The men's college hockey season is set to begin this weekend.
We've covered the top rookies on the local college hockey scene, as well as the 15 best players. We've also ranked the 11 teams on the Hockey East circuit. There's no doubt there will be movement among the 11.
The final thing is to review 10 goalies local college hockey fans should have their eyes on this season.
Let's dive in.
Mathieu Caron
Boston University | Junior
With former Olympian Drew Commesso (Norwell, Mass.) off to the pros, Caron makes the leap to Hockey East as a key transfer for the Terriers after beginning his collegiate career at Brown. The British Columbia native kept a Bears team that finished well below .500 competitive in many games, earning third-team All-ECAC Hockey honors with a .921 save percentage and 2.49 goals-against average last season. He pitched four shutouts and logged a pair of games with more than 40 saves during his sophomore campaign. Caron surely will benefit from playing for a more talented BU roster.
Hugo Ollas and Zachary Borgiel
Merrimack | Junior and Senior
The ability to start both of its goaltenders every weekend helped Merrimack appear in the Hockey East championship and NCAA tournament last season. Now, Ollas — a 6-foot-8 New York Rangers prospect — and Borgiel are back for another run together. Ollas made two more starts, getting five shutouts in 10 of his wins. The senior Borgiel, who owned a 2.08 GAA and .919 save percentage, earned a Hockey East semifinal playoff victory over UMass Lowell.
Philip Svedebäck
Providence | Sophomore
Providence coach Nate Leaman knows that teams typically have to “ride the wave” when starting a freshman goaltender, as he put it following a Hockey East semifinal loss to Boston University last March. The Friars should be better for the experience that Svedebäck gained during a busy rookie year, which saw him post a 14-11-7 record while starting 33 of the team’s 37 games. The 6-foot-3 Swede finished with a .909 save percentage, but he started strong and played some more of his best hockey at the end of the season in leading the Friars on a run to TD Garden.
Arsenii Sergeev
Connecticut | Sophomore
After Union graduate transfer Darion Hanson earned all but one start in 2021-22, Sergeev joined the Huskies last season and split time almost evenly with touted rising junior Logan Terness, who departed for Ohio State in the transfer portal. The Russian and seventh-round pick of the Calgary Flames back in 2021 logged 11 victories and a .912 save percentage during his collegiate debut season, following a stellar junior career in the NAHL and USHL that concluded with him winning USHL Goaltender of the Year honors for the Tri-City Storm. Incoming Clarkson transfer Ethan Haider is expected to be the other goalie competing for the net for head coach Mike Cavanaugh’s (North Andover, Mass.) club.
Tyler Muszelik
New Hampshire | Sophomore
Arriving in Durham from the U.S. National Team Development Program as a sixth-round draft choice of the Florida Panthers last year, Muszelik will look for an even greater role in the Wildcats’ crease after David Fessenden transferred to Canisius. The New Jersey native struggled in Year No. 1 with a 3.09 GAA and .886 save percentage, but he is undoubtedly talented after leading the U.S. Under-18 Team to several victories against college opponents and earning a silver medal at the IIHF U18 World Championship the previous year. Muszelik’s second year at UNH also could include a trip to the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Sweden after he was the last goalie cut from the 2023 training camp.
HOCKEY EAST RANKINGS: BU leads our preseason poll
Victor Ostman
Maine | Senior
Ostman was one of New England’s biggest breakout stars last season as he earned All-Hockey East second-team honors, behind only a unanimous top choice in Northeastern stopper Devon Levi. The veteran — who began his Maine career the year after Jeremy Swayman departed for the Boston Bruins — was a huge part of the team’s growth in coach Ben Barr’s second season, logging a 2.18 GAA and .919 save percentage in 32 games. Of Ostman’s 14 wins, five were shutouts. Latvian freshman Patriks Berzins, who previously starred for the USHL’s Tri-City Storm, will compete in the Maine crease this year.
Cameron Whitehead
Northeastern | Freshman
Joined alongside a Yale transfer in Connor Hopkins (Malden, Mass.) as a newcomer to Northeastern, Whitehead will play a key role in filling the gap that the aforementioned Levi left upon leaving for the Buffalo Sabres in the spring. Whitehead joined the Huskies after two years with the USHL’s Lincoln Stars, where the Vegas Golden Knights prospect was a USHL All-Star third-team member with a .904 save percentage and 25 victories in 2022-23. The Ontario native also earned five playoff wins late last season and will aim to use that high-level game experience often during his college career. He was a fourth-round draft pick in 2022.
Matej Marinov
Quinnipiac | Freshman
Replacing Yaniv Perets after two sensational seasons is no easy task. Still, Marinov arrives in the college ranks after emerging as one of the top goaltenders in the USHL with the Fargo Force. He posted a whopping 40 victories last season and did not lose in regulation until March, ultimately finishing second in the league with a 2.36 GAA. He has years of international experience for Slovakia under his belt, including playing in the 2023 World Junior Championship. Marinov and Boston University transfer Vinny Duplessis should give Rand Pecknold (Bedford, N.H.) confidence in the goaltending department.
Jacob Fowler
Boston College | Freshman
Selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the third round (69th overall) this year, Fowler is the goaltender that Eagles fans have been waiting to arrive for a couple of years. The Melbourne, Fla., native backstopped the Youngstown Phantoms to their first-ever Clark Cup championship in the USHL and was named the circuit’s Goaltender of the Year in 2022-23. Fowler led all USHL goaltenders with a 2.28 GAA, .921 save percentage and 27 wins during the regular season before finishing undefeated in the final round of the playoffs, helping him earn Clark Cup Most Outstanding Player honors. The 6-foot-2, 214-pounder will be the last line of defense for an incredibly talented BC team that welcomes in a whopping six players from the NTDP.
