After a devastating and confusing 2024-25 season, the men’s hockey team rebranded, adding 14 new players after the departure of key competitors including Cam Lund, Jack Williams and Cameron Whitehead.
“I’ve been really impressed with the new group so far, [and] our returners have come back in tremendous shape,” said head coach Jerry Keefe.
With the number of new players, the team showed up a week earlier than normal for team bonding, hoping to build chemistry off the ice that translates when the skates came on. It was important for the team members to not only get acquainted with one another but for the newcomers to understand what separates this program from others.
“I think the biggest thing for us is, or was for us when we reported, was to get the guys comfortable, to let them understand what it takes to play Husky hockey … So we’re in a really good spot,” said senior defenseman and captain Vinny Borgesi.
Of the 14 new players, nine are freshmen. While they may be new to college hockey, they made an impact in the junior league.
“I feel like this freshman class is as strong as we’ve had in a long time,” Keefe said. “It’s a little bit older, which I like. You know, guys play that extra year of junior hockey. I think it’s definitely going to show making that adjustment to college hockey. But we’re expecting a lot of those guys to have a big impact.”
Freshmen Dylan Compton and Noah Jones will join the back line.
Jones was recruited to Northeastern from the United States Hockey League’s, or USHL’s, Omaha Lancers, where he scored four goals and notched 11 assists last season. He served as assistant captain during his second and final year as a Lancer.
Before Northeastern, Compton played for the Waterloo Black Hawks, scoring six goals and tallying 49 assists in 86 games. The USHL Second-All Star team selection led the league in power-play assists at 26. He also served as an assistant captain for his team.
Since coming to Boston, Compton has been crucial to the Huskies’ defense. He currently shares the line with sophomore defenseman Jack Henry.
“It’s definitely Compton and Henry,” Keefe said. “And those guys are going to play, for sure. They’re going to play a significant amount of minutes. Dylan Compton’s a freshman, but I can see him playing a lot of minutes as the year goes on.”
In terms of transfers, senior defensemen Austen May and Dylan Finlay were picked up in the portal.
Coming from Providence College, May played in 34 games last season, where he led his fellow defensemen in shots at 61 and blocks at 23. He also scored one goal and had 13 assists. Two of these assists were against Northeastern Nov. 9, 2024.
Finlay transferred to Northeastern from the University of Alaska Anchorage. Last season, he earned his career highs in goals and assists with four and six, respectively. He also notched his first multi-goal game, with his second being the game winner on the power play. He blocked 21 shots and had 29 shots of his own.
Finlay has been playing alongside Borgesi.
“[I’m] really impressed with Finner. His attention to detail is tremendous. You can tell he’s got experience. He looks like he’s been here for three years already. So, credit to him,” Keefe said.
Henry, Borgesi, senior Joaquim Lemay and junior Nolan Hayes are the returners on the back line.
Last season, Lemay collected the fourth-most blocks for the Huskies with 49. He was ranked 13th in NCAA for amount of time on the ice, where he netted three goals and nine assists.
Hayes’ season was cut short due to injury, but before that, he recorded four blocks and one shot in five games. During his freshman campaign, the Massachusetts native had four blocks and 13 shots in 24 games.
Borgesi led the Northeastern defensemen last year in goals and assists at five and 17, respectively. He led the country in time on the ice at 28:04 minutes per game. On the defensive side, he had a career-high 51 blocks. He also had 51 faceoff wins, ranking second of all NCAA defensemen.
Stepping into leadership came naturally for Borgesi.
“I’m a loud guy in the locker room,” Borges saidi. “You know, I think for me, personally, I take a lot of pride in this stuff. I try to show up every single day and be the best person I can be, be the best teammate I can be, be the best player I can be … When you’re the captain, it forces you to be your best every single day. And I take a lot of pride in that. Every time I step into this rink right now, I kind of think about that.”
Moving up the ice, there are six freshmen forwards joining the Huskies: Grayson Badger, Giacomo Martino, Jack Pechar, Amine Hajibi, Jacob Mathieu and Matthew Maltais.
