Hockey Edition 2024 by The Daily Free Press

Living up to a name: Cole Hutson enters BU with big skates to fll

BY BRENDAN NORDSTROM Co-Director

What do you do when your reputation precedes you?

Cole Hutson does nothing different from what he always does. As Lane and Quinn’s brother, the expectation for greatness always followed him.

When Cole Huston joined the United States National Team Development Program, Nick Fohr, the program’s head coach, had high expectations after coaching his brother Lane for two years. One thing surprised him about Cole, though — the “it factor.”

“The bigger the moment, the more impact he has,” Fohr said.

In one game against No. 4 North Dakota last season, Cole wouldn’t be denied.

North Dakota forward Hunter Johannes tied the game in the third period, and Johannes pumped his arms up and down with his fngers pointed up.

“A pretty stupid celly,” Cole said.

In overtime, Cole took the puck to the point, striding to the left circle, and accelerated, earning enough space to ring one in off the post.

Naturally, he mocked Johannes’ celebration, pumping his arms up with his fngers pointed to the roof of a sold-out Ralph Engelstad Arena.

It’s the one thing separating the incoming freshman defenseman at BU from his brothers — an unparalleled compete level.

One summer morning, the four Hutson brothers — Quinn, Lane,

Cole and Lars — were doing an intense end-of-week workout: 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 burpees, six laps around the feld and a tall climb.

“F– you,” one would yell.

“What kind of burpees are those?” one might yell back.

The Hutsons are defned by competitiveness, whether on the ice, in the gym or at the cribbage table.

“I worked with a lot of pro athletes, but they’re different,” said Brian LeSeur, the Hutsons’ private strength coach. “They’re on a whole different spectrum.”

It’s no surprise Quinn and Lane found so much success at BU. Their legacy is one of hat tricks, overtime playoff gamewinning goals and Hobey Baker top-10 honors. The Hutson name comes with prestige.

When Cole takes the ice for BU this fall, he will be defned by the six letters on the back of his jersey — and he has big skates to fll.

“It’s kind of been like that my whole life,” Cole said. “I’m just trying to make a name for myself.”

The Hutsons grew up in North Barrington, Illinois, where they spent hours after school on the backyard ice rink their dad, Rob, built.

Cole frst got on the ice when he was 1-and-a-half. He kept falling, but got right back up.

“He was tough as nails from a young age,” Rob said.

Playing for the USNTDP in 2022, Cole broke the program’s record for most points by a defenseman with 119 and passed the former record holder in 100

fewer games. Along the way, Cole, of course, passed Lane.

One would be hard-pressed to fnd a report that doesn’t compare Cole to Lane. It makes sense — they are both offensive defensemen with distinct edges, deception, hockey IQ and risk management.

“By the untrained eye, you look at them and they look like the same player,” Fohr said. “One of the Hutson boys does it with hard work, and the other one does it with competitiveness.”

BU head coach Jay Pandolfo said Lane is busier with the puck, while Cole is smoother. Rob noted how Lane is more strategic on defense, while Cole displays emotions.

“Lane’s a little fashier,” LeSeur said. “Cole is more of that, ‘Hey, Cole, I need you to run into that wall as fast as you can.’ And he’ll do it.”

Cole said it is a “cheat” to follow Lane’s career path, but it’s no secret the two have an internalized competition.

Cole Hutson was drafted No. 43 in the 2024 NHL draft. Two years earlier, Lane was selected No. 62.

While Cole told Tom Boudreau, the Hutsons’ professional skills trainer, he would have preferred to have been drafted in the frst round, he joked about being drafted higher than Lane.

“It’s just bragging rights at the house,” Cole said. “It’s just something we can joke about and always remember when we’re older.”

Rob said the brothers are each other’s biggest critics and

supporters. At the Thanksgiving table, Cole may relish being selected higher, but seeing his brother fall in the draft because of his 5-foot-8 stature upset him.

“I knew how hard he worked, and to see him slip in the draft because of size, something that doesn’t really matter in the modern game, I was kind of pissed off for him,” Cole said.

Following in Lane’s footsteps once again, Cole will need to set out to prove his worth at BU.

