Coaches often say the best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores.
However, first-year players have been key pieces to the puzzle for many of New England’s strongest Division 1 men’s hockey programs this season.
Our local teams include the nation’s youngest player, the highest NHL draft pick from this past summer playing in the college ranks, and a highly skilled defenseman in Hockey East.
Among a number of Boston Bruins prospects working at his craft in the region is a goaltender who has been tested against some of the best teams in the country.
Here is a look at some of New England’s top freshman performers in college hockey thus far.
Kenny Connors
Massachusetts, 3/10/2003, F, left shot, 6-1/190
Connors looks to maintain his point-per-game pace in order to become the first freshman to lead the Minutemen in scoring since hometown Amherst native John Leonard in 2017-18, though now-sophomore defensemen Scott Morrow (Darien, Conn.) would have been on that pace without Bobby Trivigno’s presence last season. Connors has a team-high seven goals and 16 points through 15 games. He is shooting at 20 percent while potting two game-winners and two power-play goals.
Cutter Gauthier
Boston College, 1/19/2004, F, left shot, 6-2/201
The highest-drafted college player in 2022 at No. 5 overall and BC’s 22nd first-round NHL draft pick, Gauthier immediately showed off his high-level skill as the top center for first-year coach Greg Brown. The future Philadelphia Flyer has eight goals (four on the power play) and 12 points in 12 games, putting him atop the Eagles’ scoring chart. He posted his third multi-point game of the season in last Tuesday’s win at Brown and has points in six of his last eight games, a stretch that coincides with moving back to center from the wing after logging three points in his first four games.
Lane Hutson
Boston University, 2/14/2004, D, left shot, 5-9/155
Hutson may be a defenseman just 14 games into his college career, but he has helped drive offense for a BU team that sits firmly in the Hockey East and national pictures with the semester break near. The Chicago native — whose brother Quinn is also a Terrier freshman — has 11 assists and 17 points to rank second on the team. He has scored three of his six goals over the last three weekends, and three of his goals have been game-winners. Hutson had three straight multi-point games before Saturday’s series-sweeping win over New Hampshire.
Sam Lipkin
Quinnipiac, 1/3/2003, F, left shot, 6-2/192
Quinnipiac is one of the nation’s most experienced teams, but Lipkin’s contributions have been important to a 12-1-3 start that includes eight straight ECAC Hockey wins. The Arizona Coyotes prospect reached the 12-point mark this season after posting three over this past weekend’s games against St. Lawrence and Clarkson. He has now marked the scoresheet in six of the Bobcats’ previous eight games while tying for the team lead with 46 shots on goal in just 16 games.
Cam Lund
Northeastern (Bridgewater, Mass.), 6/7/2004, F, right shot, 6-2/190
Huskies coach Jerry Keefe has been pleased with Lund’s growing game throughout his freshman year, but the offensive talent that earned him a second-round draft selection of the San Jose Sharks showed through against rivals in mid-November. The former Cushing standout has logged five goals and 12 points in nine of his first 16 collegiate games, netting three of his first four goals as part of a Nov. 11 hat trick against Boston College. He also scored a goal a week later against BU, finishing a four-game point streak.
Joe Miller
Harvard, 9/16/2002, F, right shot, 5-8/147
Miller has been the most impactful new addition to the Crimson roster, which features more NHL draft picks than any team in the country. The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect, who was an assistant captain for the USHL’s Chicago Steel last season, has seven points in his first 11 games, primarily alongside top-line stalwarts Sean Farrell (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Matthew Coronato. His fourth goal of the season was a big one, breaking a scoreless deadlock in Friday’s eventual overtime win at Cornell. A week earlier, he netted a goal against Michigan that helped the Crimson establish a 3-1 lead before eventually falling in Ann Arbor.
Philip Svedebäck
Providence, 5/28/2002, G, catches left, 6-3/208
While Arsenii Sergeev has become half of a two-headed monster at Connecticut, Svedebäck has received more ice time than any of the region’s first-year netminders after an injury to Omaha transfer Austin Roden. The Swedish native and Bruins prospect has been tested against strong teams from the outset, facing the likes of Northeastern and Denver within his first three weeks as a Friar, putting up a 7-2-5 record and .904 save percentage to date. Svedebäck allowed just three goals in two games against Boston College this past weekend.
Matthew Wood
Connecticut, 2/6/2005, F, right shot, 6-3/190
College hockey’s youngest player has certainly made himself feel at home within Mike Cavanaugh’s UConn program — which maintained its highest-ever national ranking last week — as he sits second on the Huskies with 14 points in 18 games. After scoring three of his five goals within the first six games using his elite shot, the 17-year-old right winger has dished out the third-most assists on the team with nine. No matter how he is contributing to the scoresheet, Wood looks to help the Huskies continue their national rise and reach a second straight Hockey East title game.
Blake Humphrey
Sacred Heart, 1/18/2002, F, right shot, 5-9/161
Humphrey has been the top freshman in Sacred Heart’s attack on the way to a seven-win record in Atlantic Hockey thus far, in a tie for second in the Pioneer lineup with four goals and 11 points through the first 15 games. The New York native did most of his damage during a seven-game point streak in October and November, but he got back onto the scoresheet with an assist in SHU’s last game on Nov. 26 against rival Bentley. He is one of 16 skaters with a point in a balanced lineup that looks to maintain its place in the middle of the league race.
