Coming after the 2001s, the ’02s in New England had a tough act to follow. While the birth year won’t go down as one of the best in the history of hockey in the region, there are some good players. The undisputed top ’02 in New England is Matt Beniers. The Hingham, Mass., native has...
Coming after the 2001s, the ’02s in New England had a tough act to follow. While the birth year won’t go down as one of the best in the history of hockey in the region, there are some good players.
The undisputed top ’02 in New England is Matt Beniers. The Hingham, Mass., native has a late birthday so he’s not eligible until the 2021 NHL draft. The USA Hockey NTDP alum has accelerated school to be able to arrive at Harvard this fall.
After Beniers, there are 33 other New England ’02s currently committed to a Division 1 college hockey program. The top 13 players in this birth year are all committed to a Hockey East, ECAC Hockey, Big Ten or NCHC school. After that, some uncommitted players start to sprinkle in, even ahead of some players with a college logo next to their name.
This birth year has had less time to develop than the ’99s, ’00s and ’01s that we’ve covered earlier this week. Still, it’s fun to look at the names that make up this list. Certain players have been held in high regard for a while. Others have taken longer to get to the point of where they are recognized among their peers.
In the upper echelon of this class, as things stand right now, Ian Moore, Doug Grimes and Jed Baliotti all have seen their stock rise exponentially over the past year. While he made the NTDP and isn’t exactly a late bloomer, credit also goes out to Brett Berard. He has kept proving doubters wrong and will be one of the first five New Englanders taken in the 2020 NHL draft.
New England’s top 70 ’02s