“It’s funny to me. The Hutson boys, they fnd a way to prove people wrong over and over again,” Fohr said. “It’s a pretty good attribute to have.”

Earlier this year, Lane signed his entry-level NHL contract with the Montreal Canadiens. It leaves a big hole in the BU roster, but one Cole has the

chance to fll — and those who know him best are confdent he will.

“It’s not like you guys are losing Lane Hutson. You’re slowly replacing him with Cole,” LeSeur said. “I won’t be surprised if Cole beats [Lane’s points records] by one.”

With Lane gone, Cole will play with Quinn for the frst time in their career. Cole hopes to develop his all-around game, but his goal is clear — a national championship.

“The lights will never be too bright for Cole, Lane, Quinn or even Lars. They’ve been breathing this, pushing themselves to be in this situation,” LeSeur said. “I know Cole is going to go out there and dominate.

“I know for a fact, there’s no doubt in my mind.”

Cole Eiserman hears the doubts surrounding his score-happy game. At BU, he’s out to prove them wrong.

BY MITCH FINK Co-Director

Nick Fohr would often pick up calls from NHL scouts last year, sighing in frustration each time he heard a familiar question about his star player, Cole Eiserman.

“Well, we know he’s selfsh,” scouts would begin. “But…” Fohr, USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program head coach, would butt in. “What do you mean? You know he’s selfsh? Where did that come from?”

“That’s what everybody says.”

“Well, who’s everybody?” Fohr would reply. “Because I coached the kid for two years. He’s liked by his teammates. Yeah, he scores a lot of goals, and then people look at that as a selfsh thing, but that’s his way to help his teammates.”

Those calls took place as teams evaluated the left-winger, now a freshman at Boston University. Eiserman has been widely considered the draft’s best scorer. He has also become one of the most polarizing prospects in hockey.

People from across the hockey world — scouts, analysts, fans — voiced opinions of Eiserman ahead of the draft. Some called him “selfsh” and “onedimensional.” Others believe he’s a future NHL superstar.

As he settles into his freshman year, that noise has quieted. The draft is complete — the New York Islanders picked Eiserman 20th overall — and though pressure and expectations remain, he can “play a little bit more,” as he said.

“Obviously, your team picked

RENA LAVERTY | USA HOCKEY

Cole Eiserman skates out of his defensive zone in a game with the United States National Team Development Program. An incoming freshman at BU, he was widely considered the best pure goal-scorer in the 2024 NHL Draft. you, and now I can play for BU and try to win games,” Eiserman said. “Don’t got to worry about 30 teams in the stands criticizing you every single play.”

Eiserman set a new all-time record for most goals with the USNTDP, scoring 127 goals in 119 career games.

Tom Ward, Eiserman’s coach at prep school Shattuck-St.

Mary’s, called Eiserman “as good a goal-scorer as we’ve had.” That puts him in impressive company, including Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Toews.

Nonetheless, Eiserman slipped — he was widely expected to be a top-three draft pick last fall.

Eiserman’s critics believe he lacks a 200-foot game and question his ability to impact the game beyond scoring.

“My teammates don’t think

it’s selfsh. It’s just me being the player I am. I’m being told to shoot the puck,” Eiserman responded. “If I think scoring goals is how we win games, I’m gonna try to do that.”

His staunchest defenders, including Fohr and BU head coach Jay Pandolfo, agree with that self-assessment.

“He really wants to score goals, which is great, because we want guys to score goals,” Pandolfo said. “I don’t think it’s coming from a selfsh standpoint.”

In fact, Fohr encouraged Eiserman to shoot more, because the skater had been passing too often.

Fohr believes Eiserman has room to grow as a complete player, but said he was “very comfortable” with his star player in defensive situations. He added Eiserman is an underrated playmaker.

At one point last season, Fohr asked Eiserman if he would rather get more offensive touches or round out his game. Eiserman opted for the latter.

“There’s just little things like that he spent a lot of time and energy on, that he couldn’t even fathom how to do when he came to us,” Fohr said.

Still, Pandolfo said he doesn’t want to take away from what makes his player special.

