Off-Season Mailbag
In our off-season mailbag we look at scorers of the past and look to the team of the future.
What are the NCAA teams BU has never played? -Sean
With this season series against Alaska, the Terriers are down to just 6 active DI teams they have yet to play. Some are more obvious than others, four of them are schools that started fairly recently: St. Thomas (2021-22), Lindenwood (2022-23), Stonehill (2022-23), Augustana (2023-24), and two CCHA schools that have been around for a quarter century: Bemidji State (1999-00) and Canisius (1998-99).
When was the last time the BU men’s team opened their season with a weekend series? -Ant
The last time they opened with a weekend series of any kind1 was 2020-21 (Jan 8th/9th) vs Providence (3-7, 6-4). Prior to that was 1986-87 (Oct 31st/Nov 1st) hosting Maine at Walter Brown Arena (2-3, 5-7). The last time on the road was against Wisconsin to open 1984-85 (Oct 12th/13th) which was technically their first conference games in Hockey East—for the first 5 seasons of the league the teams played games against WCHA that counted towards the Hockey East standings—a pair of wins (6-5, 4-2).
The last non-conference series to open the season was 1983-84 (Oct 28th/30th) when BU hosted Dalhousie (of Nova Scotia) outscoring them 16-1 in a pair of games (12-1, 4-0).
The last road non-conference series to open the season was 1976-77 (Nov 19th/20th) against Bowling Green (2-4, 2-4).
In their history BU has opened the season with a series just 12 times in 105 seasons.
Most points by a goalie in their college tenure? -Ani
Kenny Reiter (UMD, 2009-12) and Peyton Jones (Penn State, 2016-20) each recorded 8 career points as a goalie according to QuantHockey.2
Among Terriers, Scott Cashman (1989-93) leads all with 6.3
Are you going to Alaska? -Sean
We shall see.
Can you provide BU's all-time scoring list limited to those who played two seasons or less? - SShap
The all-time leader among players who played two seasons or less at BU are led by single-season points record holder Jack Garrity with 141 points. Lane Hutson has the most since 1991 among this cohort (97). Jack Eichel is 12th on the list despite only playing a single season with the Terriers.
Top point producers in NCAA Tournament play -Rob
Tony Amonte (9 GP): 13-8—21
Shawn McEachern (8 GP): 5-12—17
Dave Silk (5 GP): 9-6—15
David Tomlinson (8 GP): 8-5—13
Jack Garrity (3 GP): 5-7—12 / Bill Robbins (5 GP): 4-8—12
What, if anything, might change with the BU hockey program with the new NCAA eligibility rules? - Ed
With the current players, nothing, they are still under the old eligibility rules. In the future not very much. Since 2020-21, BU has had more than three 20 yr old freshman just once, in 2023-24 when they had 6. The new rules probably benefit BU in the long run given they aren’t reliant on older players to be competitive so as the age gap to other teams lowers, their talent advantage should increase.
What does the incoming group of recruits look like? How do they compare to recent seasons? -Karin
Nothing is official yet, but the consensus is BU will have two junior transfer defensemen Adam Barone (LSSU) and Jax Wismer (UVM), and five freshman: three forwards—Caleb Malhotra, Niklas Aaram-Olsen, and Viktor Nörringer and two defensemen—Xavier Villeneuve and Haoxi Wang.
Barone was Lake Superior State’s leading defenseman in points (19) and 7th in the CCHA. His 15 assist were the 2nd most on the team. Wismer had a bit of down year recording just 7 points after recording 15 as a freshman. Wismer did score one of his two goals this season at Agganis Arena on December 6th.
BU’s 5 freshmen is their fewest since 2011-12. For comparison: last season had 13 (!!), 2024-25 had 8, 2023-24 had 10, and 2022-23 had 6.
Caleb Malhotra is the highest drafted player to play at BU after being drafted at 3rd overall. He put up 84 points in the OHL last season, 2nd on his team (Brantford Bulldogs). Niklas Aaram-Olsen, the Terriers’ first Norwegian player, was lead his team in goals with 20 in 29 GP. Swede Viktor Nörringer was 2nd on his team—the Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL)—playing alongside at the time future Terrier Tynan Lawrence and former and future Terrier Carter Amico.
Haoxi Wang, the highest drafted Chinese-born player in NHL history, split time with the Oshawa Generals and Niagara IceDogs both of the OHL. Xavier Villeneuve was over a point per game in his last two seasons with the QMJHL’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada putting up 38 points in 37 games last season and 62 in 61 GP the previous season. Villeneuve on film looks as close to a Hutson defenseman as a Québécois could be.
What makes you optimistic about the team getting back on track next year? -Stephen
In short, the team is bigger and older. BU’s biggest issue at the start of last season was inexperience in defense, this year’s team will be over a year older than last year with just two freshman.
Defense transfers in of juniors Adam Barone (LSSU) and Jax Wismer (UVM) should add more experience along with seniors Aiden Celebrini and Mick Frechette. Xavier Villeneuve should fill—to some extent—the offensive defenseman role Cole Hutson played
Tynan Lawrence, despite being the youngest player on the team, comes in with a semester of experience and saw improve as the semester went on. The other rising sophomore forwards like Ryder Ritchie, Ben Merrill, and Jonathan Morello were a productive last year and that should continue. Additionally, the highest drafted player in the NCAA this season, Caleb Malhotra should contribute well.
Goaltending should be more stable with more stable defense in front. Mikhail Yegorov was much better in the second half of 2025-26—his first half (1st 18 games) GAA was 3.23 while his second half (last 17 games) was 2.23.
I think there has been a good attempt to fix the issues with the roster make-up of last season. Those that remain on the roster look to be solid contributors and the incoming class should add to the depth of the roster.4
Not including seasons that opened with an exhibition and followed by a series the following weekend
College Hockey stats data prior to 2003 is iffy so there is a chance someone has more than 8 but the data is not available or accurate online
This stat was actually compiled by me so I can vouch for it
Also on a personal note, there’s no fun being pessimistic about the team getting back on track