'Everyone Understands What We Lost': BC Men's Hockey Coach Greg Brown Previews 2025-26 Season
Boston College men’s hockey coach Greg Brown has made quite the impression on the landscape of college hockey through his first three seasons as the Schiller Family Head Hockey Coach in Chestnut Hill, Mass., where he captained the Eagles as a senior in 1989-90 and was named an All-American defenseman before turning pro.
Since the beginning of the 2022-23 season, Brown’s first at the helm after serving as the associate head coach to the legendary Jerry York—the winningest coach in college hockey—following the Eagles’ 2012 NCAA title run, BC has amassed a 75-30-9 overall record.
Brown has turned the Heights into a recruiting powerhouse, primarily due to his tight-knit relationship with the United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP), where he served as an assistant coach for three different IIHF World Junior Championships.
His past three freshman classes—and more to come—have arguably made more of an impact on the success of the Eagles than any other team in the nation, respective to their rookie units each of those years.
With at least one first-round National Hockey League (NHL) draft pick in all three of those classes, including another in 2025 (James Hagens, Boston Bruins, 7th overall), roster turnover is virtually the most difficult task that Brown has had to navigate. In college hockey, the “one-and-done” or “two-and-done” risk is real, and it has certainly been the case for BC.
2022 first-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers Cutter Gauthier (Anaheim Ducks) spent only two seasons on the Heights, 2023 first-round pick Will Smith (San Jose Sharks) spent only one year with the program, and additional 2023 first-round picks Ryan Leonard (Washington Capitals) and Gabe Perreault (New York Rangers) headed to the professional ranks following just two seasons at the collegiate level.
Yet Brown has consistently placed BC at the apex of the college hockey rankings for the past two seasons, and two Hockey East regular season titles, a Hockey East Championship in 2023-24, and an NCAA Championship title game berth in the same year has come as a result.
Here is a brief preview of the 2025-26 season from Brown’s point of view after holding his first preseason press conference on Friday morning.
Brown on the adjustment to Hockey East, NCAA play for his freshmen:
“We’ve done a good job recruiting, so they’re well on their way,” Brown said. “But it’s a challenge, especially without an exhibition game. You know, that first 10 minutes of the game against Quinnipiac will be a real eye opener. I’m sure for those guys, the best we can do is try and practice at a game pace, have game intensity, and hopefully when they do jump out there in the real jerseys, at least they’ve been comfortable with the pace we’ve been at for the last month.”
The rookies this year consist of goaltender Luka Cloutier (Chicago, USHL), defensemen Kristian Kostadinski (Dubuque, USHL), Luke Radivojevic (Muskegon, USHL), and forwards Landan Resendes (Youngstown, USHL), Gavin Cornforth (Dubuque, USHL), and Will Moore (USNTDP).
According to Brown, Cloutier is right on track toward potentially forming into a starter for the Eagles later in his career as he becomes more seasoned to the pace of college play. Junior Jan Korec, who has backed up former BC goalie Jacob Fowler (Montreal Canadiens) the past two years, is the projected 2025-26 starter.
“Luca, again, it’s a big step from junior up to college,” Brown said. “But he’s getting more and more comfortable. He makes a couple of highlight saves every day, which shows you his potential. So we’re excited about him.”
D-men Kostadinski (6-6, 235, L) and Radivojevic (5-10, 173, R) possess opposite frames from a physical standpoint, but the two are coming into their own, according to Brown, and that starts with learning more about what their identities are on the ice.
“Definitely different sizes and different roles,” Brown said. “So yeah, [Kostadinski] really understands what his identity is. He finishes checks, he plays physically, moves pucks quickly, doesn’t try to overhandle it. He’s been able to keep great gaps, which is always a hard thing when you step from junior to college with the increased speed. So his positioning has looked very good.”
“Luca has been, again, also true to his identity, where he’s very good with the puck, jumps into the plays as often as he can to try and join the offense and help promote the offensive side of it. So for him, I guess learning how to defend bigger, older guys is going to be where he has been adapting over the [past] two weeks, but that’s where he’ll have to keep going. As much as he wants to be tenacious, there are some battles he’s going to have to fight with his brain instead of trying to be physical, but his game awareness and his puck-moving skills have really shown.”
Another factor which has increased camaraderie between the freshmen class and the upperclassmen is the sheer number of Eagles who are owned by the Boston Bruins’ organization—six in total.
Kostadinski and Moore are two of the six, which also includes Hagens, Andre Gasseau, Oskar Jellvik, and Dean Letourneau. Brown said that spending time over the summer together at Bruins development camp was invaluable for all six of them, more so for the two rookies.
“Certainly [helps] for the new guys to get to know guys a little in advance,” Brown said. “So for Moore and [Kostadinski] to get to hang with Andre, Dean, and James makes it much more comfortable for them as they get to school. I think it’s valuable for everyone, if they can do it just to see what pro hockey is all about.”
“[They] get a feel for it. See the intensity needed. See kind of some of the detail that goes into pro hockey, and just to get a taste of it that way, so that it’s not all foreign or all new when they come to college. Like college hockey, in general, is detailed, but not as detailed as pro. So to hear the coaches talk, and to learn the expectations and kind of how you’re going to need to play to be effective. It’s a great introduction to them as they make the next step up.”
