Boston University’s season ended on Saturday as they fell to the 14th-ranked UConn Huskies, 5-3, in the Hockey East tournament. This Hockey East tournament for Boston didn’t go without any turmoil, though, for them or the Chicago Blackhawks.
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2024 first-round pick Sacha Boisvert was mysteriously a healthy scratch in the opening round of the Hockey East tournament against Vermont in a win-or-go-home game. After the game, Boston’s head coach Jay Pandolfo simply said that Boisvert wasn’t available for the contest, and that was that.
They didn’t need him to win the game, as they toppled the Catamounts 4-1, with two goals from Cole Eiserman, a New York Islanders prospect, another 2024 first-round pick, who was taken two picks after Boisvert.
Sacha Boisvert’s College Career
Boisvert was the 18th selection in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft by the Blackhawks, and was considered to be a great pick at the time (and still is, despite his recent struggles). The Blackhawks needed some size up the middle of the ice, with Frank Nazar being 5-foot-9 and Connor Bedard being 5-foot-10. Boisvert, being 6-foot-3, added a lot of it. He plays a full 200-foot game and is a great skater with a cracking shot. In his draft year, he had 36 goals and 68 points with the Muskegon Lumberjacks as an alternate captain.
The season after he was drafted was when the Blackhawks really knew what they had. At the University of North Dakota, Boisvert put up 18 goals and 32 points in 37 games, showing why he was a first-round pick. He then transferred to Boston and became a Terrier, which was supposed to be an upgrade and enhance his college playing career; however, that spiraled in the wrong direction quickly.
The 19-year-old had the worst season of his young career at Boston, only having three goals in 25 games (he had 14 assists for a combined 17 points). Boisvert, in the game against the Huskies where BU was eliminated, missed a gifted opportunity in front of the net when the puck was blocked by a Husky and then lost a puck battle in the corner for a rough sequence of events. With his NHL debut imminent, that’s not the way he wanted to leave the NCAA.
The Reason for Boisvert’s Scratch
It came out a couple days later that, according to Mike McMahon of College Hockey Insider and Boston University team sources, the reason for his scratch was that he was late to a team workout, and it wasn’t his first infraction.
That’s not a good look for Boisvert and the Blackhawks. The fact that it’s happened more than once this season is concerning, let alone doing it before a high-stakes game. It was right for BU to scratch Boisvert, and hopefully, he learned from his mistakes and won’t carry it into the big leagues. It especially won’t fly up in Chicago; look at what happened to Lukas Reichel when his alarm didn’t go off because his phone died.
Boisvert struggled all season in Boston. Whether he regretted transferring from North Dakota to the Terriers, was unmotivated, or whatever it might’ve been, the season was ultimately one to forget for him, and he didn’t look too engaged at any point throughout the campaign. Players in the past have really struggled in the NCAA, though, as it can be a hit-or-miss for prospects.
He will be signing his entry-level contract (ELC) with the Blackhawks at some point this week, and once his visa is cleared (Quebec native), Boisvert will play in his first NHL game with Chicago. Hopefully, he will be more motivated and able to put the last few months in the back of his mind and come out on the ice swinging, and, if needed, some pro coaching can make him more responsible. He will most likely slot into the bottom-six, and hopefully shine throughout the final 16 games of the season.
