Fifty-six players born in 2003 have committed to one of the 20 Division 1 hockey programs in the New England region.
Looking at things more broadly, 126 players born in 2003 have committed to the 61 Division 1 college hockey programs across the country. The 2003 birth year is an interesting one to look at during this down time away from the rinks for a variety of reasons.
There were some interesting data points and trends. It was interesting to compare the number of commits by teams and leagues. I wanted to break down the ’03 classes by where they came from geographically, where they played, and what schools are committing the most players in this birth year.
I also took a look at the top players committed and the programs with the best ’03 classes to date. Obviously, as I wrote a few weeks ago, there are still some good uncommitted ’03s from New England, as well as the rest of the country and internationally.
What college teams are most active with ’03s?
Of the 20 Division 1 hockey programs in New England, 12 of them have committed two or more players born in 2003. Four have committed just one while another four schools have yet to commit an ’03.
Boston University and Providence are the leaders in terms of being active with the ’03 birth year. Both the Terriers and Friars have committed eight players born in ’03. This really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. BU traditionally has been one of the teams in the hunt for the elite younger players. Head coach Albie O’Connell’s strength is his ability to recruit. Associate head coach Paul Pearl also is a very good recruiter. Providence is relatively new to the game in terms of going after top young players. With its NCAA championship in 2015 and the level of respect agents and youth and prep coaches have for Nate Leaman and the Friars, they’ve been able to get involved more than ever before.
To me, if there was a program to be surprised about in terms of how many ’03s it has committed, it would be Brown. Brendan Whittet and his staff have committed five ’03s already. Associate head coach Jason Guerriero and former assistant coach James Marcou, now with Harvard, have used their connections in Long Island and the surrounding area. Four of the five ’03s committed to Brown hail from or play in New York or New Jersey.
Of the four schools yet to commit an ’03, three are in Atlantic Hockey. The lone Hockey East school holding out on committing an ’03 is UMass Lowell. This is the least-shocking revelation in the history of recruiting analysis. Head coach Norm Bazin and his staff have shied away from recruiting younger players for the most part since he took over at his alma mater in 2011. The strategy has worked, as the River Hawks have seen unprecedented levels of success during his tenure.
2003 commits, New England’s NCAA programs
Boston University - 8
Providence - 8
Brown - 5
Maine - 5
Quinnipiac - 5
Vermont - 5
Boston College - 4
Merrimack - 3
Northeastern - 3
New Hampshire - 2
UMass Amherst - 2
Yale - 2
Connecticut - 1
Dartmouth - 1
Harvard - 1
Sacred Heart - 1
Most 2003 commits, all NCAA programs
Boston University - 8
Nebraska Omaha - 8
Providence - 8
Denver - 6
Notre Dame - 6
Wisconsin - 6
Where are the ’03s coming from geographically?
The thing that sticks out to me right away is that there are more ’03s from the state of New York committed to New England area colleges than ’03s from Massachusetts.
New York leads the way with nine ’03s committed to schools in the New England region. Massachusetts is in second place with seven committed ’03s. There are six ’03s committed from Quebec, while Connecticut and New Jersey each have five.
I’ve talked about it several times and NEHJ’s Tim Rappleye wrote a recent feature on the struggles of youth hockey in Massachusetts. The fact that there are more ’03s committed to New England colleges from New York than Massachusetts is concerning.
While New York and New Jersey have a similar model in terms of club teams, there are a couple of differences. Both New York and New Jersey let kids play both club hockey and high school hockey. The other thing that I believe helps is there are fewer options, so most of the top players are playing against each other, whether it be with the Long Island Royals, Long Island Gulls, North Jersey Avalanche, New Jersey Rockets, New Jersey Titans, Buffalo Junior Sabres or Rochester Coalition.
Hockey in Long Island and New Jersey has taken off considerably over the past decade or so. We’ve seen it first hand in Massachusetts with players like Charlie McAvoy and Tim Clifton wearing the spoked ‘B’ of the Bruins. There are several reasons for the enhanced player development from that area. There has been more money, more rinks, more programs and more opportunities for area players.
2003s committed to area schools from California, Arizona, Virginia and Maryland further highlight the growth of hockey in non-traditional markets. It’s great to see for the long-term success of the sport.
Not surprisingly, there’s a good amount of Canadian influence in the ’03s committed to colleges in the region. As mentioned, Quebec has six ’03s committed to New England college programs. Four other Canadian provinces have players committed to area programs. Ontario is next with four while British Columbia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland each have one.
