Cloutier, Letourneau Boost Confidence of BC Men's Hockey in First Win at Minnesota

The Eagles may have found a solid replacement for former BC goalie Jacob Fowler, a two-time Hockey East Goalie of the Year, in Luka Cloutier, and other notes from Thursday's win.

Boston College men's hockey (@BC_MHockey) via X.

To think that Boston College fans had already given up on the men’s hockey program after a season-opening loss in Conte Forum last Friday—comical.

The Eagles, who admitted they weren’t quite ready for their first matchup of the season as the hosts to Quinnipiac, according to BC head coach Greg Brown after the game, did more than just rebound from the loss in their first of two road games against Minnesota on Thursday.

BC came out on top, 3-1, and showed tremendous signs of effort from the top to the very bottom of the lineup. True freshman goaltender Louka Cloutier, who committed to BC in May, hadn’t played in a live game since his second stint with the Chicago Steel of the USHL ended, in which he averaged a .882 save percentage and a 4.05 goals against average.

Cloutier did not look like that same player in his first collegiate start in net, however, shutting the Gophers down with his pads to pick up the Eagles’ first win of the season and the first win of his college career, which is a major step from the level of play in the USHL.

Cloutier gave signs of a young Jacob Fowler in 2023-24, who, as all BC fans are aware of, dominated between the posts for the past two seasons as one of the most integral members of the program—arguably the most—receiving the Mike Richter award as a sophomore in 2024-25 as the best goalie in NCAA Division 1 hockey.

What’s more? He did it in one of the toughest atmospheres to play in college hockey, at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, Minn.

“Not an easy place to come and have your first game,” Brown said. “So for him to step up like that, played really solid, gave us a great chance to win. … He'll remember this the rest of his life."

Cloutier racked up 18 saves in the win, which is admittedly a low shot total to see against the annually-formidable Gophers’ offense. But the only goal he surrendered was let through because of a screen by Minnesota’s Beckett Hendrickson, which fully shielded Cloutier’s vision of the puck.

As freshman winger Will Moore stepped in front of the backline to protect the deep shot, the Eagles’ defense failed to rotate in front of Brody Lamb at the top of the right circle fast enough before he snapped the puck into the top shelf past Cloutier’s blocker side. 

With traffic in front of the net, there was not much Cloutier could do besides make a guess at where the puck was going to end up, but Lamb’s shot was released too quickly for Cloutier to make that guess. It tied the game, 1-1, with 1:01 left in the first period.

Still, the shots remained in favor of BC for the majority of the game, and Moore recorded the first goal of his collegiate career late in the second period to give the Eagles the lead, which they never relinquished.

The second period, in which Cloutier stopped eight shots, gave Brown a true glimpse into what the Sherbrooke, Quebec native was capable of.

Just over 30 seconds into the frame, the 6-foot-2, 175-pound netminder tracked a point-blank, backhand attempt by Erik Påhlsson to perfection. 

The Gophers entered the zone with a 3-on-2 opportunity when Påhlsson, trailing behind the defense after making the zone-entry pass, received the puck from LJ Mooney on the far side of the zone for a close breakaway chance. 

Instead of taking the shot immediately, Påhlsson dragged the puck to his backhand and tried to slide the puck through Cloutier’s five-hole, but Cloutier stayed on his legs and swallowed up the attempt with his leg pads, kicking it away from the net.

About six minutes later, Jimmy Clark rang a shot off the right post, which Cloutier nearly kicked into the net off the rebound, but that was the closest Minnesota came to scoring the rest of the night.

Four minutes later, Cloutier faced another point-blank scoring chance for the Gophers after a failed breakout from behind the net. This time, doing his best impression of United States goalie Jim Craig in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., Cloutier jumped in front of Clark’s wrist shot from the slot with his full body, hammering the puck out of the crease to retrieve the puck for BC’s skaters.

Circling back to the 18 shots on net by Minnesota, BC’s defense stepped up in a major way in the out-of-conference triumph. Brown made sure to give credit where credit was due to the Eagles’ blueliners, who showed massive improvement since BC’s first outing of its 2025-26 campaign against the Bobcats.

"They played much better tonight,” Brown said. “Didn't overhandle the puck, didn't try to do too much. … Tonight we played the game in front of us. So from top to bottom, it was a much more solid effort."

Another great sign for Brown was the play of his third line, consisting of forwards Dean Letourneau, Will Vote, and Jake Sondreal.

Letourneau, a sophomore who was drafted in the first round of the 2024 National Hockey League (NHL) Draft by the Boston Bruins, easily played the best game of his career on Thursday night.

The 6-foot-7, 228-pound forward out of Arnprior, Ontario, showed signs of the player he once was at St. Andrew’s College before his NCAA career, where he amassed 127 points over 56 games in 2023-24 with 61 goals and 66 assists for the Canadian prep hockey academy.

Letourneau’s dekes in the offensive zone were on a level that had not been displayed in 2024-25 during his freshman year with the Eagles, and his forechecking efforts went a long way for BC, especially on its first goal of the game.

Dean Letourneau, No. 29 in maroon, gains the line, dekes through a defender and gets a quick shot off that gets steered aside. Letourneau gets back in the play, receives the puck and whips it on goal for another quick shot. Night and day difference from last year IMO. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/VYJftHumnH

— Bruins Network (@BruinsNetwork) October 10, 2025

With 6:10 left to play in the first period, Letourneau received the puck from a blocked shot in the slot for a one-timer slapshot in the slot, which was saved by Minnesota goalie Nathan Airey.

Letourneau kept his feet moving after the shot, eventually recovering the puck in the corner where he used his massive frame to knock off a defender and turn his stick toward the front of the net.

The Eagles retained possession of the puck as it maneuvered to the blue line. Finally, the puck fell to the stick of Vote in front of the net, and with a swift fake-then-shoot motion, he put it into the back of the net.

Awesome shift for Letourneau, great forechecking habits along the boards too. Good to see. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/R2RjfVk6QP

— Robert Chalmers (@IvanIvanlvan) October 10, 2025

"[Letourneau] always shows us glimpses in practice of having that kind of dance, finesse, and offensive skill,” Brown said. “It was a great game for Dean, and hopefully it's one he builds on."