Junior transfers Matthew Perkins and Tyler Fukakusa are two new forwards as well.
“Both of them are going to play a key part for us,” Keefe said. “We needed to get stronger down the middle and both of those guys have done that for us. Perkins skates extremely well, so he adds a lot of speed to our lineup. And Fukakusa, a guy that’s put up really good numbers in college hockey. He’s a real cerebral player. He’s a playmaker and he’s got a lot of poise to his game.”
Despite being new to Northeastern, Maltais and Pechar are not new to playing with each other as they were on the same line for the USHL’s Lincoln Stars. Keefe has added Fukakusa to the duo.
He also put Mathieu, Hajibi and Martino on the same line.
“Every time we went back to those three, it just seemed like they were good together. I think they’ve built some chemistry,” Keefe said. “They’re all really smart hockey players, which I like. And like I said, Jacob [Mathieu] playing in the middle, we have a lot of trust in him right away that he can play on both sides of the puck.”
Returning to the forward lines are senior Anthony Messuri, juniors Andy Moore, Eli Sebastian and Dylan Hryckowian, as well as sophomores James Fisher, Ethan Fredericks, Joe Connor, Griffin Erdman and Marc Lund.
“We’re trying to find the right mix with a few guys right now,” Keefe said. “I think Ethan Fredericks is healthy again from the injury. He’s a right shot that’s been very good in camp. Fish[er] has been good in camp — or preseason, I should say. So we’re trying to find that mix right now. Erdman’s been really good returning. Andy Moore’s taken a step, and he’s a leader on our team.”
Keefe confirmed that Hryckowian, Connor and Perkins are one of the set lines after their success in the preseason scrimmage Sept. 20.
“They kind of have that relentless second effort to them, which you need,” Keefe said. “They’re a hard skill line with a lot of intelligence. I think they can play the game a lot of different ways. They can be really good off the rush, but I also think they can establish a down low game as well”
After an impressive freshman year campaign with seven goals, the fourth-most among the team, and 10 assists, the best among the rookies in both stats, Connor is expected to be a dominant player on the ice.
“We’re expecting [Connor] to kind of be that next, along with [Hryckowian], he’d be that high-end guy for us,” Keefe said. “I’m excited that he’s ready to pop. You can see it. He’s got some swagger to him. He came back in tremendous shape. He’s a really determined guy right now. So I know he wants to be a difference maker.”
Sophomore goaltender Quentin Sigurdson was joined by freshman Matt DellaRusso and junior transfer Lawton Zacher.
Zacher was picked up in the portal after his two years at Brown University, where he had a .917 save percentage and 2.48 goals against average. His 14 wins last season were the fourth-most by a goaltender in a single season since 1969-70. He also claimed the second longest scoreless streak in November at 157 minutes.
“He’s expected to be our No. 1 for sure,” Keefe said. “He’s been good in the scrimmages … we really like what we see. Our goaltending coach, Brian Mahoney-Wilson, is doing a really good job with connecting with [Zacher]. They’ve got a real good relationship, and he’s a gamer. He’s a competitive kid.”
Sigurdson should also have a few starts, Keefe said. Sigurdson played in six games last year, starting in three. In these games, he finished with a .920 save percentage, collecting 81 saves.
After last year’s disastrous Beanpot tournament but a run to the Hockey East semifinals, the team is ready to take on another year.
“The biggest thing that we took from that last year is obviously we didn’t get where we wanted to be,” Borgesi said. “Obviously, we want to win that championship. But our returning guys kind of got a lick and a little taste about what it takes to win at this level … I noticed guys are working a little bit harder this year.”
With the first game against Holy Cross Crusaders (0-0, 0-0 Atlantic Hockey) at home Oct. 4, the Huskies are excited to show what they can do with this new group.
“I think we’ve done a good job of obviously listening and trying to implement everything that the coaches are putting down for us, which will be really good,” Perkins said. “I think with the way our group skates and the skill we have with the system that they’re getting us to play, I think we can be pretty dangerous.”