“Of course, you want to round out his game, but you also want to take advantage of what he’s really good at,” Pandolfo said. “We want to put him in spots where he can take advantage of it.”

When it comes to the specifc attributes that separate Eiserman as a scorer, his coaches highlighted different areas.

Ward pointed to Eiserman’s anticipation — he “knows how to use traffc to get open” and fnds “soft spots on the rink.”

Fohr, by contrast, said Eiserman’s shot “just comes off faster and harder than [goalies] are used to.”

Fohr likened it to a lefty version of Alex Ovechkin’s shot, considering its “zip” and how Eiserman snipes goals on the power play.

Eiserman is physically mature, said USNTDP strength and conditioning coach Brian Galivan, but his 6-foot-0, 200-pound frame is average amongst his peers. He still shoots the puck harder than them. Why?

“That’s not even a question for the coaching staff,” Galivan said, “but for God.”

Until last fall, Eiserman was slated to play for the University of Minnesota.

But the Newburyport native decommitted to be closer home.

The decision was also to be closer to his father, Bill, who was diagnosed with cancer, and is now in remission, according to The Athletic.

“Being able to see my dad at every game is going to make me play harder,” Eiserman said.

He noted that his father grew up “idolizing” the Terriers, despite playing at UMass Lowell from 1986-87. Two of his brothers also played in Hockey East: Shane at New Hampshire (2014-18) and William at UMass Lowell (2011-13).

Eiserman said he picked the Terriers over other Boston-area schools because of the program’s history and coaching staff. Plus, “I’m more of a city guy.”

Ward believes Eiserman “should have to earn everything he gets.” His BU teammates, Ward said, could have preconceptions after hearing the rumors about him.

“That’s on him to change their opinion,” Ward said.

Besides developing a more well-rounded game, Fohr believes Eiserman’s biggest area for growth is with the noise around him and “not letting things get him too high or low.” At times, Fohr said, the criticism has pulled Eiserman backwards. But if he can channel that in a positive direction? Fohr said he’ll be “really hard to stop.”

Eiserman believes he’s ready for the challenge.

“It’s a good thing to have pressure. It means you’re doing something right,” he said. “You always want to overcome the pressure by exceeding it, and that’s something I try to do every day.”

RENA LAVERTY | USA HOCKEY

Freshman defenseman Cole Hutson skates with the puck for the United States National Team Development Program. Hutson enters Boston University with the pressure of living up to a family legacy.

BU’s frst-world problem: How do you replace Lane Hutson

and Macklin

the San Jose Sharks, won the award outright. The two scored a total of 113 points last year, a quarter of the Terriers’ output. Some would say that Hutson and Celebrini were the best one-two punch in the nation.

“We did lose a lot [of players],”

Joe Pereira, assistant coach and lead recruiter, said to The Boston Hockey Blog recently. “But we bring back a lot of great players.”

Replacing Hutson and Celebrini feels nearly impossible, and this coaching staff has never faced a problem this severe. But if the coaches are spooked, they haven’t let it on.

Sure, up front, there is a committee of forwards that will likely replace Celebrini’s production — 32 goals and 32 assists in one season — on aggregate. Junior forward Ryan Greene, formerly a Chicago Blackhawks second-round pick, added to his pedigree when he was named a captain after a 12-goal, 24-assist sophomore

Junior forward Quinn Hutson, one of Lane’s brothers, scored 18 goals and dished out 18 assists for BU as a sophomore last year. As of last season, he has the most goals of any player left on the roster. Sophomore forward Shane Lachance, who will be BU’s frstever sophomore captain, and Jack Harvey both return after impressive freshman campaigns.

Celebrini?

in college hockey.

But here’s the deal. No one is Celebrini; not even Eiserman. It’s one thing to replace the No. 1 pick on a spreadsheet, but it’s another thing to replace his heroism. Celebrini, in that sense, is irreplaceable.

There’s also the issue of replacing Hutson in defense. While focusing on strength in numbers is an option, fnding a one-to-one replacement appears to be the move. Freshman Cole Hutson, the youngest Hutson brother, has garnered a ton of hype. He holds the USA Hockey National Team Development Program record for points by a defenseman and is what Pereira calls “a special player.”