Geographical breakdown of 2003 commits, New England programs only
New York - 9
Massachusetts - 7
Quebec - 6
New Jersey. - 5
Connecticut - 5
Minnesota - 4
Pennsylvania - 4
Ontario - 4
Michigan - 2
Illinois - 2
Arizona - 1
British Columbia - 1
California - 1
Maryland
New Brunswick - 1
Newfoundland - 1
Vermont - 1
Virginia - 1
Geographical breakdown of 2003 commits, all college hockey programs
Minnesota - 20
Michigan - 13
Ontario - 11
Pennsylvania - 10
New York - 9
Quebec - 9
Illinois - 8
Massachusetts - 8
New Jersey - 6
Alberta - 5
Connecticut - 5
What teams are producing committed ’03s?
Hockey development isn’t always as cut and dry as it might look on Elite Prospects, which tells only part of the story. Outside of participation in the Brick Tournament or the Quebec PeeWee Tournament, Elite Prospects usually doesn’t start to track players until Bantam major at the earliest.
That means we can tell where an ’03 is now, but it leaves out the formidable development years that came prior, when kids learned to love the game. With junior teams drafting or tendering players and Midget programs recruiting for super teams, a lot of the committed ’03s just completed their first season with their new team. More than 30 of the 55 ’03s committed to area schools were with new organizations during the 2019-20 hockey season.
Eight teams have two or more ’03s committed to New England schools. Interestingly, only three of those are from inside the borders of the region.
Mount Saint Charles 16-U has three ’03s committed to schools in the New England region. None of the three players are from the region. South Kent Selects Academy and Avon Old Farms each have two ’03s committed to a program inside the region.
Leading the way in terms of pure numbers is USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. The Plymouth, Mich.-based developmental program has seven players committed to schools in the region.
Over the past decade or so, the North Jersey Avalanche youth program has built itself to be one of the more well-respected organizations in the Northeast. Its 16-U team, coached by Vinny Smith, has four ’03s committed to a school in New England. Along with the NTDP and Mount Saint Charles, the Avs are the only team with more than two ’03s committed to a New England college.
2003 commits, current teams: New England college programs
U.S. NTDP U-17 - 7
North Jersey Avalanche 16-U - 4
Mount Saint Charles 16-U - 3
Selects Academy - 2
Avon Old Farms - 2
Gentry Academy - 2
Trois-Rivieres Estacades - 2
Buffalo Junior Sabres - 2
2003 commits, current teams: All college hockey programs
U.S. NTDP U-17 - 18
Chicago Mission 16-U - 5
North Jersey Avalanche 16-U - 5
Avon Old Farms - 3
Gentry Academy 16-U - 3
Little Caesars 16-U - 3
Mount Saint Charles 16-U - 3
New Jersey Rockets 16-U - 3
Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 16-U - 3
Shattuck-St. Mary’s 16-U - 3
Faster track to junior hockey
One trend that I found interesting during my research was that it appears Big Ten recruits are more likely to be playing junior hockey than their Hockey East counterparts. In the 2019-20 season, 31.7 percent of ’03s committed to Hockey East were on junior hockey rosters. Compare that to 57.1 percent of ’03s committed to Big Ten schools and you’ll see why I think two of the top three recruiting classes in the country for this birth year come from that conference.
I talked with a couple of coaches in both leagues about the finding. I think one reason is there is no real loyalty to high school hockey in Michigan or Illinois, whereas kids in New England and Minnesota might stay in prep school or high school.
One assistant coach relayed to me that the competition from the OHL forces Big Ten schools to fast-track players. The QMJHL certainly doesn’t push New England’s college hockey programs in the same way.
Who are the best ’03 recruits?
There’s no doubt that Denver commit Sean Behrens is the best ’03 recruit among defensemen. The Chicago Mission product had a terrific year with the NTDP U-17 team.
Among forwards, the debate is a little murkier. Minnesota commit Chaz Lucius led the NTDP U-17s in scoring during the season and at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. I really like Michigan commit Dylan Duke and Denver commit Jack Devine. An argument could be made for Northeastern commit Jack Hughes. He’s a late ’03 so he’s at a little disadvantage developmentally, but he put together a terrific season with the NTDP.
In terms of goaltenders, North Dakota commit Hobie Hedquist is the leader in that category. He had another solid year with Sioux Falls Power 16-U. Miami had a good one in Gibson Homer of the NTDP, but he decommitted after the Red Hawks made a coaching change.
