.
The Pairwise Rankings are expected to be replaced by the NCAA Percentage Index (NPI), which is used on the women's side.
Like the Pairwise, the NPI will have weights for different criteria such as winning percentage, strength of schedule, home-road bonuses, quality win bonuses and overtime wins.
The coaches were presented a document that showed last year's final Pairwise Rankings alongside how the NPI would have looked at the end of the season, depending on different weights.
The NCAA tournament field would have looked relatively similar. In a couple of NPI formulas, Arizona State would have replaced Penn State as the final team in the tournament.
The NPI will likely be used beginning this season. 
Transfer window likely to shrink
Right now, there's a 45-day window to enter the transfer portal for men's hockey players in the spring.
But that could change.
The men's hockey coaching body wants to shrink it to 30 days.
The portal opening date to non-graduates would still occur after the NCAA regionals.
As of Tuesday morning, the men's hockey transfer portal has been open for 38 days. However, portal entrants always slow to a trickle by this point. Only six players have entered in the last 11 days.

Also under discussion is a proposal to move NCAA regional tournaments to campus sites.

 

Looking ahead

A pair of 2026 recruits continue their pursuit of championships of their junior leagues. Tynan Lawrence and the Muskegon Lumberjacks will face off with Waterloo for the USHL Clark Cup title beginning this Friday, May 9.

Haoxi Simon Wang and the Oshawa Generals take on the London Knights in the finals of the OHL playoffs beginning Thursday, May 8. 

Looking back      

As the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs begin, four Terriers are still seeking to add their names to the Cup: Florida's Evan Rodrigues and AJ Greer, Vegas' Jack Eichel and Dallas' Jake Oettinger, whose strong netminding enabled the Stars to eliminate Colorado in a tough, seven-game series.

 

Lane Hutson led all NHL rookies with 66 points and his 60 assists tied the all-time record for assists by a rookie defenseman. His point total was fourth highest ever by an NHL rookie.  Macklin Celebrini tied for second in points with 63 (25G,38A), despite missing ten games due to an injury. He has joined the Canadian National Team for the World Championship in Denmark and Sweden beginning May 9.

● NHL.com Celebrini, Hutson, Wolf named Calder Trophy finalists  

Clayton Keller has been named captain of Team USA for the World Championships. He's joined on the U.S. roster by Alex Vlasic and Cole Hutson.

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Former Terrier captain and Penguins head coach for a decade Mike Sullivan was hired to lead the New York Rangers by President and General Manager Chris Drury. Marshfield, Mass., native Sullivan led Pittsburgh to a pair of Stanley Cup championships.

He has a coaching record of 409-255-89  in his tenure with the Penguins and a season and a half (2002-03) as Bruins head coach.  Earlier this season he was head coach for Team USA in the Four Nations Faceoff, which won the silver medal.

A fourth-round pick by the Rangers in the 1987 draft, Sullivan played 11 seasons skating for San Jose, Boston, Calgary and Phoenix. As a Terrier, he recorded 138 points (61G,77A) in 141 games and captained the 1989-90 squad to the Frozen Four. 

● NHL.com Mike Sullivan named Rangers head coach        

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Thursday, May 01, 2025

Murtagh powers US in QF win; Prep goalie commits for 2025-26;

 

  

2025 recruit Jack Murtagh scored a goal and an assist—and earned U.S. Player of the Game honors—in a 6-3 quarterfinal win over Latvia at the IIHF World 18U Championships. The 6’1” power forward has a 2-4-6 scoring line in five tournament games and is tied for third on Team USA in scoring. Prior to the tournament, Murtagh had 20 goals and 26 assists in 47 NTDP games.

The U.S. will have a rematch with Sweden in the semifinals on Friday (NHL Network at 8 p.m. ET). In its quarterfinal game, Sweden skated past Finland, 7-2, with Sascha Boumedienne setting a record for defensemen.     
 
Goalie commits  
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Terriers have completed their goalie room for the 2025-26 season with a commitment from Salisbury School goalie Steven Luciano. A 6’1” native of New Caanan, Conn., Luciano had a .919 save percentage in 30 games as a senior for the Crimson Knights and earned NEPSAC All-Star honorable mention.
 
He also played one game for USHL Omaha, the team that Mikhail Yegorov played for before joining the Terriers.
 
Prior to the season New England Hockey Journal listed Luciano as one of NEPSAC’s top goalies:
As a senior, Luciano projects to take over the Salisbury net. He played a good amount last season and was strong. The 6-foot-1 goalie was picked in the ninth round (137th overall) in this year’s USHL Phase 2 Draft by the Omaha Lancers. He was also picked 11th overall in the 2023 QMJHL American Draft by Chicoutimi. He’s a stable netminder who is technically sound and will be the backbone of Salisbury, who is our preseason No. 1 team.
 
Looking ahead
Jack Pridham scored his seventh playoff goal and added an assist in Kitchener’s 4-2 defeat by London, which eliminated the Rangers from the playoffs. Pridham recorded 13 points in seven playoff games after racking up a 27-27-54 scoring line in 48 regular-season games.      
 

   

Looking back
 
Jack Eichel scored his first playoff goal of the year and added an assist as Vegas edged Minnesota, 3-2.
 
 
San Jose Sharks' Macklin Celebrini ...
Macklin Celebrini had been added to Team Canada’s roster for the IIHF World Championships in Denmark and Sweden beginning May 9. Celebrini finished his rookie season with 25 goals and 38 assists for 63 points in 70 games, three points behind Lane Hutson's 66 among rookies.
● Yahoo.com report
 

Former Terrier defenseman Dan McGoff has been named head coach at Noble & Greenough School (Nobles) after serving as assistant to retiring Brian Day for the past 12 seasons. McGoff, a Nobles grad, played for BU from 2004 to 2008, including on the 2006 Hockey East champions.
 
He joins Brian McGuirk at Governor’s Academy, Freddy Meyer at The Rivers School and Carl Corazzini at St. Mark’s as Terrier head coaches at New England prep schools.

 

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