BC Bulletin Awards 2019-20: Alex Newhook Is Freshman of the Year
Photo by BCEagles.com
It’s only fitting that BC Bulletin’s Freshman of the Year came from the Boston College men’s hockey team. Last June, Matt Boldy, Spencer Knight and Alex Newhook were all selected in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft, making the 2019 Eagles recruiting class just the fifth in college hockey history to feature three first round draft picks. All three excelled during their freshman campaigns, but Newhook stood out above the rest, becoming a dark horse Hobey Baker candidate by season’s end.
Newhook finished the season with 19 goals and 23 assists. If the season hadn’t been cut short, he almost surely would’ve cracked the top five for most goals scored by a freshman in BC history.
His 42 points were the second most points among freshmen in all of college hockey, trailing only Harvard’s Nick Abruzzese. He also tied with Wisconsin sniper Cole Caufield for the freshman goal-scoring lead.
The Newfoundland native brought an infectious energy every time he stepped on the ice. He’s also one of the fastest players in college hockey. Any time he got a step on a defender, there was no recovering. He used that speed to score three of BC’s nation-leading 11 short-handed goals.
Newhook had a solid first-half of the season but really elevated to stardom once the calendar flipped to 2020. He recorded at least a point in 17 of the team’s final 19 games.
On February 15 against Merrimack, Newhook had BC’s first five-point game since Kevin Hayes and Johnny Gaudreau both accomplished it against Maine in 2014.
His phenomenal freshman season had many wondering if Newhook would be a one-and-done and head to Colorado. But, according to The Athletic’s Ryan Clark, Newhook’s plan was always to stay at BC for at least two seasons, and he stuck to it. Newhook will be back on the Heights in the fall for the 2020-21 season, and he’ll be one of the favorites to home the Hobey.
Newhook took home plenty of hardware during his first season at BC; he was named both the USCHO and College Hockey News Rookie of the Year. He was Hockey East Rookie of the Week three times, Player of the Month in February and Rookie of the Year.
Now he’s got one more accolade to add to that list. Congratulations to Alex Newhook on a dominant freshman season.