But think about the kind of pressure that puts on him. Lane made Hockey East history many times throughout his two-season collegiate career. Cole is talented, but any one man single-handedly replacing Lane Hutson is the type of thing you’d have to see to believe.

registers as a problem at all.

What we’re talking about here is a program that, two years ago, welcomed a recruit who became one of the best defensemen in Hockey East history. A program that, a year later, one-upped him by bringing in a 17-year-old supernova, who won the biggest award in the sport and became only the ffth NCAA player to

crème, the frst world of college hockey. These are good times. But therein lies the problem: Good times, naturally, become stressful times. Because to recruit generational talent like Lane Hutson or Macklin Celebrini is to sign yourself up to eventually replace it. Because to be this good, this fast under a new regime is to set near-impossible

responsible for delivering said standard, are gone.

The void they leave behind is as big as it gets. Hutson, a defenseman now with the Montreal Canadiens, fnished in the top 10 of Hobey Baker Award fnalists during each of his two seasons on Comm. Ave. In his lone season with BU in 2023–24, Celebrini, now a forward with

There’s also, of course, freshman forward Cole Eiserman, the big prize of this year’s recruiting class. It’s worth noting that his stock is actually trending down — once projected to be a top fve pick, Eiserman fell to No. 20 and was selected by the New York Islanders in June. But make no mistake, he should still be one of the biggest talents

That’s where BU is stuck. There are two ways to replace players as crucial as Hutson and Celebrini, but neither avenue feels particularly comfortable. Attacking it by committee would be to basically surrender the individual heroics that BU relied on so heavily at many points last season. Asking just one player to bring that heroism would be a plainly ridiculous ask. Oh, and, whatever the answer, it needs to be good enough to at least take the team to the Frozen Four.

Pandolfo and his staff have certainly earned the beneft of the doubt, but realistically, this is a lose-lose situation for BU hockey — because its players just keep winning.

In year three, can Jay Pandolfo and BU master the little things?

BY SAM ROBB O’HAGAN Writer

The only thing you need to know about Jay Pandolfo’s job: It’s a big deal.

Everything about it: the offce — the program — the expectations.

“The end goal every year is to win a national championship,” Pandolfo, head coach of Boston University men’s hockey, said. “It will certainly be disappointing if we don’t achieve that.”

And after two seasons in the big chair, Pandolfo, by any standard measure, is killing it. He’s winning more than 70% of the time and his team is scoring almost four goals a game. He’s won a Hockey East championship, made back-to-back Frozen Fours and reinvigorated a dormant blueblood program.

But BU is still not where it wants to be.

With a big program comes big games, and in the two biggest BU have played under Pandolfo — the 2023 and 2024 National Semifnals — the Terriers lost both. They have still not won a national championship since 2009.

That’s why the man in the big chair in the big offce of the biggest program on campus is focused on something so very small.

“For me,” Pandolfo said, “it’s just the little things over the course of one big game that can really make the difference.”

Moments after Tristan Broz buried the overtime winner for Denver in the 2024 National Semifnal in April, Pandolfo took the podium in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was asked for an opening statement. He took a swig

of water, grunted under his breath, stumbled as he tried to start an answer and stared downwards.

“Really disappointing,” he fnally muttered.

The Terriers were the No. 2 team in the country. Their leading scorer, a freshman, would win the Hobey Baker Award a day later. The locker room was as close-knit as ever. This was supposed to be the night BU returned to its frst national championship game in nine years.

And yet: another loss in another big game.

“It obviously stung for a while,” sophomore co-captain Shane Lachance said.

There are plenty of things to point to. The Terriers dominated the frst period but left up, 1-0, before letting the Pioneers back in. The Terriers’ third-ranked power play didn’t get a single opportunity. Early in overtime, scoring chances came and went, squandered by some of BU’s best players. Any one of those factors going the other way could’ve changed the outcome.

So there’s a consensus within the program: It’s the little things. The details. The tiny mistakes that build up throughout a game. The small errors that cost the Terriers big.

