A freshman goalie check-in
A glance at last week’s matchup between Team USA and Czechia at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Sweden revealed that not only were both goalies from Hockey East, they are freshmen.
Boston College’s Jacob Fowler started three games for the US squad that captured gold, including the shootout win against Czechia, which had Michael Hrabal from UMass between the pipes for all seven of its games en route to the bronze.
Fowler and Hrabal are two of three freshman goalies, along with Northeastern’s Cameron Whitehead, starting in Hockey East this season.
“It’s not easy,” said Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe. “I think the best goaltenders a lot of times do come in as freshmen, though, and they take that starting job. It’s not an easy league to play in, but I do think this league has a lot of really good goaltenders, and has for a long time.”
The weekend review begins with a look at how each rookie netminder is faring.
• After Spencer Knight turned pro following his sophomore season in 2021, BC turned to graduate transfers to get through the last two seasons, with Eric Dop and Mitch Benson bridging the gap until Fowler arrived on campus. The Melbourne, Fla., native has started all 17 games for the Eagles, going 13-3-1 with a .925 save percentage and 2.16 goals-against average.
After he was named USHL Goaltender of the Year with the Youngstown Phantoms, Fowler was drafted by the Canadiens in the third round in 2023.
• Inconsistency in goal was just one of the issues that plagued the Minutemen last season. Enter Hrabal, who was drafted in the second round by the Coyotes in 2023 after playing for the Omaha Lancers in the USHL. In 12 starts for UMass, he is 7-3-1 with a .905 save percentage and a 2.67 GAA.
The Minutemen will be glad to have Hrabal back after going winless in their three games during the World Juniors, although senior Cole Brady performed well as UMass lost in overtime once and tied twice, including Friday night against UConn.
• Whitehead had the unenviable task of replacing Devon Levi, the two-time Mike Richter Award winner who turned pro after last season and plays for the Sabres. Whitehead, the 2022 fourth-round pick of the Golden Knights has been up to the challenge, starting 16 games and posting a .909 save percentage and 2.72 GAA for a Northeastern squad that was ravaged by injuries in the defensive group much of the first half.
• The Huskies are coming off a 3-3 tie with
Quinnipiac on Saturday night in which Whitehead recorded 34 saves. After an eight-game winless streak, Northeastern has gone 4-2-1.
“We’ve been slowly building momentum over our last six or seven games,” said Keefe. “It’s still not coming easy for us.
“It’s kind of just those building blocks.
They’re slowly building. We’ve just got to keep moving forward and learn from each game.
We’re right there. I think we could use a little more swagger, but you’ve got to earn that swagger too, trying to find that way to get over the hump and win a big game.”
That opportunity will present itself Tuesday night when NU travels to Agganis Arena to face Boston University (12-4-1) for the first time this season. The Terriers have played just once since Dec. 2, taking a 6-1 win at Yale on Dec. 29. They also tied Simon Fraser in an exhibition last Friday.
BU coach Jay Pandolfo said Monday that the World Juniors trio of Lane Hutson, Macklin Celebrini, and Tom Willander are all expected to play. Celebrini’s Canada squad was eliminated last Tuesday in the quarterfinals, so he arrived earlier.
Hutson (United States) and Willander (Sweden) squared off in the gold-medal game last Friday, and while both returned to campus over the weekend, their bags got lost. They were still waiting on them as of Monday afternoon.
“That’s a bit of an issue,” said Pandolfo with a laugh. “Hopefully they’ll have those by [Tuesday].”
• Maine freshman Josh Nadeau was named Player of the Month by the Hockey Commissioners Association after posting a 6–6—12 line in six games in December. The Black Bears ran their unbeaten streak to eight games with a win and tie against Colgate over the weekend, their longest streak since the 2017-18 season. Saturday’s game saw Maine rally from a 3-0 deficit to escape with a tie, but Nadeau had his point streak snapped at 13 games.
• AIC forward Alfred Lindberg was named Rookie of the Month after leading all freshmen with 13 points in December, averaging 1.86 points per game. He has seven goals and eight assists in 15 games this season. The Yellow Jackets are in the mix in Atlantic Hockey, sitting third behind Sacred Heart and RIT despite a loss and tie to Holy Cross over the weekend.
• In Saturday’s 6-2 win over AIC, 11 Crusaders registered points. Junior John Gelatt had two goals and three assists in the series as he recorded the first two multi-point games of his career. Holy Cross is tied for fourth in Atlantic Hockey.
Follow Andrew Mahoney @GlobeMahoney.