James Hagens of Boston College in Hockey East is filing a draft diary for NHL.com this season leading up to the 2025 NHL Draft. The 18-year-old center (5-foot-10, 177 pounds), born in Hauppauge, New York, is No. 2 among North American skaters on NHL Central Scouting's midterm rankings. He has 29 points (seven goals, 22 assists) in 27 games for BC this season. His February diary was filed after Boston College's 4-1 loss to Boston University in the Beanpot championship game Feb. 10.
Hello hockey fans.
Growing up as a kid, you hear about the Beanpot, and going to BC you know you'll get to go to those games. But there's nothing like it when you're out there on the ice. You've got your school behind you. The shot that we had there, it was phenomenal to be on that ice at TD Garden. It was a special moment.
I was on the ice when Gabe Perreault scored in the first period. Obviously getting the first goal, it always helps in a game, especially for the momentum. I feel like we were in it in the first and obviously that goal helps.
But that BU team, they played really well. Their goalie [Mikhail Yegorov] played really well. It's tough when they score two goals back to back like that. It was tough, but that's a great hockey team and it was a good game.
Brandon Svoboda and Cole Hutson scored those two quick goals in the second. We were together to win the gold at World Juniors last month and that was great. But those guys scoring those goals, it's not really like you're looking at who's scoring for them. You're trying to keep the puck out of your own net and it doesn't really matter when you're out on the ice against those guys. No one's friends. You've got to understand, you're playing in a championship game.
Losing that game, obviously that's a tough one, especially for the older guys in the room, the seniors. It's obviously something that you want to win, but that game is over. There's nothing you can do now. There's more trophies to win. That's what our minds are on right now.
That's the message from our coach, Greg Brown. We have two games against UMass this weekend and that's what we need to focus on. You can't do anything about the Beanpot now. It's just something you have to learn from and something you have to let grow as a team. That was a big kick in the butt. Obviously that's a game everyone wanted to win. But you've just got to learn from it and he's preaching that it starts this weekend.
You can either feel sorry for yourself, or you can go out there and make a difference. It's just making sure that we're ready to go from start of puck drop Friday night.
Thanks for reading.