“One turnover on the blue line,” Lachance said recently, “can lose your season.”

It’s an ironic place to end up, because as far as the big things in this job go — building a culture, recruiting elite talent, maintaining consistency over long seasons — Pandolfo and his staff are doing almost impossibly well.

A national champion at BU and a two-time Stanley Cup champion, Pandolfo knows the right way to do things. It’s the way he enforces

those standards that has so many hailing him as a culture-builder.

“Jay Pandolfo does not walk around BU like he’s a big deal, and he’s the big CEO, and ‘I’m gonna be the guy who’s unapproachable,’” said Colby Cohen, a former NHL player and national champion at BU.

Pandolfo said one of his three biggest cultural pillars is “respect,” and it starts with him.

When asked what he’s enjoyed most about being a head coach, Pandolfo said encouraging feedback from his staff.

“We always come to an agreement,” he said. “That’s how I do things.”

Lachance said players can go to Pandolfo for anything — problems on the ice, problems in the classroom, problems at home.

“He just cares about us so much,” Lachance said.

The players trust Pandolfo, hich is critical when his other pillars are “work ethic” and “compete,” two words much easier to write on a wall than put in practice.

“You can’t play at this level if you’re not going to compete,” Pandolfo said.

None of it is easy — it’s not meant to be — but the players have clearly bought in. BU is recruiting remarkably well under Pandolfo.

“If my kids were of age,” Cohen said, “these are the people I would entrust [them] to be around.”

The little things, however, are often the hardest problems to control.

“It’s hockey,” senior goaltender Mathieu Caron said. “It’s a game at the end of the day.”

Luck is a factor, as it is in all sports. Pandolfo admits the Terriers can’t be perfect, but,

WOOLVERTON | BU ATHLETICS

Boston University men’s hockey head coach Jay Pandolfo looks out from the bench at TD Garden. Ahead of his third season with BU, Pandolfo has emphasized the importance of “little things” in big games.

somehow, they need to be better.

“Do you need a little bit of puck luck and bounces here and there?

Of course you do,” Pandolfo said in St. Paul. “But you gotta create that, too.”

But for BU, it’s not rocket science. It’s not about tweaking every individual detail until it’s fawless or coming up with a special formula in October to prevent a turnover on the blue line in April.

When asked for one specifc “little thing” BU needs to improve, most players default to a broader answer. It’s about raising the standard and bettering the process, day in and day out,

to decrease the overall likelihood these mistakes will pop up again.

“We want guys that are everyday guys,” Pandolfo said. “We don’t want guys that are pretty good on Monday and they’re not good again until Friday.”

So, BU will get to work.

“I mean, I’ve never seen a group as fred up as we are right now,” junior co-captain Ryan Greene said.

Under a coaching staff and program that’s been so successful so quickly, all BU is going to do is reinforce the foundation that’s already accomplished so much. After all, they just need it to be a tiny bit better.

Macklin Celebrini (left) and Lane Hutson (right) have a discussion in a game against the University of Maine last fall. This year, the Boston University men’s hockey team is tasked with replacing the production of Celebrini (64 points) and Hutson (49)

MATT

Inside Colby Cohen’s path to media stardom

BY MITCH FINK Co-Director

As Colby Cohen rolled into the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center, he felt a sense of discomfort he had hardly ever experienced at a hockey rink. The former NHL defenseman was nervous, green and out of place. And, he was convinced, bad at his job.

It was Feb. 1, 2014, and Cohen was in town to be NESN’s color commentator for a Saturday night matchup between UNH and Notre Dame, his frst game as an analyst in the booth.

Looking back, he summed up his performance with two words: “God awful.”

In retrospect, though, Cohen saw the outing as a defning moment, considering the former Boston University hockey star has transitioned from athlete to hockey analyst and podcaster.

Cohen’s post-playing resume has included gigs as a college hockey analyst with NESN, CBS Sports and the Frozen Four on ESPN, as well as stints with the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks. And he still has the better part of his media career ahead — he’s only 35.

“There’s only one color guy and one play-by-play guy, so it’s not like there’s 100 spots for every game,” Cohen said. “So getting to be a part of the game still is an honor.”

