MARSHFIELD, Mass. – The New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) announced the results of its preseason coaches' poll for 2024-25 men's hockey season on Wednesday afternoon with the University of Southern Maine Huskies placing ninth.
Hobart College placed first with all 11 first-place votes for 121 points. Skidmore College placed second with 101 points and Norwich University finished third with 96 points. The Huskies had 31 points.
Led by second year head coach
Matt Pinchevsky, Southern Maine is coming off its first 10-win season since 2010-11 and had three wins against ranked teams. The Huskies have several prolific scorers returning including fifth year senior
Austin Marini (Hyde Park, Mass./Catholic Memorial) and sophomore
Matt Sullivan (Hingham, Mass./New Hampton School). Marini led the team in assists with 16 and points with 24 and was named a semifinalist for the Joe Concannon Award. Sullivan, a NEHC All-Rookie Team selection, scored a team-leading 11 goals and had six assists.
Sullivan was part of a trio of freshman forwards with 10 or more points last season.
Ethan MacDuff (Lloydminster, Alberta) logged five goals and seven assists for 12 points while
Marcus Torgner (Mjolby, Sweden) scored four times and assisted on six goals. Seniors
Mathieu Sabourin (Alexandria, Ontario) and
Jeff Pollara (Braintree, Mass) will also be looking to build off breakout seasons. Sabourin was the top scorer on the power play for the Huskies with four man-up tallies and finished the season with a career-best 16 points from six goals and 10 helpers. Pollara tied for fourth on the team in goals with seven and had 13 total points.
Fifth year senior
Cole Ouellette (Lewiston, Maine) and junior
Kadin Ilott (Kenora, Ontario) were the top scoring defensemen among this season's returners. Ouellette's 11 assists ranked third on the squad and he also added a goal while Ilott scored twice and had nine assists. Ilott was one of three players to play in all 27 games last season while Ouellette played in 26 of the 27. Another veteran defenseman is fifth year senior
Nick Nault (Goffstown, N.H.) who, like Ouellette, played in 26 of 27 games last season. He finished second on the team in blocked shots with 33 and had three assists. Junior
Cole Brennan (Sussex, N.J./ Pomfret School) also saw plenty of action last season with a team-leading 35 blocked shots over 19 games.
Senior goalies
Kyle Penton (Waltham, Mass./Albany Academy) and
Mason Palmer (Cumming, Ga./Connections Academy) each won five games for the Huskies in 2023-24. Penton got the bulk of the starts with 16 to Palmer's 10.
The Huskies have a pair of preseason exhibition games on the road next week before officially beginning the regular season on November 1 at Endicott. The team will stay local and play at the University of New England on Tuesday, October 22 at 7:00 and then travel to Nichols College on Friday, October 25 for a 6:40 pm puck drop.
2024-25 New England Hockey Conference Men's Preseason Coaches' Poll
| #1 |
Hobart College (11) |
121 points |
| #2 |
Skidmore College |
101 points |
| #3 |
Norwich University |
96 points |
| #4 |
Babson College |
81 points |
| #5 |
Salve Regina University |
78 points |
| #6 |
Elmira College |
75 points |
| #7 |
Albertus Magnus College |
52 points |
| #8 |
University of Massachusetts Boston. |
48 points |
| #9 |
University of Southern Maine |
31 points |
| #10 |
Vermont State University Castleton |
28 points |
| #11 |
New England College |
15 points |
(First Place votes in parentheses)
-rwd-
