The 2024-25 men's college hockey season was another exciting run for New England, filled with high-end talent.
Boston University reached the Division 1 national championship in its third straight trip to the Frozen Four, while Boston College reached the Frozen Four for the second straight season. Elsewhere in Hockey East, you also had Maine, UConn, Providence and UMass reach the national tournament.
In the ECAC, it was all about Cornell once again as the Big Red won their second straight ECAC tournament title, reaching the national tournament for a third straight year. Quinnipiac also made the dance for the fifth season in a row.
Holy Cross was a major contender once again in Atlantic Hockey, but Bentley defeated the Crusaders in the conference tourney to vault itself into the NCAA tournament field.
Here are our 2024-25 New England college hockey awards.
Hockey East Player of the Year
Ryan Leonard, Boston College
Now a two-time All-American and a 2025 Hobey Hat Trick finalist, Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) finished with a nation-leading 30 goals and totaled 49 points in 37 games for the Eagles. His stellar sophomore campaign included a 17-game point streak that was snapped in the season-ending NCAA Manchester Regional loss to Denver and scoring the first of his two January hat tricks against archrival Boston University. Leonard made an impact in the NHL with the Washington Capitals this spring.
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Hockey East Goalie of the Year
Jacob Fowler, Boston College
An outstanding goaltending tradition at BC continued with Fowler, who won the Mike Richter Award as the nation’s best stopper and finished as runner-up for Hockey East Player of the Year as a sophomore. The native Floridian continued to make his mark in New England, posting a 1.63 goals-against, .940 save percentage (the lowest-ever by an Eagle in 15 or more games) and seven shutouts, ranking in the top three nationally in all of those categories. He allowed more than two goals only twice in his last 19 outings.
Hockey East Rookie of the Year
Cole Hutson, Boston University
The first-team All-American and recipient of the Tim Taylor Award as National Rookie of the Year was an incredible playmaker all season long for the Terriers, who advanced to the national title game in their third straight Frozen Four appearance. Hutson’s 48 points (1.23 per game) were tops nationally among rookies and defensemen, while he also led the freshman class with 34 assists. He was an especially crucial player in big-game situations, earning Beanpot MVP and NCAA Toledo Regional Most Outstanding Player honors.
Hockey East Coach of the Year
Mike Cavanaugh, UConn
The continued program building under Cavanaugh (North Andover, Mass.) reached new heights in his 12th season in Storrs. At the end of their third 20-win season in the past four, he led the Huskies to their second Hockey East Championship appearance and first-ever NCAA bid and victory, with only an overtime goal separating them from the Frozen Four. The development and ultimate breakout of sophomore Joey Muldowney, who became the program’s single-season Hockey East goal-scoring record holder, and others was crucial to the memorable run.
ECAC Hockey Player of the Year
Jeremy Wilmer, Quinnipiac
Wilmer carried his playmaking prowess from Boston University to Quinnipiac this season and finished as the second-leading scorer in ECAC Hockey with 31 points on 15 goals, tallying on an impressive 23.1 percent of his shots, and 26 assists in 38 games. The winger finished the season with points in 12 of the final 14 games, including a pair of two-goal performances and a game-opening goal against UConn in the NCAA Allentown Regional. He scored five power-play goals and four game-winners on the season.
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ECAC Hockey Goalie of the Year
Lawton Zacher, Brown
Zacher made significant year-over-year improvement from his freshman to sophomore year at Brown, landing second-team All-ECAC Hockey honors with a .917 save percentage and 2.48 goals-against in 2024-25. Those marks were up from .909 and 2.91 in his rookie year despite seeing 30.5 shots per game on average. He allowed two or fewer goals in seven of his first 10 games and put together a seven-game win streak in January and February. He earned 14 of his 20 career wins this season and is set to transfer to Northeastern for his junior campaign.
ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year
Mick Thompson, Harvard
Like two seasons ago with Joe Miller, the Crimson had a freshman leading the offensive charge. Thompson paced Harvard with 32 points in 33 games, including 18 assists to tie Miller for most on the team. He enjoyed a big finish that helped Harvard into the second round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs, scoring 12 points over the last eight games and four goals in the postseason. The Ontario native and product of the USHL’s Chicago Steel was the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Month for February and concluded the season as Ivy League Rookie of the Year.
ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year
Rand Pecknold, Quinnipiac
With a roster that lost four underclassmen to professional contracts last offseason and integrated 14 newcomers, Pecknold guided the Bobcats through a 6-6-1 overall start, losing just four regular-season games after November. The result was the program’s fifth consecutive and ninth all-time Cleary Cup in ECAC Hockey play. Though Pecknold’s team fell in the ECAC and NCAA regional semifinals to Cornell and UConn, respectively, it won 20-plus games (24) for the 12th time in the last 13 full seasons. Despite the roster turnover, Quinnipiac assembled a second-in-the-nation power play (29.6 percent) and had five 30-point scorers.
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Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year
Liam McLinskey, Holy Cross
McLinskey tied the Crusaders’ Division 1 program record and led all New England players with 54 points this season, earning his second straight All-America and Hobey Baker Award finalist nods and becoming the first two-time Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year in league history. He was the league leader in goals, assists, points, points per game (1.35) and power-play goals (10). The Pearl River, N.Y., native went on a seven-game goal streak in November and finished with 64 goals and 126 points in 121 games at Holy Cross.
Atlantic Hockey Goalie of the Year
Connor Hasley, Bentley
Bentley’s first-ever Atlantic Hockey championship run was backstopped by Hasley, a Northfield Mount Hermon product who posted a 21-13-2 record and league-leading 1.96 goals-against average in 36 games this season. It was his second straight season ranking in the top 10 nationally in GAA. The junior’s standout statistic, though, was his nation-high 11 shutouts, four more than any other goaltender this season, tied for the second-most in NCAA history and included three during his five-win conference postseason.
Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Year
Ajeet Gundarah, Sacred Heart
After leading the Surrey Eagles to a BCHL championship in 2024, Gundarah immediately asserted himself as a freshman in a conference that was deep in goal this season, setting single-season records at Sacred Heart with his .936 save percentage and 1.90 goals against. The top first-year goaltender in the country ranked fourth and sixth in Division 1 with those respective marks despite not appearing until November after recovering from a summer injury. He was Atlantic Hockey Goaltender and Rookie of the Week three times each during the season.
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Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year
Andy Jones, Bentley
In only his second year at the helm, Jones led the Falcons to a program-record 23 wins, including five straight en route to their first-ever Atlantic Hockey title, and culminated the season with a valiant NCAA effort against top-seeded Boston College in Manchester, N.H. Much like the UMass Lowell teams he assisted previously, Bentley was especially sound defensively, tying for fifth nationally with just 2.1 goals allowed per game. His roster included the Atlantic Hockey Co-Best Defensive Forward in senior captain Ethan Leyh, while graduate defenseman Nick Bochen also was a first-team All-AHA member.
