The 2004 birth year has started playing college hockey this fall with elite players from the area, including center Cam Lund (Bridgewater, Mass.), already having an impact at the NCAA level.
While players like Lund, a second-round pick of the San Jose Sharks in the 2022 NHL draft, begin their college careers, there are way more '04s still in junior hockey and some even still competing at the prep school level.
Thirty-six players from New England, born in 2004, are either on a college hockey roster for 2022-23 or are committed to a Division 1 school for the future.
Below is a ranking and evaluation of the top five uncommitted '04s remaining in New England.
1. Colin Winn
Youngstown Phantoms, 8/5/04, G, catches left, 6-1/170
Winn, from Westford, Mass., is in his first year with a USHL team, skating for the easternmost franchise in the country’s only Tier 1 junior league. He’s had a quick ascension up the hockey ladder, going from Westford Academy in 2018-19 to South Kent to Bishop Kearney Selects to the Junior Bruins. Now in Youngstown, he had a promising preseason and is 1-1 with a 2.54 goals against average and .878 save percentage in two regular season appearances. Winn’s skating is his best asset, while learning to play bigger in the crease will help him elevate his game to the next level. A handful of programs in Hockey East and ECAC Hockey have expressed interest in Winn.
2. Jackson Irving
Sioux Falls Stampede, 2/3/04, G, catches left, 6-0/172
Irving is off to a solid start in his first USHL campaign with the Sioux Falls Stampede. Under his belt is a shutout against the team, Cedar Rapids, that drafted him. In three games, he has a .926 save percentage. From Newbury, Mass., Irving moved on to junior hockey after three seasons at Cushing, playing for Steve Jacobs (Hudson, Mass.) and Paul Pearl (Winthrop, Mass.). Irving is technically sound and is generating interest from Hockey East and ECAC Hockey schools as well. His father, Bruce Irving (Newbury, Mass.), was a goaltender at Cornell and is the current volunteer assistant coach at Providence.
3. Trey Scott
Maryland Black Bears, 5/4/04, D, right shot, 5-11/175
Scott started the year in the USHL for the preseason and beginning of the regular season, but is now in the NAHL with Maryland. From Lunenburg, Mass., he’s a mobile defenseman who makes good hockey plays with the puck on his stick. He promotes possession with his breakout ability, keeps the puck in the attacking zone, and gaps well. He’s not overly offensive, but he makes tape-to-tape passes and is coachable. He has an assist in four games with Maryland, but is an impressive +4 in terms of plus/minus. The longtime Junior Bruins blue liner has gotten harder and better over the past couple of seasons. As he continues finding his way in junior hockey, more Division 1 schools will become interested in the puck-moving defenseman.
4. James Shannon
Brunswick, 8/12/04, RW, right shot, 5-10/170
Shannon is a hard-nosed winger who has been one of the best players at Brunswick for a couple of years now. A veteran of the Mid Fairfield Junior Rangers organization, the Greenwich, Conn., native is a north-south winger. He doesn’t have high-end skill or skating, but he works hard, hunts pucks, and wins a lot of 50/50 battles. In 2021-22, he scored 18 goals and had 22 assists in 30 games for Mike Kennedy’s Brunswick squad. Shannon projects as a second- or third-line player for a lower-end Ivy or one of the other academically-inclined schools in ECAC Hockey.
5. Ben Muthersbaugh
New Jersey Titans, 2/15/04, LW, left shot, 6-2/181
Muthersbaugh is having a little bit of a learning curve as he adjusts to the higher pace and physicality of the NAHL after spending last season in the USPHL NCDC. He has three goals in 13 games for New Jersey, the defending Robertson Cup Champion. In 48 regular season games in 2021-22 with the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs of the NCDC, the Gilford, N.H., native scored 21 goals and had 13 assists. He’s a goal scorer who plays hard. His skating and hockey sense are areas that need improvement. He’s likely to find a home as a recruited walk-on or lower scholarship-type player in Division 1.
