With the Boston Bruins enjoying some idle time after Sunday’s outdoor game in Florida, the focus turned this week toward a phalanx of B’s prospects skating in the Beanpot Games this week and next week at TD Garden.
There were a number of Bruins draft picks playing in the two games on Monday night, but it was the top dogs at Boston College that drew the lion’s share of the attention, and rightfully so after James Hagens and Dean Letourneau dominated in Boston College’s 5-1 win over Harvard in the opening game.
Hagens scored a pair of goals in the first period and finished with three points and a team-high five shots on net amongst a 43-shot barrage that the Eagles threw at Harvard during a pretty one-sided game. The Bruins seventh overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and top prospect now has 14 goals and 28 points in 22 games along with a plus-9 rating and looks every bit like a college hockey player that’s ready for the next step in pro hockey after this season.
The 19-year-old teamed with Finnish import Oscar Hemming on each of the first two goals that he scored and then picked up his assist on a hammered one-timer that Letourneau redirected at the net front.
Some might have thought it was a hat trick for Hagens the way he hammered the puck, but he was quick to point to his fellow B’s prospect to let everybody know Letourneau was getting credit for it. That’s the sign of selfless teammates that care about each other and also a couple of fellow B’s prospects that could be a lot of teaming up on goals in the Black and Gold future a few years down the line.
“I knew right away. I don’t know if that shot was going right in. Wasn’t too hard of a shot but Dean being net front with his frame and his height, it’s tough for goalies to see around him,” said Hagens. “It’s a really special moment to get out there [on the Garden ice] and to hear the crowd. It was great. To be able to get the win, Harvard was a tough team…this feels great.”
The speed, skill and offensive assertiveness were all present in Hagens in exactly the kind of dominating performance that Bruins officially were truly hoping to see in his second collegiate season.
“[Hagens] has been getting points the whole season, but I agree. He’s more impactful of late,” said Boston College head coach Greg Brown. “I don’t know if his decisions are a little bit better or a little bit quicker, because he always has the puck a ton in every game. It seems like whether he’s on or off, he’s still going to create chances for us.”
“But it’s been more consistent of late. I think he’s found a nice chemistry with [Andre] Gasseau and Hemming, too, which certainly has helped in the last few games. Probably just him being, you know, continuing to be assertive all the time has really helped him. But it’s definitely, he was good, but now he’s even taking it up a notch.”
Letourneau finished with a goal and two points, along with four shots on net, and has 15 goals and 27 points in 24 games, along with a plus-14 rating that is a major, major improvement from the 19-year-old’s three points as a true freshman at the Heights last season. It makes anybody look foolish who was painting him as a 19-year-old first-round bust after one collegiate season, where he was rushed into school once Will Smith signed a pro contract with the San Jose Sharks, creating a roster spot for the big-bodied center.
Dean Letourneau isn’t on X, and he tried to stay away from the chatter about him on Instagram.
Still, he inevitably saw things that were said about him last year.
“The crazy thing is everyone saying that you’re a bust. They don’t know the true story.”
— Sam Robb O’Hagan (@samrobbohagan) February 2, 2026
They weren’t alone as fellow BC Bruins prospects like Andre Gasseau and Will Moore got on the scoresheet as well, but it’s been obvious all season that Boston’s two first-round picks are elevating their status in both the NCAAs and in pro hockey as future prospects that will make an impact.
“I’m sure [the Bruins prospects] want to do well here. So they’ve been playing well for a while now. But, of course, when they come [to TD Garden], hopefully to their future place of employment, they want to put a good step forward and do well,” said Boston College head coach Greg Brown. “So we’re excited that they were comfortable in the surroundings here, and excited to make an impact. So you don’t know if kids are gonna try too hard sometimes, but our guys didn’t. They stayed right in the moment and played well.”
Boston College’s victory came at the expense of Harvard B’s prospect Mason Langenbrunner, but it sets up the storied rivalry matchup with Boston University (and B’s prospect Jonathan Morello) after the Terriers took down Northeastern University in a shootout win. As a quick aside, it sure feels all kinds of wrong that a shootout is deciding the outcomes of these Beanpot games on either night of the tournament, but overtime could turn an already late night of college hockey into something truly unmanageable if they just kept on playing until somebody scored a goal.
The bottom line is that it continues to look like Hagens is trending toward a place where he is going to turn pro and sign with the Bruins after his sophomore season, and the real question now is whether or not he’s going to be NHL-ready when he leaves Chestnut Hill at the end of this college season.
The immediate future is a little more uncertain for the lanky 6-foot-7 Letourneau, who could probably use at least one more season of college hockey development before he is ready to compete against grown men. His big man’s game is going to need physical strength and heaviness in the pro hockey ranks, and his rise has been pretty meteoric this season, and one more dominant year to put it all together would truly make him ready for the challenges that lie ahead at the AHL and NHL level.
But there is zero doubt that some serious help is on the way at the forward spot for the Boston Bruins, and that was on full display at the B’s stomping grounds as some future stars were putting on a show for Boston hockey fans.
