Nineteen New England players in the 2005 birth year have committed to play Division 1 college hockey.
In New England, there’s a clear-cut top three players in the `05 group: Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.), Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) and Will Vote (Arlington, Mass.). The trio have a couple of things in common besides being at the front of the `05 birth year in this region. They’re forwards on USA Hockey’s NTDP U18 team and they are all committed to Boston College.
The Eagles lead the way among area colleges in terms of recruiting `05s in the region. In addition to the aforementioned three players, Greg Brown’s (Hartford, C.T.) staff committed Cushing right wing Landan Resendes (Hudson, Mass.) to make it four `05s for BC.
After the Eagles, four schools have each committed two `05s from New England. Harvard, Brown, Holy Cross and RPI have added to their future stable with players in the birth year from this region.
While it is undoubtedly true that the top `05s are off the board, there are a bunch of good players in the birth year from New England who remain uncommitted. There are others who could continue developing and become coveted commodities down the road.