Which ’03 class is best?
Evaluating which class is best at this somewhat early stage in the recruiting process can be difficult. If a program has two really good commits and no one else, should it be considered to be behind a program with four fairly good recruits?
With that being said, I think there are two clear leaders in the clubhouse, among all 61 college hockey programs. Notre Dame and Denver are ahead of the rest of the country when it comes to recruiting ’03s.
The Fighting Irish boast six commits in the birth year. Four of them — forwards Sasha Pastujov and Justin Janicke and defensemen Ty Gallagher and Ethan Straky — play for the NTDP, while another, Matt Argentina, played last season in the USHL. The lone commit in high school hockey, Maple Grove’s Henry Nelson, was invited to the 2019 NTDP Evaluation Camp. In other words, all six players in Notre Dame’s ’03 class are thought to be in the top 40 skaters in the United States.
Denver also has two players on the NTDP and one of the top players in Finland. Behrens is a swift puck-moving defenseman for the national program and teammate Devine is underrated. Samu Salminen put up a point per game for Finland at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. The Pioneers have three players in 16-U, but all are on good programs and slated to move on to the USHL within the next year or two.
The other notable class is Michigan. The Wolverines have four ’03s committed, including Luke Hughes and Duke from the NTDP and Tyler Haskins, a second-round USHL pick in 2019. The fourth commit is Finlay Williams, who had a terrific first season in the BCHL and is highly regarded north of the border.
Out this way, a couple of classes already are large. Boston University and Providence both have eight commits, which is tied for the lead nationally, along with Nebraska-Omaha. Interestingly, BU and PC both have lost ’03 commits already to the OHL.
The Terriers probably have the leg up with three players — forwards Jeremy Wilmer and Tyler Boucher and defenseman Roman Schmidt — on the NTDP. Green Bay Gamblers center Ryan Greene is a smooth-skating 200-foot player from Canada. A fellow countryman, Lac St-Louis defenseman Charles Alexis Legault, already has gotten into some USHL games. Thayer left wing Nick Roukouankis is the only local committed to the Terriers in this birth year.
For the Friars, Youngstown Phantoms defenseman Austen May and Gentry Academy 16-U center Bennett Schimek are the headliners. NTDP left wing Liam Gilmartin is a long-term project with upside. Mount Saint Charles 16-U defenseman Tyler DesRochers and Buffalo Junior Sabres 16-U winger Connor Pelc are two other standouts.
Northeastern has a couple of gems in NTDP forwards Ryan St. Louis and Jack Hughes, a Westwood, Mass., native who played previously for St. Sebastian’s. Also committed to the Huskies is Buffalo Junior Sabres 16-U defenseman Michael Bevilacqua.
Quinnipiac is quietly putting together a very good ’03 class. Among local kids, I really like Matt McGroarty, a 200-foot player from Brunswick. Forwards Jack Silich and David Hymovitch both earned spots on the U.S. Under-17 Team that competed in last summer’s Five Nations Tournament. Sam Lipkin had a very good year for the North Jersey Avalanche.
Boston College had a really good ’03 class going until the last month when Peter Reynolds and Cam MacDonald spurned the Eagles to head up and play in the QMJHL with the Saint John Sea Dogs. BC still has a couple of skilled forwards committed, led by St. Sebastian’s center Tim Delay and Avon Old Farms left wing Paul Davey. The headliner of the class is now NTDP defensman Aidan Hreschuk, a Californian.
It’s worth noting that I believe all of these programs have commits that might not make it to campus. While some on social media love to show outrage over this, I think it’s a mere fact of life. Some players pan out and some don’t. It happens a lot for regular college students who don’t hold up their end of the agreement in terms of grades.
There are two classes that don’t get talked about a lot due to lack of numbers. However, both UMass Amherst and New Hampshire have two real solid commits.
The Minutemen have Mount Saint Charles 16-U center Kenny Connors and Chicago Steel defenseman Ryan Ufko. Both are highly regarded and were NTDP Evaluation Camp invites.
Avon Old Farms center JP Turner and Boston Advantage 18-U center Nick Ring are promising recruits for the Wildcats. Looking at UNH’s committed players at all birth years, Turner and Ring are the clear-cut winners.
One last deserving class that might not have the numbers yet is Merrimack. The Warriors have commits from Matt Copponi, Dexter Southfield’s first-line center, and Steven LaForme, a top young player in the GOJHL. New Jersey Rockets 16-U defenseman Michael Rubin also is slated to be a Warrior.
