It’s almost Beanpot time.Â
The first two Mondays of February mean only one thing for New England hockey fans, as the 71st edition of the men’s tournament takes center stage at TD Garden on Feb. 5.Â
In this week’s semifinal round, defending champion Northeastern takes on Harvard. Meanwhile, No. 1 Boston College takes on arch-rival Boston University in a rematch of a Hockey East series played just last weekend. The winners and losers of the two semifinal games will face off a week later on Feb. 12.
All four Beanpot teams are chock full of players who honed their craft locally at the prep level en route to playing college hockey. Of course, many of those players are native to New England as well.
Northeastern’s roster boasts 14, the most among Beanpot teams. BC has 11, Harvard has 10 and BU has nine.Â
Here's a look at the former New England prep standouts who will be skating on Garden ice in the coming weeks.
Boston CollegeÂ
Lukas Gustafsson, soph., D: The Georgia native was no stranger to New England before college, having spent three years at Cushing and captaining the Penguins in 2020-21. He had 44 points in 34 games his junior year. Gustafsson has eight points and a plus-6 rating in 23 games this season, including his second goal during the Eagles’ sweep of BU last weekend.
Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.), fr., F: Smith spent a year at St. Sebastian’s — though no games were recorded due to COVID —before joining fellow stud linemates Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) and Gabe Perreault at the U.S. National Team Development Program and becoming the highest-ever draft pick in BC history when he went fourth overall to San Jose last summer.Â
Will Vote (Arlington, Mass.), fr., F: Vote has recorded four of his eight points during a pair of recent multi-point efforts against Providence and Merrimack. His road to the Heights included a one-year stop at Dexter in 2020-21 before heading to the NTDP.
Jamie Armstrong (Warwick, R.I.), gr., F: Armstrong has traded colors on Commonwealth Avenue, joining the Eagles as a graduate transfer following four years at BU and recording six points in 14 games. He was a dynamic scorer over two prep seasons at Avon Old Farms, where he recorded 33 goals and 91 points in 53 games for the Winged Beavers.
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Mike Posma, jr., F: One of the Eagles’ assistant captains, Posma has put up two goals and four points as the regular center on the fourth line. The native of Pomona, N.Y., arrived at BC from the USHL, but first, he recorded 21 goals and 46 points in 27 games at Kent in 2018-19.
Connor Joyce (Westwood, Mass.), jr., F: The St. Sebastian’s product recorded all four of his points in October, but has maintained a near-regular place in second-year coach Greg Brown’s lineup. During his prep days, Joyce was a three-year player for the Arrows and captained the team in 2019-20. He had 33 points in 28 games as a senior.
Charlie Leddy (Fairfield, Conn.), soph., D: All four of Leddy’s points for the Eagles this season have been assists. Another Eagle who spent time under the legendary John Gardner at Avon, he finished with 13 points in 27 games during the 2019-20 season.Â
Gentry Shamburger, sr., F: Shamburger was a four-year player and two-year captain at Avon Old Farms, and now he wears an ‘A’ for the Eagles in his senior year. He has one assist in 15 games this season, returning to the lineup for the first time since December against BU. His prep career capped with an eight-goal, 17-point season for the Winged Beavers in 2019-20.Â
The rest: Nolan Joyce, fr., D (Westwood, Mass./St. Sebastian’s); Paul Davey, soph., F (Greenwich, Conn./Brunswick); Timmy Delay, fr., F (Hingham, Mass./St. Sebastian’s)
Boston UniversityÂ
Shane Lachance (Andover, Mass.), fr., F: The 6-foot-5 winger has been effective up and down the Terrier lineup, with his 15 points ranking second among the team’s freshmen behind only Macklin Celebrini. Lachance scored his eighth goal during the first of last weekend’s games against BC. He had 13 goals and 22 points in 28 games for Tabor in 2019-20 and was slated to captain the Seawolves the following year.
Doug Grimes (Brookline, Mass.), fr., F: Grimes has already shown himself well on the big stage this season, scoring his first goal and second of three total collegiate points against Cornell at Madison Square Garden back in November. He was Dexter Southfield’s top goal scorer with 23 (and 48 points) in 2019-20, his second and final season there.
Jack Hughes (Westwood, Mass.), jr., F: Hughes has recently been elevated to Celebrini’s line and scored his second goal in as many games in the BC series opener, giving him four goals and eight points for the season. As a freshman at St. Sebastian’s in 2018-19, he was second on the team with 15 goals and totaled 25 points in 29 games.Â
Cade Webber, gr., D: Though he hails from Meadville, Pa., Webber played three seasons under former BU All-American Shawn McEachern at Rivers and logged 12 goals and 26 points as a senior in 2018-19. He has already matched his career-high five assists in 22 games for the Terriers this season.