Cohen grew into that responsibility with time, gaining confdence as he called more games — but there was a learning curve. Some former NHL players — former Blackhawk Patrick Sharp, for instance — have ft seamlessly into the media world, but Cohen took some time to adjust.

Even when ESPN hired Cohen to broadcast the NCAA Cincinnati Regional in 2016, Cohen was still fnding his voice as an analyst in a fast-paced hockey broadcast — and the fans let him hear it.

“I remember how much criticism I was facing on Twitter after the frst time I did it,” Cohen said. “I was thinking to myself at that point, maybe this isn’t for me, because I just felt like I sucked. I felt like people thought I sucked, and I thought they were right.”

So, he started to watch flm.

The then-ESPN producer who hired him, fellow BU alum and mentor John Vassallo, lifted around 25 clips of Cohen’s color commentary from his frst few ESPN games.

He made a YouTube compilation with notes and tips that pushed Cohen to explain how a key play began, rather than just explaining the play itself.

From there, the key was building up Cohen’s confdence.

Vassallo, a veteran producer who also worked on college football during his time at ESPN, compared Cohen’s early years to those of successful college football analysts Kirk Herbstreit and Todd Blackledge. Both took reps to grow into their voice.

Vassallo got a call from the NCAA after Cohen’s frst year at ESPN with what he called “tentative feedback” on the analyst.

“He did all the work. We’re going to stick with him,” Vassallo said about Cohen.

In Cohen’s third year with ESPN, Vassallo’s faith paid off. Cohen settled into the role and solidifed himself as a rising star.

The NCAA called Vassallo again, gushing over Cohen’s work.

That success earned Cohen a spot as a between-the-benches analyst at the 2019 Frozen Four in Buffalo, alongside legendary ESPN analyst Barry Melrose, reporter Quint Kessenich and play-by-play man John Buccigross.

He’s fully entrenched now, with fve consecutive Frozen Fours under his belt. In addition to that responsibility, plus some regular season college hockey games and NCAA regionals with ESPN, he hosts a podcast with fellow former NCAA hockey player Jonny Lazarus called “Morning Cuppa Hockey” on Daily Faceoff. He also co-hosts a show with hockey insider Frankie Seravalli called “Daily Faceoff Live.”

However, none of it would

have ever happened without a random run-in with NESN producer Steve Garabedian in the spring of 2013.

In the latter stages of his playing career, Cohen was recovering from an injury in Boston when he bumped into Garabedian at a 5 kilometer road race. The producer was around BU’s teams in the late 2000s, and he got to know Cohen and some of his teammates, like Kevin Shattenkirk.

Garabedian was scouting for former players to join NESN as analysts, and Cohen ft the bill.

“He had a gift of gab that was natural, and he had conviction of what he was talking about,” Garabedian said. “So, those are the things that I look for and I see a young guy like that in college and say, ‘Okay, keep tabs on him whenever he retires.’”

Cohen had never considered a career in media, as he remained focused on his playing career. He wondered what Garabedian saw in him for the role, Garabedian said.

Eventually, Cohen decided to give it a shot. He worked in the NESN studio for most of the 2013-14 season — and things blossomed from there.

But no matter how far his career goes, Cohen has not taken any of the journey for granted.

“I just feel like I get to have this impact on the game of hockey and the fan experience, and I think everything in hockey is truly for the fans,” Cohen said. “You play in front of the fans, the fans buy tickets … And I’m a part of their experience, and I don’t take it lightly. It’s a huge honor for me.”

Joe Pereira, BU Hockey’s not-so-secret weapon

BY ELI CLOUTIER Writer

Joe Pereira will go the extra mile, more than 3,000 of them, to fy to Western Canada to meet with recruits and their families face-to-face. He will stay up all night phoning players, trying to convince them to bear the scarlet and white. If a shred of interest is shown, he will do whatever it takes to land a commitment.

And once pen hits paper, he will make sure they don’t regret it. Pereira knows what works in

Hockey East because he played in 139 games over four seasons at Boston University, captained the team his senior year and helped the program win its ffth national championship in 2009.

