The Massachusetts hockey team added an established Hockey East defensemen for the future as Boston College blueliner Josh Couturier announced he is transferring to UMass.

Couturier played 33 games for the Eagles this past season as a freshman, totaling six points in the form of two goals and four assists.  He finished the year with a +14 rating.  The 6’2” Byfield native played for the Junior Bruins prior to starting at BC where he had 16 goals and 22 assists in 49 games.  Before that he played for Des Moines in the USHL, where he had 3 goals and 10 assists in 39 games.  He was originally committed to Northeastern.  Couturier ended up being on the short end of a numbers game in Chestnut Hill as the Eagles had a number of high profile defensive recruits coming in that likely would’ve resulted in a reduced role for him.

BC Interruption had a profile on Couturier before last season.

Here’s a story on him from his local paper ahead of this Spring’s Frozen Four.

Couturier will sit out this coming season and be eligible to play in the Fall of 2017.

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The hockey program had its annual golf tournament last week and put together this video of the event that was well attended by fans, former and current players, and even Toot Cahoon:

Former Minuteman Eddie Olczyk, who had been coaching at Niagara the last couple seasons, was named as an assistant coach at Bemidji State.

Recruit Matt Murray, who was named the Top Goaltender in the AJHL last season, will be heading to the USHL for this coming year.  He’ll be playing for the Fargo Force, a team that is sending three of its players to UMass this fall, including goaltender Ryan Wischow.  Murray’s move to the USHL is a good one and will allow him to play against more skilled competition before coming to UMass in Fall of 2017.

In other recruiting news defenseman Cale Makar was listed on NHL Central Scouting’s Future’s List, the initial list of prospects ahead of the 2017 Draft.

Lastly, some sad news recently as Jim Prior passed away.  You may not know his name, but if you’re a New England college hockey fan, you’ve probably heard his voice.  Prior was the PA announcer for BU hockey, the Beanpot, and the Hockey East tournament.  There are few sounds I associate with college hockey more than Prior saying, “The teams are ready, so let’s play hockey!” and “This is Hockey East!”.  He’ll be missed.