Brown on Jan Korec replacing Jacob Fowler in net:
Arguably the hardest task for Brown and the coaching staff this season is finding a solution for the absence of Fowler, the Eagles’ former goaltender from 2023-25, who won the Mike Richter Award as a sophomore as the best goalie in the NCAA.
Fowler was named an ACHA First Team All-American as a sophomore after he was named the Hockey East Goaltender of the Year as a freshman with a 32-6-1 record, breaking the NCAA record for most wins in a season by a rookie. His 1.63 goals against average (GAA) in 2024-25 set a program record.
There is no true replacement for a player of that caliber, but Korec has experience in net given his age and time with the program. When he has received time on the ice, Korec has impressed.
“When you have Jacob, it’s like a security blanket,” Brown said. “But we know that Jan has been, in his limited game time, he’s been very good, so we’re comfortable and confident that he’ll be able to step in a bigger role.”
“You know, when you lose an All-American goalie, there’ll be some questions. But so far, in our preseason, things have looked good.”
Hailing from Bratislava, Slovakia, Korec (6-2, 206) made three starts last season, posting a GAA of 1.15 and a save percentage of .954. Korec made 24 saves in BC’s 3-2 overtime win over Providence on Nov. 19, 2024, and posted a 22-save shutout in the Eagles’ 4-0 triumph over Maine on Jan. 31, 2025.
Brown on confidence rising for James Hagens and Dean Letourneau:
Expectations for first-round NHL Draft picks at the NCAA level are never going to be low, and the standard set by former BC first-rounders Gauthier, Smith, Leonard, and Perreault were hard to live up to, to say the least.
All four players were dominant from the inception of their careers with the program. Naturally, the college hockey world expected the same of 2024 first-rounder Letourneau, along with Hagens—who was the projected first-overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft before he had even arrived in Chestnut Hill.
While Hagens manufactured a more-than-respectable point per game as a rookie—tallying 11 goals and 26 assists with a plus-21 rating in 37 games—Letourneau did not adjust to the same extent, and was virtually nonexistent in terms of offensive production for the initial portion of the 2024-25 season.
Letourneau did not score a goal as a rookie but recorded three assists and a plus-6 rating. Brown has said in the past that for a player with Letourneau’s build, 6-foot-7 and 221 pounds, it takes more time to overcome the difficulties of growing pains as his body is still going through a transition from his youth self to his adult self.
“It was a hard year,” Brown said. “Everyone is on their own timetable. And for the guys that are really tall, I’ve said this before, it’s usually a longer time and a longer runway for them to get acclimated to being that size. It’s really hard for young teenagers, [you] probably see it in every sport, but I’m more familiar with hockey, and not unlike some of the very tall players that have come in before, it’s really hard as a freshman.”
“So Dean put on a ton of strength this year. His weightlifting numbers are way up, and I’m sure they’ll grow even more in the next year or two as he becomes, you know, grows more into his man strength. So he’s looked more confident on the ice. You can tell that he feels more comfortable with that added strength. You don’t know, [but] hopefully it’ll come right away, but you can see the progress is definitely there. We’re excited. Hopefully he gets that first goal early and can relax even more and be comfortable being the player that he has his whole life.”
The same is true of Hagens now that he has officially heard his name called in the draft.
According to Brown, Hagens did not make last year appear as hard as it could have been on him with all the expectations. Now that they are off his chest, there is a massive weight lifted off of him.
“James does a great job not being caught up in all that stuff,” Brown said. “As far as having that draft hanging over his head the whole time playing, for the most part, with two other great players. So he had a, whether it was real or perceived, he had a lot riding on everything last season, and I think this year it should be, and so far, it looks like he doesn’t have all that weight hanging over him.”
“Of course, he matured very well, like all freshmen moving into sophomores do. He's a little more vocal, a little more assertive, as far as leadership and wanting to be a big part of it. So we’re excited for him. I think all the attention he had last year would be hard for anybody to go through. So it’s good to have the draft and all that behind him, and now he can focus a little more on just being a hockey player.”
Brown on his key portal pickup, Ryan Conmy:
Brown has not utilized the transfer portal as a means for reconstructing his roster year-to-year as much as other programs have, but the addition of junior forward Ryan Conmy from New Hampshire is a monumental pickup.
Conmy ranked first on the Wildcats’ roster with 33 points last season, second on the team in goals with 15 to go along with 18 assists—both a career-high—and was tied for first on the team with two game-winning goals.
The 5-foot-10, 185-pound right-handed shooter became a two-time Walter Brown Award semifinalist—given to the top American-born skater in New England by Hockey East—in 2024-25 after notching 31 points (14 goals, 17 assists) as a freshman.
“You do your homework,” Brown said of recruiting Conmy. “You talk to a lot of people who know him, who’ve been with him, who’ve coached him, and all the responses were very positive. And then, of course, you notice when you’re playing against guys that they’re problematic for your team and do a lot of things very well. So between those two things, we felt very comfortable that once Ryan did enter the portal, that he would be a kid that could add to our team.”
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The 2025-26 season commences for BC on Friday, Oct. 3, against Quinnipiac at 7 p.m. at Conte Forum. | Live Stats | Tickets
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Graham Dietz is a 2025 graduate of Boston College and subsequently joined Boston College On SI. He previously served as an editor for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, from fall 2021, including as Sports Editor from 2022-23. Graham works for The Boston Globe as a sports correspondent, covering high school football, girls' basketball, and baseball. He was also a beat writer for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2023.
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