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The rest: Mick Frechette, fr., D (Weston, Mass./St. Paul’s & Dexter Southfield); Tristan Amonte, jr., F (Norwell, Mass./Thayer); Jack Gorton, fr., F (Trinity-Pawling); Max Lacroix, fr., G (Governor’s); Nick Howard, gr., G (Burlington, Mass./Hebron)
Harvard
Michael Callow (Boston, Mass.), fr., F: Callow had one of the best seasons in New England prep hockey during his second and final year at St. Sebastian’s, netting a team-leading 26 goals in 25 games. The winger has continued to make an impact as a Harvard rookie with 10 points in the first 19 games, including points in six of eight since the calendar flipped to 2024.
Ben MacDonald (Weston, Mass.), fr., F: The former Nobles star has been a key contributor to Harvard’s improved play since the semester break, scoring two of his three goals in a 6-3 win last Saturday against Colgate. Before spending a year in the BCHL, MacDonald was the Bulldogs’ top goal scorer with 14 (and 29 points) in 22 games as a prep senior.
Casey Severo, soph., F: Another former Nobles standout, Severo entered this week as Harvard’s third-leading goal scorer with four of his six tallies coming during a recent six-game span. The New Yorker scored 56 goals in three seasons as a Bulldog, nearly doubling his previous career-high with 27 goals in 27 games as a senior captain.
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Ian Moore (Concord, Mass.), jr., D: Harvard has played all but one game since Thanksgiving without the services of Moore, a top defenseman and team captain who led the region’s prep blueliners with 46 points in 28 games for St. Mark’s in 2019-20 and then won the USHL’s Clark Cup before heading to campus. Moore returning from injury for the first two Mondays in February would provide the Crimson a shot of experience entering the TD Garden stage.
Derek Mullahy (Scituate, Mass.), sr., G: Mullahy has been part of a near-equal share of the net with Finnish sophomore Aku Koskenvuo. He has a 1-8-1 record, an .892 save percentage and a 3.42 GAA this season. Mullahy was a 2019 All-New England performer for Harvard coach Ted Donato’s brother, Dan, at Dexter Southfield, posting a .940 save percentage.
The rest: Philip Tresca, soph., F (Newton, Mass./Rivers); Christian Jimenez, jr., D (Taft); Tommy Lyons, jr., F (Walpole, Mass./St. Sebastian’s); Luke Khozozian, jr., F (Weston, Mass./Belmont Hill); Peter Frates, jr., D (Needham, Mass./Roxbury Latin)
NortheasternÂ
Jack Williams (Biddeford, Maine), soph., F: Williams has stepped up as the leading scorer within a Huskies lineup that is finally returning to health, potting 13 goals and 28 points in 22 games. He was named Hockey East Player of the Week on Monday following a five-point weekend against Merrimack. The centerman spent his freshman year at Berwick, recording nine goals and 24 points in 2016-17.
Justin Hryckowian, jr., F: The Huskies’ top center and captain was among the missing players due to injury for a stint earlier this season, but he has produced 20 points in 20 games and leads the team with a plus-16 rating. Hryckowian spent a year at powerhouse Salisbury before two in the USHL, netting 17 goals and 1.73 points per contest for the Crimson Knights in 2018-19.
Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (East Greenwich, R.I.), sr., F: A hugely valuable four-year player on the wing for Jerry Keefe’s team looking to go out with another Beanpot title, Fontaine has come on strong of late and has 20 points in 24 games. He made the most of his 2017-18 year at Lawrence with a 50-point season, earning All-ISL honors in both hockey and lacrosse.
Dylan Hryckowian, fr., F: The younger brother of captain Justin has made his own mark on Huntington Avenue this season with 18 points in 22 games, including a memorable fourth goal of the season that downed BU in overtime on Tuesday. At Salisbury in 2021-22, he posted 16 goals and 43 points in 28 games for a New England title-winning team.
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Cam Lund (Bridgewater, Mass.), soph., F: Lund notched two points in both Merrimack games last weekend to become Northeastern’s third double-digit goal scorer with 10. The former San Jose Sharks second-round draft pick made an immediate impact at Cushing with six goals and 26 assists in 34 games in 2019-20 before his following season was limited due to COVID.
Jackson Dorrington (North Reading, Mass.), soph., D: A contributor to two Cushing teams, Dorrington has already posted a career-high nine points in Northeastern’s first 21 games. Two of his five goals have come in back-to-back outings this week. He also has a plus-12 rating. Dorrington averaged nearly a point per game during his latter prep year with the Penguins.
Michael Fisher (Westborough, Mass.), fr., D: An everyday defender in Keefe’s lineup as a freshman with a goal and an assist this season, Fisher won the Boston Bruins’ John Carlton Memorial Trophy in 2022 following a 50-point season as St. Mark’s team captain and second-leading scorer.Â
The rest: Connor Hopkins, gr., G (Malden, Mass./Belmont Hill); Nolan Hayes, fr., D (Boston, Mass./Thayer & Cushing); Braden Doyle, jr., D (Lynnfield, Mass./Lawrence); Billy Norcross, fr., F (Lynn, Mass./Cushing); Michael Outzen, sr., F (Cushing); Patrick Dawson, gr., D (Medway, Mass./Westminster); Kyle Furey, soph., D (Marblehead, Mass./Lawrence)