“I’ve been fortunate where I played in the league,” he said.

“I’ve coached in the league for a long time, where I’ve been able to compare kids to my experiences as a player and a coach.”

When he frst stepped on campus as a freshman in 2007, Pereira admitted he was not as good as he thought, but he found his role and fourished in it. He knew he was not going to play in

the National Hockey League, but he still wanted to be involved in the sport.

“I remember saying at my senior banquet, ‘Hey Coach [Jack] Parker, I had a great four years, but I’m going to work really hard and have the opportunity to come back and coach one day,’” Pereira said.

After spending nine seasons behind the bench at the University of Connecticut, Pereira played a major role in recruiting players to Storrs. He was then hired at BU to be the associate head coach under Jay Pandolfo, describing it as a “dream come true.”

Now entering his third season back on Comm. Ave., Pereira has already made his presence felt as a recruiter at his alma mater.

He has brought in three frstround NHL Draft picks in his frst two seasons, most notably Macklin Celebrini, the 2024 Hobey Baker Award winner and 2024 frst-overall pick in the NHL Draft. The other two: Tom Willander, selected 11th in 2023, and Cole Eiserman, who was taken 20th in 2024.

Pereira’s self-proclaimed nickname from his playing days was “The Bulldog,” and according to his former teammate and current Harvard University assistant coach Matt Gilroy, he still embodies the name to this day.

“The way he played, he was defnitely aggressive and on the forecheck, and that seems like what he has been doing in the recruiting world. He really gets out there and has that bulldog mentality,” Gilroy said.

When he is recruiting against the likes of the University of Michigan, the University of North Dakota, the University of Minnesota and Boston College, Pereira sees a parallel to the game itself.

“It’s no different than when you play. When you play a hockey game, one team usually breaks, and when [they] break, you take over the game,” he said. “And in recruiting, you have to outwork schools if you want to get kids.”

With name, image and likeness now centerstage in college

sports, and players entering the transfer portal at an increasingly high rate, Pereira emphasized the importance of going the extra mile on the recruiting trail because that is what he thinks is best for all parties involved.

“Our program is going to be successful because of recruiting. We won’t live through the portal,” he said.

For Colby Cohen, current broadcaster and Pereira’s former teammate, it shows just how good Pereira is as a recruiter that the Terriers continue to garner commitment from top players, year in and year out. This season, he has brought in four key freshmen: Cole Eiserman, Cole Hutson, Kamil Bednarik and Sascha Boumedienne.

“[It is about] making sure everybody understands their role, having good relationships with them from day one, and being honest,” Pereira said Pereira has made connections, selling the BU experience to the players and their families, and never sugarcoating anything. But in reality, all his success boils down to being compassionate. He can relate to players because he has been in their shoes. He knows what it’s like to make mistakes.

“Relationships matter the most. People that are coming to BU are not coming because we’re not giving them anything that some of these other schools are giving,” Pereira said. “We’re just giving them the right relationship, and I think that’s the most important piece that you can have.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF COLBY COHEN

Colby Cohen provides his analysis on a Boston University men’s hockey game. A star defenseman for the Terriers from 2007-2010, Cohen is now a prominent hockey analyst and podcaster.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BU ATHLETICS

Associate head coach Joe Pereira (middle) celebrates a win at the 2023 NCAA Manchester Regional with defenseman Lane Hutson (left) and forward Devin Kaplan (right).

Understanding Mathieu Caron through his helmet

BY BRENDAN NORDSTROM Co-Director

Skull

Caron’s new helmet is wrapped with a skull — an homage to his studies as a biology major. The gears behind it represent the mechanical inner workings of a goaltender.

He became interested in biology after a torn ACL in juniors, leading to a full ACL reconstruction, intensive surgery and a long recovery process. Working with a physical therapist, Caron realized it was the path he wanted to take.

It hasn’t always been easy balancing a demanding hockey schedule and the onerous studying necessary in STEM, but he has found a way.

“All the lessons I’ve learned from managing both are going to prepare me way better than anything else could for the future,” Caron said. “I’m very, very happy I did it.”